We present natural connections among trigonometric Lie algebras, affine Lie algebras, and vertex algebras. More specifically, we prove that restricted modules for trigonometric Lie algebras naturally correspond to equivariant quasi modules for the affine vertex algebra. Furthermore, we prove that every quasi-finite unitary highest weight irreducible module of type A trigonometric Lie algebra gives rise to an irreducible equivariant quasi module for the simple affine vertex algebra. This is a joint work with Haisheng Li and Shaobin Tan