MUMBAI: Bharat Ratna award winner Lata Mangeshkar was felicitated with Uttam Vaggayekar Jialal Vasant award at the 7th Vasantotsav, the annual festival of classical music, by chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. To add to this honour, Mangeshkar was also presented with the amount of Rs. 1,00,000 and a silver brick weighing 1? kg with the inscription of Uttam Vaggeykar penned by Rishi Sharangdeo.Lata had effusive praise for Suresh Wadekar, who instituted the award seven years ago in memory of his guru Acharya Jialal Vasant. "It`s difficult to find a shishya like Suresh. He has really made his guru proud," Lata told the packed auditorium.

The event was marked with a solo performance by tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain accompanied on Sarangi by Ustan Sultan Khan, along with a special recorded classical performance by Lata Mangeshkar herself, which was screened for the first time in public.

The Vasantotsav was held at the Ajivasan Auditorium in Mumbai last week and was organized by Acharya Jialal Vasant Sangeeet Niketan., who also completes its 75th year in its service towards music, states the release.

Instituted in the memory of Acharya Jialal Vasant, who was a musician and teacher extraordinaire, the award is conferred to accomplished composers, lyricists and those who excel in the field of vocals, instrumentals and dance. It is presented to an accomplished performing artist every year during the Vasantotsav - a special festival that has also been organized in memory of Acharya Jialal Vasant.

Previous recipients include Pandit Jasraj (2001), Pt. Shivkumar Sharma (2002), Dr. Balamurli Krishnan (2003), Pt. Bhimsen Joshi (2004) Pt. Ram Narayan (2005) and Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasi (2006).