U Shrinivas, popularly known by the name Mandolin Shrinivas, is no more. He breathed his last at 9 am on Friday at a corporate hospital in Chennai. Shrinivas (45) had a liver ailment and had been hospitalised for some time.
A pall of gloom fell all over the music and art circles in Chennai as the news of the passing away of Shrinivas spread. A child prodigy, who took the music world by storm at a comparatively young age of nine, Shrinivas had a fan following ranging from former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran to present Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
It is said that mandolin, a western music instrument, played to the whims and fancies of Shrinivas. While other musicians had their doubts on the effectiveness of mandolin as a Carnatic music instrument, Shrinivas proved them all wrong and made them nod their heads in appreciation whenever he played the instrument.
What made him stand out was his humility and simplicity even as he strode the music world like a colossus at a very young age. His first public performance was, way back in 1978 in Vijayawada as a nine year old. He was hardly 12 when he performed at the Madras Music season in 1981 for the Indian Fine Arts Society.
MGR, an ardent fan of Shrinivas declared him the Aasthana Vidwan (official musician) of Tamil Nadu in 1984 when he was hardly 15. The President of Inia honoured him with Padma Sri in 1998. Shrinivas enthralled the audience in 1983 when he played at the Berlin Jazz Festival, an honour reserved only for maestros.
Uppalappu Shrinivas leaves behind his parents, his son, younger brother Rajesh, himself an accomplished mandolin player and millions of fans spread all over the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the untimely death of Shrinivas is an irreparable loss to the world of music.