I really could not believe myself when I found that there were no reviews on Carnatic Music - Mandolin U Srinivas in the website mouthshut.com. Anyway I am proud that I am the first one in these columns to do so.
Carnatic Classical Music has a legacy of thousands of years. Quality classical music soothes one’s mind and makes a person forget his miseries at least for that short period when he lends his ears to good music.
A few words about Carnatic Classical Music will not be out of place in this context. Classical Music is to be rendered within a particular framework. The three fundamental frameworks of classical music are:
SHRUTHI which decides the note on which the rendition operates
RAGA: which decides a particular combination and high and low variations of the sound depending upon which Raga is being rendered
THALA which sets the rhythm of rendition.
So basic requirement for quality classical music is that it has to be rendered within the above frameworks (fence). Then only music is pleasant and palatable.
Having said the above, what does music teach us in our life? Just as good quality music is pleasant and palatable when it is rendered within a framework (fence), a person’s life is also pleasant and palatable to his fellow beings when life is lead within a framework (fence). In other words, classical music teaches us the discipline and cries for all our actions to be within a framework. Just as good music brings solace to the beholders, a human with disciplined life can spread a lot of solace and good fragrance to his fellow beings.
How lucky we the contemporaries of Mandalin Srinivas are to have the opportunity to taste and savour his soothing music. It is particularly amazing what this man has contributed to classical music considering the following:
a) He has mastered music at an unimaginably young age
b) He has mastered an instrument which is totally alien to our Classical Music (Mandalin is purely a western musical instrument which was unheard of in Carnatic Classical Music circle till the arrival of Mandalin Srinivas on the scene).
May God bless Mandalin Srinivas with a long musical career so that we can taste that scintillating music for a long time to come. Long live Classical Music.