Few expected that ‘Mandolin’ Srinivas would leave for the heavenly abode at such a young age leaving his admirers shell-shocked. The news was hard to digest for the music lovers in Vijayawada who witnessed him performing live late last year. His gentle movements of fingers on the fret of the tiny string instrument and the melodious tunes that it produced are still fresh in their memories.
Fortunate were the audience at Sri Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao Government Music and Dance College to listen to a spell-binding concert by Shrinivas in November 2013 organised by Sri Sadguru Sangeeta Sabha.
Recollecting that fine moment, College Principal K.S. Govindarajan told The Hindu that it was a rare opportunity to listen to the ‘divine music’ that Srinivas had started presenting since his childhood under the tutelage of Rudraraju Subbaraju, an accomplished Carnatic vocalist who also hails from Palakol in West Godavari district where Shrinivas was born in 1969.
Shrinivas was so dedicated to learning new things that he had once insisted that his guru (Subbaraju) should stay with him forever but the latter was not inclined to oblige his disciple for obvious reasons. Subbaraju went on to groom many outstanding artists like U.P. Raju who is also a native of Palakol and a cousin of Shrinivas and Shrinivas’s own brother Rajesh.
“I knew Shrinivas since he was an 11-year-old boy. He used to watch his father Satyanarayana play the instrument and was initiated into the field at the tender age of seven.
“When he came for the concert at our college, Srinivas touched my feet and paid his respects even as I wondering whether he would recognize me,” said Mr. Govindarajan with the sorrow of losing Srinivas echoing in his voice. Govindarajan belongs to Gutala village in Polavaram mandal of the same district as Shrinivas’s.
> Pay your tributes to Mandolin U. Shrinivas here
Noted music critic and himself an award-winning performer, Pemmaraju Surya Rao, a native of Narsapuram, recalled how Srinivas had shot into fame after catching the attention of M.G. Ramachandran during a concert in Chennai.
Shrinivas was a child prodigy who played Mandolin, which is a foreign instrument, with ease. Discovering the young boy’s talent, his father bought for him a mandolin which only a few could adapt to Indian music.
“I spoke to him a couple of months ago to invite him for a concert planned by Siddhartha Academy but fate snatched him from music lovers who may perhaps not come across such a talented artist in a long time,” regretted Surya Rao, a close friend of Shrinivas’s family.
Published - September 19, 2014 05:16 pm IST