Mandolin U Srinivas, originally known as Shri Uppalapu Srinivas, passed away on Friday morning 19th of September 2014 in a private hospital in Chennai.
The famous mandolin player had undergone liver transplant recently, but couldn’t survive due to the extreme complication which led to his death. He died at the age of 45 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of the carnatic musician. Musicians like Sonu Nigam, A.R. Rehman condole his death on Twitter.
Srinivas took the path of learning of learning music when he was five years old and his first music performance on stage was held when he was only nine years old.
He is known to be the first musician to use the instrument in Carnatic music. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri in 1998 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2010.
Hailing from Palakol in Andhra Pradesh, Uppalapu Srinivas was born on February 28, 1969.
Apart from traditional classical music, Srinivas was a globally renowned name and was famous among Western musicians like Michael Brook, Michael Nyman and John McLaughlin.
His expertise with crossover genres made him an international name to reckon with.
In his career as a professional artist, he has worked with artistes of high caliber like Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Sivamani, Zakir Hussain, Dominique Piazza.
Srinivas is survived by his parents, his sister and brother Mandolin U.Rajesh. His body is being brought home this evening. The funeral is likely to be held on Sunday.