No matter how much I try, it will fall short of describing my guru’s greatness in its full measure and accuracy. Nonetheless, for my satisfaction, I would like to attempt to describe my beloved guru’s greatness just as how we worship our favorite deity with the language we are familiar with.
‘Mandolin Samrat’ U. Shrinivas was born in a pious family on 28th February, 1969 to Shri U. Satyanarayana and Smt Kantham in a small town Palakolu in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.
His father, U. Satyanarayana garu, is a well-known classical musician and a teacher in vocal and clarinet and was training a lot of students.
One day, when he was out on a personal errand, Srinivas ji picked up a mandolin lying around and played ‘Viribhoni’ varnam in 3 tempos without knowing the notation. That moment, Srinivas ji’s father reallized this was no ordinary child and is a gift from God.
Shrinivas dazzled the Carnatic music scene with his first performance at Gudivada in 1978 and soon at all prestigious Sabhas in Chennai. By early 1980s, he gained name and fame for his prowess on Mandolin, regularly mesmerizing audiences with his performances in all Sabhas and doing international tours.
Shri M.G. Ramachandran, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, declared Shrinivas ji as the ‘Asthana vidwan’ – State vidwan of Tamil Nadu when he was just 11 years old.
He won ‘Mandolin Samrat’ – his first award at Palakoku in the year 1983. He toured the United states in the year 1984 performing coast to coast accompanied by senior vidwans. More awards continually followed him. He won the ‘Andhra Kala Ratna Saraswati’ award in the hands of none other than Mother Teresa. He was bestowed the Padma Shri at 29 years of age and Sangeet Natak Academy award in 2010.
Shrinivas ji was highly devoted to saints from a young age and his Bhakthi was the foundation of his unique and creative music. He attributed his achievements in music to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swami (Sage of Kanchi, 68th Jagadguru or Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam). When Shrinivas ji was seventeen years old, after a sangeetha seva, His Holiness Mahaperiyava showered him with blessings and gifted him a Spatika Maalai (a chain of crystals with a Siva lingam).
Shrinivas ji became an integral part of the quintet band ‘Remember Shakthi’ along with four great and eminent musicians – John Mc Laughlin (a British guitarist), Ustad Zakir Hussin (tabla), V. Selvaganesh (Kanjira) and Shankar Mahadevan (lead vocalist). ‘Remember Shakti’ created and performed original fusion – Indian with elements of jazz to worldwide audiences.
On Sep 19, 2014, Shrinivas ji merged with the lotus feet of Almighty after a brief illness. His music is immortal and He lives in the soulful melodies He created from a place of purity, completeness, love and compassion.
