Felicitating Kunnakudi on the occasion, Ms. Jayalalithaa described him as a multi-faceted personality who had charted a unique path in the music world. He was the first to give not only solo violin concerts but also present a rare combination of violin with `thavil' to rasikas.

‘‘I am proud of honouring Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan not only because that he is a violin maestro, but also because he is my guru in vocal music. Four songs on Karumariamman, which I sang to the tunes of Vaidyanathan, are still played in Tiruverkadu Arulmigu Mariamman Temple on auspicious days like Fridays,’’ Jayalalithaa said after listening to Vaidyanathan and his group’s music concert for about one-and-a-half hours at the function.

Praising that Vaidyanathan dealt with all branches of music, the Chief Minister said he sang more than 900 devotional songs and had over 200 awards to his credit. Having his own style in violin, Vaidyanathan had also composed music for many films after his entry into the filmdom in 1968 through a Tamil movie –Vaa Raja Vaa.

‘‘I recommended to the Centre to honour him with a ‘Padma Vibushan’, but the Central Government, without realising about his greatness in music, conferred him with ‘Padmasree.’ However, it is not too far for him to get that honour,’’ Jayalalithaa said.

She also announced that a two-ground plot would be alloted to the State-sponsored Raga Research Centre, headed by Kunnakudi.

In his felicitation, eminent playback singer of yesteryear and president of Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram P B Srinivas appealed to the Chief Minister that ‘light music’ should also be given government honour on a par with Carnatic music.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan in his acceptance speech thanked her for the honour.

The programme featured a vioin concert by Kunnakudi along with his students.