Mr.Srinivasan has performed in many countries, like Malaysia, Burma, Singapore and Srilanka, to name a few. He turns nostalgic when he talks about his association with AIR, where he had been working for 20 Years. He attended the interview in 1974 at Hyderabad where eight candidates had come from various states of India. The person who was selected was unable to accept the job as he could not leave his aged parents alone and work in Hyderabad. Since Mr.Srinivasan's name was in the waiting list, he was offered the job. He joined AIR in 1975 and came back to Chennai after a year on a transfer. Even when he was working, he continued to gives concerts in the evenings. Srinivasan has been bestowed with many titles and awards.
In the famous film ' Mridhanga Chakravarthy', where the title role was played by the veteran Shivaji Ganesan, Srinivasan was the one who actually played on the mridhangam for Prabhu, who played the role of Shivaji's son. As per the rules, those in Government Service should not perform in public functions or otherwise without prior permission from AIR. A few days after the film was released, he was sent for by the Station Director. Srinivasan was quite perturbed, but to his surprise, the Director praised his work in the film and told him that fortunately in the title his name was shown as Madurai Srinivasan and so he can defend himself by saying the same.
The youngsters of today should learn a lesson or two from this 72 year old veteran Mridhangam player, who is still active and raring to go. He says with a sense of horripilation that his most satisfying moments were when he played for T.V Rathnam, who was called the 'Female Kittappa' in her hey days. He has played for the music maestro Ilayaraja, whom he feels, is a boon to the Tamil music industry. He is overwhelmed when he talks about Ilayaraja and says,"He is a person with a combination of 'yogam' and 'yogyam' ( luck and worth)."
Srinivasan has written in Tamil, separate concepts for Vocal music, Bharatha natyam, and Mridhangam which is being rendered by leading artists in their concerts even now. He has written songs in 9 types of Ragas, Varnams in 9 different thalams, Navaragamaligai varnams, Keerthanais, Sri Ragavendra Dasagana songs, songs for Light music and 'Sama Edai' thillanas for Vocal music. In Bharatha natyam he has created Alarippu in 35 Thalams, and in 35 Thalams he has created Ragamaligai Jatiswaram, Sapthams, Padhavarnams and Thillanas, and in Mridhangam he has created 35 Jathis, 35 Thala Mohras, 35 Thala Korvaigal, and 35 Thala
Aridhis.
'Mozhikalai Arasu' was the title he was bestowed with in 1973 and in 1979 it was 'Laya Sudaroli' and in the year 1992 he was honoured with the title ' Nadhakanal '. This 72 year old 'young' man is working on new concepts in Laya and is doing research on the same. He says with ecstacy that he felt honoured to play mridhangam when the famous and popular music critic Subbudu recorded Pancha rathna Keerthanas in AVM studio in 1990. He is proud to have been invited to judge the musical programme "Saptha Swarangal' by A.V.Ramanan in Sun TV. He welcomes such programmes, and says that it is a healthy trend that youngsters nowadays are showing a lot of interest in Carnatic music.
In his family, his second son Seshadri holds evening classes in Vocal music at the Adyar Music College, and plays the mridhangam too, while his eldest son is an expert in playing Violin. In the next generation, he has his grandson Sundarram alias Rajiv who plays Mridhangam. He advises the youngsters to listen to a lot of music and attend concerts by renowned musicians, and last but not the least - to have plenty of patience and humility; virtues which will help one achieve in life. Such golden words! It is sad that one who has won laurels here and in abroad for his deft performance has not been conferred with 'Kalai Mamani' award. One can only say that the title deserves him and not vice versa.
Mr.Srinivasan has performed in many countries, like Malaysia, Burma, Singapore and Srilanka, to name a few. He turns nostalgic when he talks about his association with AIR, where he had been working for 20 Years. He attended the interview in 1974 at Hyderabad where eight candidates had come from various states of India. The person who was selected was unable to accept the job as he could not leave his aged parents alone and work in Hyderabad. Since Mr.Srinivasan's name was in the waiting list, he was offered the job. He joined AIR in 1975 and came back to Chennai after a year on a transfer. Even when he was working, he continued to gives concerts in the evenings. Srinivasan has been bestowed with many titles and awards.
Srinivasan has written in Tamil, separate concepts for Vocal music, Bharatha natyam, and Mridhangam which is being rendered by leading artists in their concerts even now. He has written songs in 9 types of Ragas, Varnams in 9 different thalams, Navaragamaligai varnams, Keerthanais, Sri Ragavendra Dasagana songs, songs for Light music and 'Sama Edai' thillanas for Vocal music. In Bharatha natyam he has created Alarippu in 35 Thalams, and in 35 Thalams he has created Ragamaligai Jatiswaram, Sapthams, Padhavarnams and Thillanas, and in Mridhangam he has created 35 Jathis, 35 Thala Mohras, 35 Thala Korvaigal, and 35 Thala
Aridhis.
