PARVATHI's TRIBUTE TO VIDWAN MANDOLIN U. SHRINIVAS (1969-2014)
A Heart-felt Testimony by Shri R. Sachi
Life’s most stirring moments come when we are least prepared. Who can forget the wide-eyed wonder of a child witnessing the sunrise or a rainbow.. Who can explain the joy of meeting one’s beloved after a long separation. Who can explain the unbounded joy that a legendary musician gives with almost no warning?
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And who can articulate the utter, desolate, loss felt by us when we heard this morning of the passing of Mandolin U. Shrinivas?
All within a short span of time, this boy wonder won millions over with his bewitching smile and bewildering mastery of an art form as complex as Carnatic music. Add to that his mastery of an instrument as foreign to India as the Mediterranean Mandolin. And we begin to appreciate the phenomenon of Mandolin U Shrinivas. As a boy of humble beginnings in an Andhra village, he came from as far away as you can imagine from the Brahmin bastion of the Carnatic Tanjavur delta. He came on the musical stage like the child Krishna strode the streets of Mathura. And everyone of us became for a moment a child full of wonderment, beholding the sunrise, or witnessing the rainbow in the sky for the first time.
Paeans have been heaped on Mandolin Shrinivas by every rasika, critic, and art patron in every genre- Carnatic, Jazz, Hindustani and World music. In a normal year, Shrinivas would traverse the continents a dozen times, and enthral audiences one day at the Music Academy, next day at Parvathi, the day after at Kala Ghoda and the next somewhere in London.
All within a short span of time, this boy wonder won millions over with his bewitching smile and bewildering mastery of an art form as complex as Carnatic music. Add to that his mastery of an instrument as foreign to India as the Mediterranean Mandolin. And we begin to appreciate the phenomenon of Mandolin U Shrinivas. As a boy of humble beginnings in an Andhra village, he came from as far away as you can imagine from the Brahmin bastion of the Carnatic Tanjavur delta. He came on the musical stage like the child Krishna strode the streets of Mathura. And everyone of us became for a moment a child full of wonderment, beholding the sunrise, or witnessing the rainbow in the sky for the first time.
Paeans have been heaped on Mandolin Shrinivas by every rasika, critic, and art patron in every genre- Carnatic, Jazz, Hindustani and World music. In a normal year, Shrinivas would traverse the continents a dozen times, and enthral audiences one day at the Music Academy, next day at Parvathi, the day after at Kala Ghoda and the next somewhere in London.
To the home called Parvathi, Shrinivas came often, like a school boy to his grandparents for summer holidays. He gave unstintingly of his brand of music which had a pristine thrill. And he would go away smiling, with the promise to return soon.
But today, he has travelled to a different plane. Bathed in tears, we can only envy the world he has gone to, because our loss is the gain of those souls in that world.
Long live the legend.
But today, he has travelled to a different plane. Bathed in tears, we can only envy the world he has gone to, because our loss is the gain of those souls in that world.
Long live the legend.
Shrinivas plays Siddivinayakam as only he can, at the age of 16 (1985)
Shrinivas speaks about his association with Parvathi (2011)
Shrinivas plays Saramathi – Mokshamu Galada (1988)
