‘Every note must touch the listener’s heart’

Music melts all our separate parts together,” said a famous poet and you get the same feeling when you hear U Rajesh’s fingers dance ecstatically on his mandolin.

Rajesh is a mandolin virtuoso, a composer, an arranger, and a record producer, who has performed nationally and across the globe over the last three decades. He is one of the most sought-after musicians in the Karnatik and fusion music genres. He is the brother of the legendary musician late Mandolin U Srinivas who is even today considered to be the Mozart of Indian classical music. 

Rajesh was the youngest participant of the Magic Mandolin Festival in Germany in the 80s and his performance at the Lincoln Center in New York in 2006 was voted among the best concerts of the year by the ‘New Yorker’ magazine. Rajesh was also specially honoured by the President of India in April 2007.  He has released his own solo albums  — ‘Coromandel Duet’ with A K Palanivel and Vikku Vinayakram, ‘Spirits’ and ‘Into the Light’. Besides touring, recording and performing with his guru and elder brother U Srinivas, he has also performed with renowned musicians. Rajesh is one of the directors of the Srinivas Institute Of World Music (SIOWM) founded by his elder brother, which offers free music classes to students across India and abroad. His ‘Healing Mandolin’ series and fundraisers during the recent pandemic helped many musicians survive the tough period. Excerpts from an interview

How did your brother adapt the mandolin to Karnatik music?

My brother was very young when he heard the sound of the mandolin. He was fascinated by it and asked my father to get him one. As an adept musician, he adapted it to Karnatik music from the original eight strings (4 pairs) to a single 5 strings, which we know our Indian classical music needs for mandrasthaya. Five single strings are very comfortable for playing the Gamakams of Karnatik music. This was the major reason the mandolin, originally a lute instrument played much in Italy, could be so smoothly adapted to Indian aesthetics.    

How would you describe your musical trajectory?

I initially wanted to become a pilot but through some divine intervention, I became a musician. When I was seven years old, I went with my brother to a discourse by the Paramacharya of Kanchi. My brother introduced me and said I had just started learning music. I was asked to play my music and was blessed by him. I consider this as a turning point in my life as a musician. My late brother meant everything to me. Every concert with him was a blessing and a learning experience; I wish I could be born as his brother in all my future lives too.

Since then, I have made many musical compositions and a couple of albums. Creativity and innovation are very important for a musician. When jazz music legend John Mclaughlin asked me whether I would like to play for his album, ‘Floating Point’, I felt highly blessed and fortunate. That album was nominated for a Grammy in 2007. For any musician to play soulfully, he ought to have an inherent love for music. Every note must touch the listener’s heart. 

You formed a band with playback singer Karthik...

Playback singer Karthik is my very good friend, with whom I discussed the possibility of starting a band where we create only original compositions. That’s how ‘Srishti’ was formed with Karthik, Chinu Banks, Fazal, Ali Banks and myself. I created a composition called ‘That One Note’ and developed a new raga called ‘Mayura’ as a member of the band.