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The ‘Mandolin Master’ created
history at the Jazz Fest held in West Berlin in 1983. It’s
one of the oldest and most prestigious jazz festivals in the
world today. He not only dispelled fears that it was impossible
to play Carnatic music in Mandolin, which is traditionally
a western instrument, but also took Germany by storm. The
45-minute show left the audience amazed, and clamoring for
more – enough that government requested that he repeat
the concert live over German TV and Radio. Shrinivas’
virtuoso handling of the Mandolin was even more remarkable
considering his placement in the festival: pitted against
Miles Davis and his All-Star band, the young prodigy was billed
to perform under high-pressure conditions on his first exposure
to foreign audiences. Miles Davis fans had paid as much as
Rs 1200 per ticket on the black market and the demand ran
so high that the organizers finally consented a repeat concert.
Shrinivas who was 13 then, earned thunderous applause for
his performance and perhaps more notice backstage than any
other act. Then onwards he went on to become a most sought
after musician in India as well as overseas. The rest as they
say is history.
Shrinivas toured London in 1990 at the invitation of the
Asian Music Circuit and the British Arts Council.
In 1992, he was the only Indian classical musician to have
played at the Olympic Music Festival in Barcelona, in Spain.
No wonder London's Time Out magazine predicted Shrinivas
would be greater than Eric Clapton. He is. Recognised as a
musical genius in his own country, international performances
and such albums as WOMAD Select's 'Dawn Raga' and Rama Sreerama,
Real World Records' 'Dream' with Michael Brook and Uni/Verve’s
‘Remember Shakti – The Believer’ with John
McLaughlin have wooed global audiences and won critical acclaim.
Yet the forever modest U Shrinivas maintains he has a long
way to go. "Where is the end to music?" he says
with a grin. "The more you learn, the more you want to
know."
Music flows from him like runs flowing from Don Bradman’s
bat.
What strikes me as being a true paradox is the astonishing
talent of the young mandolin artiste U.Shrinivas. I have more
or less given up my efforts to find a technical explanation
for the mysterious amalgam of his music, which sounds so powerfully
Western and yet remains so purely South Indian. It is impossible
to understand how, when this Maestro performs, we are bombarded
by a tornado of staccato sounds and yet course along a gentle
stream of melody. I can only say that when genius attains
the status of magic, perhaps there is no point in looking
for logic any more.
Padmashri U.Srinivas
12 A, Venkateswara Street,
Dhanalakshmi Colony,
Vadapazhani,
Chennai - 600 026.
Tel: +91 44 2362 2696, 2362 1421
Fax: +91 44 2362 1421
Email: ramanaa@mandolinshrinivas.org
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