SPB Vanam created in Coimbatore to honor S P Balasubrahmanyam, trees named after his songs

SPB Vanam (forest) has been created to honour the memory of veteran Indian singer S P Balasubrahmanyam on Thursday at Coimbatore by an NGO called Siruthuli which works for the environment. Siruthuli decided to create an Urban Forest – SPB Vanam – comprising 74 trees to commemorate the 74 glorious years of SPB. The project was virtually launched through a video message by SPB’s son, S P Charan and sister S P Shailaja who planted a jackfruit tree and a mango tree respectively.

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The wood of these two trees is used extensively to make musical instruments. A unique feature of SPB Vanam was that saplings of trees, from whose wood musical instruments were made, had been chosen along with Sthala Vrikshams dedicated to the Gods that SPB sang in praise of. A Champak tree symbolic of his birth star – Ayilyam was also planted. Each tree bears the name of a popular song sung by SPB.

Red Sanders, Rosewood, Neem Mahogany, Silver Oak, Sandalwood, teak, jack fruit, Mango and bamboo among the musical instruments tree are to be planted, with nine fragrant trees. The tree tribute for the late singer was to provide a platform to his fans to celebrate his life. It was also organized because, in his last virtual program, he had requested his listeners to protect Mother Nature.

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Coimbatore’s tribute to SPB was front-ended by all the singers of the region along with nature lovers of Coimbatore under the aegis of the NGO Siruthuli. The Tree Tribute was accompanied by a musical tribute by local artists. A.R.Rahman and Srinivas also paid their tribute through a video clip and representatives from SPB Fans Charitable Foundation also participated in the event.

Safety measures were stringently followed for the event to ensure COVID protocol norms. Therefore the number of participants had been limited to a great extent. Masks and protective shields were provided by Siruthuli as an added
precautionary measures and social distancing norms were enforced strictly.

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SPB passed away in Chennai's MGM hospital after battling Coronavirus infection for quite some time. The 74-year-old singer tested positive on September 9. His condition did not improve despite being on maximal life support and on September 25, he succumbed to a cardio-respiratory arrest in the afternoon.

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