Chennai: Renowned mandolin player and musician Uppalapu Srinivas, popularly known as Mandolin Srinivas, died here Friday in a private hospital due to illness. He was 45.
He was admitted to Apollo Hospital here some days back due to liver problem and died on Friday morning around 9.30, hospital officials said.
Born Feb 28, 1969, in Palakolu, Andhra Pradesh, Srinivas as a mandolin player of Carnatic music discipline was a child prodigy.
As a six-year-old boy, Srinivas would play his father Satyanarayana’s mandolin. His brother U. Rajesh is also a noted mandolin player.
A world renowned musician, Srinivas gave his first public performance in 1978 in Andhra Pradesh. Three years later he performed at the Madras Music Season for the Indian Fine Arts Society.
Soon he started trotting the globe. In 1983, Srinivas performed at the JazzFest Berlin and later toured Canada, Australia and many other countries.
In 1988, he was awarded the Padma Shri. Later in 2010, he was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Academy Award.
He was also the recipient of the prestigious Sangeeta Ratna award.
He rendered performances with Western artist like Michael Brook, John McLaughlin, Nigel Kennedy, Trey Gunn, Michael Nyman and others.
Srinivas also performed with Hindustani classical musicians like Hariprasad Chaurasia and Zakir Hussain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of Srinivas and recalled the maestro’s long-standing contribution to music.
“The PM recalled the mandolin maestro’s dedication & long-standing contribution towards music & added that he will always be remembered,” a tweet said.
