MANDOLIN U SRINIVAS (1969-2014)

 

From Sampath’s Desk:

 

MANDOLIN SRINIVAS (1969-2014)

That the child-prodigy-turned-Mandolin Maestro Uppalappu Srinivas has been cruelly snatched away from our midst on 19.9.2014 at a relatively young age of 45 sounded a jarring note and dealt a severe blow and jolt to the music world, leaving scores of music lovers with their hearts wailing and lips mourning silently in ‘Muhari raga’. As soon as the news of his sad and sudden demise spread like a wildfire, a pall of gloom descended with people becoming dumb-stricken. In his departure, the music world has become poorer. He took his music from its native environs to international forums and beyond the horizons.

 

His was a wonderful music journey that began when he was just six that proceeded from inspiration to perfection with inevitable success treating his audiences with western style music notes getting transformed to suit Carnatic genres - a rare feat to perform and excel in an young age. He is surely an inspiration for upcoming musicians specifically learners and novices.

 

Srinivas earned accolades for daring to be different by innovatively transfiguring with ease a basically western musical instrument, Mandolin, into a classical/carnatic one and for being the pioneer in doing it by a musician ever. He was also an exponent of rare ragas generating them from his stringed instrument. Handling the Mandolin, he made the listeners feel and experience his concerts differently what with his magical and ‘nectar-flowing-into-ears’ performances transporting his audiences to a mesmerizing plane leaving them breathless at times. Thus he converted the impossible into a possible reality. His captivating and scintillating performances catapulted the audiences to the pinnacle of joy. And every time he played the instrument he took them to new scales of merriment, excitement and ecstasy.

 

His career was dotted with many firsts. Awards came running to him in the form of Padma Sri, Sangeeta Natak Akademi Award, Maharajapuram Santhanam Award, official musician of Tamil Nadu Government, etc., to mention a few. Some of his international laurels came from the Jazz Fest in Berlin, his collaborations with John Mclaughlin, Michael Brook, Trey Gun, Nigel Kennedy and Michael Nyman, not to speak of his collaboration on the domestic circuit with Hindustani musicians like Hariprasad Chaurashia and Zakir Hussain. Thus he became one of the most followed international musicians. Srinivas Institute of World Music established by him stands testimony to his status as a world-class musician transcending all barriers.

 

The Mandolin music connoisseur and cognoscenti made effective, efficient and best use of the stringed instrument to produce any type of sounds of any musical discipline.

 

For many musicians and their audiences, music represents a curious, intense, and honest search, which is what is supposed to translate into a kind of palpable equanimity, confronted with the risibility of daily life and its myriad conflicts. Otherwise deploying music to evoke instant peace merely sounds daffy. That this musical legend could do it with marked ease. comfort and success was a matter of gratification to music lovers throughout the world. No wonder, he could delight and amaze his audiences with his unique genres of music.

 

He struck the right chord, gauged the feelings, pulses and expectations of the audiences while playing his mesmerizing instrument. He however never defied tradition even while making innovative initiatives with his singing Mandolin.

 

His Mandolin which danced to his tunes throughout his lifetime now lies in a corner weeping silently because it would not hereafter get his subtle and nuanced touches and manipulations to generate his style of music that hitherto treated his music lovers to a carnival of rare melody numbers that continue to linger on in their minds.

 

His is an irreparable and insurmountable loss and the vacuum is hard to fill. His renditions have immortalized him. Though he is no more, his music performances already available in soft form will continue to waft through anywhere and everywhere to continue to delight the music lovers. The treasured moments of his string instrument performances will always be cherished by music lovers throughout the world.

 

R.SAMPATH

22/9/2014