‘The GREATMANdolin’ revisits U. Shrinivas’ enduring legacy

Tribute festivals service a deeper intent than simply reviving memories. They connection a infinitesimal to intermission and bespeak connected however an artiste has shaped the philharmonic landscape, wherefore their works proceed to endure and what aspects of their artistry are worthy emulating. ‘The GREATMANdolin’ amusement connected March 6 (6 p.m.) astatine the Music Academy is 1 specified reminder of the bonzer travel of the kid prodigy mandolin U. Shrinivas.

With a Western instrumentality successful his hands, Shrinivas reimagined the contours of Carnatic music, crafting a dependable that was wholly his own. More than 12 years aft his passing, his euphony continues to find caller expressions. A caller illustration is the 2025 Grammy information for Shakti’s ‘Shrini’s Dream’, a way composed successful his honour by long-time friends and collaborators Ustad Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, Selva Ganesh, Ganesh Rajagopalan and Shankar Mahadevan.

“’The GREATMANdolin’ is not conscionable an ode to a young maestro, the yearly tribute performance is simply a mode to observe my brother’s quality to execute adjacent occurrence arsenic a soloist and arsenic a subordinate of planetary ensembles. Even today, I americium amazed astatine how, without indulging successful compulsive experimentation, helium perpetually expanded the horizons of his music. I often wonderment if, successful the little span of his life, helium ever realised however profoundly helium gave the mandolin a caller quality and tonal colour. Whether astatine home, connected signifier oregon astatine nationalist gatherings, helium spoke precise small due to the fact that his euphony did each the talking,” says mandolin exponent U. Rajesh, seated successful the precise country astatine his Vadapalani location successful Chennai wherever Shrinivas spent clip practising and composing.

“It’s ne'er casual to enactment a philharmonic amusement together,” adds Rajesh, “but it’s ever breathtaking to enactment connected ‘The GREATMANdolin’. Over the years, everyone we’ve invited has been anxious to join. As tabla fable Ustad Zakir Hussain utilized to say, ‘Shrinivas wins hearts with conscionable his innocent, childlike smile.’ That’s the representation radical inactive transportation of him.”

Shrinivas’ mandolin was a span betwixt East and West, betwixt the past and future, betwixt the known and the recently possible. It is this blend of bold imaginativeness and philharmonic integrity that renowned Carnatic vocalist, writer and societal activistic T.M. Krishna captures erstwhile talking astir Shrinivas. “He brought a wholly caller instrumentality into the satellite of Carnatic music. Though we called it mandolin, it was much accurately an electrical mini-guitar. Shrinivas didn’t conscionable accommodate the instrumentality — helium created an wholly caller vocabulary for it, 1 that could explicit the grandeur and complexity of Carnatic music. He drew from some instrumental and vocal traditions, yet what emerged was unmistakably his own. When helium played Kalyani, it was Shrinivas’ Kalyani. Some kirtanas person go synonymous with him,” says Krishna, who volition header ‘The GREATMANdolin’.

Carnatic euphony is inherently vocal-centric, and carving retired a abstraction arsenic an instrumentalist is incredibly difficult. “But Shrinivas managed to,” Krishna points out. “In the 1980s, erstwhile physics instruments were inactive unfamiliar successful this space, this young lad introduced physics dependable into a centuries-old tradition. And helium achieved it each arsenic an outsider. He did not beryllium to the halfway Carnatic satellite of Chennai. He came from a antithetic societal and taste background. Only idiosyncratic with a uncommon operation of talent, imaginativeness and condemnation could person done it.”

Shrinivas began playing the mandolin astatine the property of six. Though initially hesitant, his father, a clarinet artiste, astatine the insistence of friends allowed him to prosecute it. Soon, the show of the frail small lad with a mandolin successful manus became acquainted astatine concerts. Senior musicians accompanied him with pride, recognising aboriginal the extent of his vidwat.

“It wasn’t conscionable his skill, helium won implicit audiences and chap artistes with his pleasing demeanour and humility. He was an ever-giving guru. Though I worked successful cinema, that ne'er bothered him; helium was ever consenting to usher and enactment me. He would happily present maine to the musicians and euphony lovers who came backstage to conscionable him aft concerts. ‘The GREATMANdolin’ amusement is simply a reminder that creation is ever higher than the individual,” says fashionable euphony manager Devi Sri Prasad, who has been portion of the amusement since its inception.

An integral portion of the pioneering multi-genre set Shakti, Shrinivas became a favourite of the Ustad, who had founded the ensemble alongside jazz virtuoso John McLaughlin. With some maestros present gone, 1 realises however their euphony continues to stay live — not simply for the brilliance of their performances, but for the warmth of their personalities and the accessibility of their art.