Mandolin Sreenivas

Srinivas is a famous Indian mandolin player. He was born on 28 February 1969. Srinivas hails from Palakollu, Andhra Pradesh, India. When Srinivas was just five years old, he discovered his father’s mandolin, which had belonged to U. Satyanarayana. His interest in the instrument was ignited when he heard it being played at a concert he attended with his father. After realizing the talent his son holds, U. Satyanarayana, his father, who had studied classical music, bought Srinivas a new Mandolin to practice on and taught him how to play it.

Additionally, seven-year-old Srinivas was introduced to western music in 1976 by Guitarist Vasu Rao. Shortly after, Satyanarayana’s guru, Rudraraju Subbaraju, who had also taught Vasu Rao, recognized the potential of the young Srinivas and started teaching him. In 1994, Srinivas tied the knot with U. Sree, who is the daughter of a vigilance officer from Andhra Pradesh and also a veena player. They had a son, Sai Krishna Bio coming soon... >> Read More... , and were divorced in 2012.

Rudraraju Subbaraju, who lacked expertise in playing the mandolin, would simply vocalize sections from the Carnatic classical repertoire, and U. Srinivas would play them on mandolin, leading to him developing an extraordinary playing style that was entirely unique, and remarkably, he achieved this on an instrument that had never been used to perform in the precise and demanding Carnatic style before. Soon, Srinivas’ family moved to Chennai, where most Carnatic musicians live. Srinivas’ first performance was compared to some of the world’s most significant classic examples. At a very young age, Srinivas was internationally considered the successor to Pandit Rabi Shankar.

In 1978, Srinivas showcased his Carnatic performance at the Thyagaraja Aradhana festival held in Gudivada, Andhra Pradesh. Afterward, at age eleven, in 1981, he delivered his inaugural public concert in Chennai at the Indian Fine Arts Society as part of the December Music Season. Initially, he began his musical journey with the acoustic mandolin, but he subsequently transitioned to the electric mandolin. He made this change because he felt that playing the electric mandolin allowed him to generate sustained, long notes, which are essential to Indian classical music, while also ensuring that the notes were audible. Throughout his career, he travelled the world extensively, collaborating with renowned artists such as John McLaughlin, Michael Nyman, and Michael Brook.

Srinivas was a pioneering musician who introduced the electric mandolin to Carnatic music. He customized the typical western electric instrument by equipping it with five single strings, deviating from the traditional four doubled strings, to better align with the Carnatic music scale. Starting in 1982, Srinivas performed regularly, as part of the December season at the esteemed Madras Music Academy, performing there yearly. Srinivas also performed at the Berlin Jazz Festival at the age of thirteen.

Srinivas performed at the Olympic Arts Festival in Barcelona in 1992, and in 1995, he achieved success by recording a fusion album with Michael Brook. In 1997, when John McLaughlin reformed his music group Shakti, renaming it Remember Shakti, he invited Srinivas to be a prominent member of the group. Srinivas joined other Indian musicians such as Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain is a veteran and prominent film and >> Read More... , Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan, a well-renowned, talented and f >> Read More... , and V. Selvaganesh. Srinivas travelled extensively across the globe, showcasing his talent in locations such as Australia, Southeast Asia, and making regular stops in the United States and Canada.

Srinivas and his brother Rajesh, who is also a music composer, composed music together. In addition to their contributions to Carnatic music, they have dedicated substantial efforts to the fusion of Carnatic and Western music. They also performed alongside the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, teaming up with French electric bass player Dominique Di Piazza, pianist Anil Srinivasan Anil Srinivasan is a pianist from India. He is bes >> Read More... , and Stephen Devassy Stephen Devassy is a music artist who started from >> Read More... , a pianist hailing from Kerala. In 2008, they rekindled their collaboration with John McLaughlin for the album Samjanitha, which also included the talents of Zakir Hussain, Sivamani, and George Brooks.

Over the years, Srinivas amassed a discography of over 137 albums that spanned various genres, including Carnatic music, solo performances, collaborations with Hindustani musicians, and contributions to the world music genre. He collaborated with a number of Western artists, among them John McLaughlin, Trey Gunn, Michael Brook, Nigel Kennedy, Nana Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Zakir Hussain. Additionally, he joined the forces with Carnatic artists such as Vikku Vinayakram and V. Selvaganesh. U. Srinivas also established a music school known as the Srinivas Institute of World Music (SIOWM) in Chennai, where he taught several students without charge since he was barely eighteen.

Srinivas has trained almost a hundred students worldwide. His brother, U. Rajesh, continues teaching students at the SIOWM. U. Srinivas was recognized and honored with notable awards, which include the Padma Shri in 1998, conferred by the Government of India, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2010, granted by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. U. Srinivas held a deep reverence for the Paramacharya of Kanchi and was a dedicated follower of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He had the privilege of performing in front of Sri Sathya Sai Baba on numerous occasions. U. Srinivas, who was also recognized as Mandolin Srinivas, was undergoing medical treatment for a liver condition and underwent a liver transplant on September 11, 2014. While recovering, he died at Apollo Hospital on 19 September 2014 after experiencing complications.