Mandolin Srinivas (1969-2014)
September 20, 2014 9:20 AM   Subscribe

Indian classical music mourns the untimely death of a child prodigy who grew into a graceful maestro. Srinivas -- who introduced the mandolin to Indian classical music -- was one of the giants. Shockingly dead at 45, gone just far too young. The tributes are pouring in.

Srinivas as a young boy in the early 1980s, and a bonafide genius as a key member of the Indian fusion revival band Remember Shakti with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and Selvaganesh.

YouTube is full of Srinivas classics, not least this one .

He will be deeply, deeply missed.
posted by rahulrg (7 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by Fizz at 9:33 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


To give you an idea what an impact U Srinivas has had on my life:

My father wore through three tapes in three months after the first time I'd heard him; I don't remember this now but that first time was so magical I kept my mouth open for five minutes together. (It was probably that Ramapriya concert, a once-in-a-lifetime surreptitious recording my father would eventually lose to some moron who borrowed the tape and forgot to return it.)

I grew up in an emotionally violent household and my father and I would drive across the Driscoll Bridge listening to his Manoranjini in the aftermath of some of my mother's more vicious meltdowns.

For years, U Srinivas' tapes was the only music I'd eat or sleep to. Because I loved him so much, my parents took me to any of his metropolitan area concerts. Once, my father took me backstage and I requested he play the Manoranjini. He did; and told the audience that "a little girl told me to play this because it was her favorite song." I'd told him that.

My favorite. Still is.

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U Srinivas' talent lied in his ability to build mood and take extraordinary risks. The mandolin itself is a very different beast; because it's a plucked instrument, he could play at blazing speeds, using his sharp technique to bring out new colors and new tones. My father claims he took more risks as a kid -- you can hear that for yourself in his music -- but I always saw him as someone volatile, a little dangerous, and rule-breaking even in his later concerts.

He was also a regular during Madras' music season. I was going to go this December. I'll never hear him at the height of his powers and among those who loved him the most.

His music was a language I used to communicate with my Indian relatives, who were often suspicious of me as a member of the diaspora and a cultural outsider. My uncle and I used to comb through first, his tapes, and, then, his digital collection, isolating, editing, cleaning up tracks. Other relatives knew him personally in strange ways. My mother's cousin's claim to celebrity was that he took U Srinivas to a movie once. My great-uncle did his taxes.

All were big fans of his music, dropping references to songs and ragas and fragments here and there, to concerts they'd been to. And this love trickled down to the cousins of my generation, who mixed and edited and curated with a vengeance.

But mostly his music was a way in which I lived with myself in a childhood full of demons and crazies, in an adolescence full of shame of self-loathing and in an adulthood in which I needed to hear anything but the sound of doubt, uncertainty, and loneliness. When I had to drown in his explosions to keep myself sane.

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posted by orangutan at 10:29 AM on September 20, 2014 [45 favorites]


orangutan: those are definitely some powerful memories. I love that music can do this for us. Thanks for sharing.
posted by Fizz at 11:54 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


Thank you for posting this. I'd never heard of U. Srinivas and sought out some performances on YT. I found this one, which I really enjoyed.

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posted by the sobsister at 6:10 PM on September 20, 2014


Marvellous player — mercurial, radiated intelligence and grace.
posted by Wolof at 7:59 PM on September 20, 2014


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posted by On the Corner at 2:33 AM on September 21, 2014


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posted by ikahime at 12:37 PM on September 21, 2014


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