U SRINIVAS

Uppalapu Srinivas (28 February 1969 – 19 September 2014) was an Indian mandolin player of the Carnatic musical tradition of Southern India. Srinivas plays an electric mandolin and has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Michael Nyman, and Michael Brook. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1998 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2010. 

Srinivas was born February 28, 1969, in Palakol in Andhra Pradesh. At the age of six he picked up his father Satyanarayana's mandolin. Upon realising the talent of his son, his father started teaching him. Soon, Satyanarayana's guru, Rudraraju Subbaraju, realized the potential of U. Srinivas and started teaching him. Since Rudraraju Subbaraju did not know how to play the mandolin he would just sing and U. Srinivas would play it on the mandolin. His brother U. Rajesh is also an accomplished mandolin player. 

U. Srinivas made his first public Carnatic concert performance in 1978 in Gudivada, Andhra Pradesh, during the Thyagaraja Aradhana festival. Soon, he came to perform in the Madras Music Season in 1981 for the Indian Fine Arts Society. In 1983, he performed at the JazzFest Berlin where the audience requested him to do a repeat performance.

He continued touring the world—Australia, Southeast Asia and then Southwest Asia, followed by the United States and Canada.

• In the West Berlin Jazz Festival in 1983, he pitted against Miles Davis and his All Star Band.
• In 1987, U. Srinivas became the first South Indian Carnatic music artist to perform at the Cevantino Festival in Mexico.
• Olympics Arts Festival at Barcelona, 1992

U. Srinivas runs a music school called the Shrinivas Institute of World Music (SIOWM).

Some of the awards that Mandolin U. Srinivas has received:

• Padma Shree on April 12, 1998 by The President of India
• Sangeeta Ratna
• Sanatan Sangeet Puraskar from Sangeet Sanskriti
• Titled Asthana Vidwan of Govt. of Tamil Nadu in July 1984, Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam on October 1, 1990, Pillayarpatti Temple on 27 August 1995
• Raja-Lakshmi Award for 1985 from Sri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation, Chennai
• Mysore T. Chowdiah Memorial National Award
• Sangeetha Bala Bhaskara by Sangeetha Kalanidhi M.S. Subbulakshmi
• National Citizen's Award, 1991 by The President of India
• Special TTK Award and Best Artist Award by the Madras Music Academy in 1983 and 1993 respectively
• Rajiv Gandhi National Integration Award

Srinivas has performed with Western artists such as John McLaughlin, Michael Brook, Trey Gunn, Nigel Kennedy, Nana Vasconcelos, and Michael Nyman, as well as with Hindustani music artists such as Hariprasad Chaurasia and Zakir Hussain. He has recorded a CD of Carnatic compositions by Ilaiyaraaja called Ilaiyaraaja's Classics in Mandolin. Recently, U Shrinivas also released Samjanitha featuring Debashish Bhattacharya (Lap Steel Guitar), John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Sivamani, Vikku Vinaykram, Dominique Piazza George Brook, U Rajesh, Anil Srinivasan and others.

He died in 19 September 2014 due to liver failure.

RED SALUTE

C. Sunish