CHENNAI: Senior
veena player and vocalist
Geetha Bennett died at her residence in California in the US on Tuesday. Geetha, who was 69, had been battling cancer for the last 25 years.
Geetha, who was the daughter of late Sangita Kalanidhi
S Ramanathan, had performed extensively across India, the US, the UK and Australia.
Besides teaching and performing, Geetha had spent the last few years uploading songs performed by her father S Ramanathan on YouTube for rasikas to access. Geetha had performed vocals and
veena for the musical production 'The Creation', the score for which was composed by popular orchestrator Jeff Atmajian.
In December 2007, she was awarded the 'Best Veena Player of the Season' by Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai. She had also been awarded the Dr Padmavati Ammal Endowment Prize, the Chellapally Ranga Rao Award endowed by Sri Chitti Babu and thee Best Veena Player award by the Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai.
Geetha is survived by her husband, Frank Bennett, and son, Anand, 37.
Geetha Bennett 
