mandolin2015

Photo Dhurai A.N.

The evening saw the coming together of great musical giants - Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor) Takahiro Arai ( accompanied Sharma), Ustad Zahir Hussain (tabla), Vikku Vinayakaram and Umashankar (ghatam), Sivamani and Ranjit Barot (drums), V.Selvaganesh (kanjira), Harmeet and Anil Srinivasan (piano), Stephen Devassy (keyboard), Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, Aruna Sairam, Karthik and Kunal Ganjawala (vocal), U. Rajesh (mandolin) and Devisri Prasad who played a video orchestration of his Guru U.Shrinivas’ composition. It was a pleasure to watch them all together on the stage.

Photo Dhurai A.N.

The chief guest for the evening was actor and Padma Bhushan awardee Kamal Hassan who remembered the great soul that was mandolin U. Shrinivas. The guest of honor ‘Isaignani’ (maestro) Illayaraja gave away the SIOWM (Shrinivas Institute of World Music) award for senior artiste (cash prize Rs. 1,01, 000) to Vikku Vinayakaram and junior artiste (cash prize Rs. 51,000) to Harmeet. Illayaraja recalled the memory of the 12-year boy Shrinivas coming into his studio when he recognized the prodigious talent of the boy. Several students of mandolin U.Srinivas paid their tribute by playing the mandolin. An audio visual of mandolin U. Shrinivas’ life and musical contribution was also screened. While SS international live’s Elango Kumanan compered the 4-hour long program in beautiful Tamil, Ustad Zahir Hussain entertained the audience with his humorous remarks.

Photo Dhurai A.N.