U. Srinivas

Uppalapu Shrinivas (Telugu: ఉప్పలపు శ్రీనివాస్), (born February 28, 1969) is an Indian mandolin player of the Carnatic musical tradition of Southern India. Shrinivas 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

Early life

Shrinivas 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. Shrinivas and started teaching him. Since Rudraraju Subbaraju did not know how to play the mandolin he would just sing and U. Shrinivas would play it on the mandolin. His brother U. Rajesh is also an accomplished mandolin player.

Performing career

U. Shrinivas 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.

Jazz tours

Shrinivas performing in Germany, 2001
In the West Berlin Jazz Festival in 1983, he pitted against Miles Davis and his All Star Band.
In 1987, U. Shrinivas became the first South Indian Carnatic music artist to perform at the Cevantino Festival in Mexico.
Olympics Arts Festival at Barcelona, 1992

Awards and achievements

U. Shrinivas 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

Discography

Shrinivas 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.