U Srinivas - Mandolin Duo (2000)

Another significant contribution from Madhu (many thanx! Thanx also to AOR for the cover), this time introducing us to the fascinating world of Carnatic music from Southern India and to the work of mandolin master U Srinivas. Enjoy!

«Indian Classical Music», writes Madhu, «is divided into two parts, Hindustani Music that has its origins in the North of India and Carnatic Music from Southern India. U Srinivas is one of Carnatic Music's most renowned and popular artists. His fame and recognition come not only from his extraordinary talent but almost as importantly for introducing a Western Instrument, the Mandolin to Classical Carnatic Music.

U Srinivas picked up the Mandolin at the age of six and showed enormous natural proficiency with it and was hailed as a child prodigy. Coming from a musically inclined family, he was encouraged to use the instrument and was entirely self-taught; despite this he made a huge splash in the very traditional and difficult Carnatic Music Scene, making his “arangetram” (public debut) at the age of 10. He was instantly hailed as a special talent, and the boy and his strange instrument were eagerly welcome into the fold.
Since then Srinivas has gone from strength to strength performing not just with the best names in Carnatic Music but also performing frequently with hindustani Musicians and several world musicians including John McLaughlin, Michael Nyman, Zakir Hussain, L Subramaniam, Michael Brook, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and many more.
Srinivas is great to watch live as his total abandon and love for music comes through in his performances. This particular album features some of the best loved compositions of great classical composers like Muthuswamy Dikshithat, Thyagaraja, Arunachala Kavi, Vyasaraya Tirtha and two compositions of Modern master GN Balasubramanian.
This album features U Srinivas on the Mandolin, accompanied by KV Prasad on the Mridangam, V Nagarajan on the Kanjeera and EM Subramaniam on the Ghatam.»

NOTE: 1. All files are in m4a format.

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