The legendary mandolin maestro Uppalapu Srinivas tragically passed away at 9:00 AM today, i.e. September 19, succumbing to a failed liver transplant at a hospital in Chennai. Lovingly nicknamed as 'Mandolin Srinivas', the virtuoso instrumentalist was coined a child prodigy, and began performing at the young age of nine. Born to a mandolin player, Sathyanarayana, from Palakol in Andhra Pradesh, U. Srinivas began training with the mandolin at the age of six under his father, who quickly recognized the natural talent he had with music.

U. Srinivas essentially introduced the mandolin to the Carnatic style of music, creating his own language with it and modifying the instrument from its traditional western design to one more suited to the pitch and tone of Carnatic ragas. U. Srinivas's first Carnatic performance was in 1978 during the Thyagaraja Aradhana festival; soon making it to playing at Madras Music Season in 1981 for the Indian Fine Arts Society, marking him as one of the best musicians of his time. From here on, Srinivas was invited to play on stages across the world including Australia, Southeast Asia, USA, and more.

Perhaps one of his most renowned performance was with the Indo-jazz band Remembering Shakti, featuring a collaboration with guitarist John McLaughlin, table maestro Zakir Hussain, vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, and ghatam master V. Selvaganesh.

Apart from this U. Srinivas has been a part of collaborations with music director Ilaiyaraaja, pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, and many more Indian classical musicians; lending his soulful mandolin tunes to create some of the most memorable performances in music.

Artists from across the globe pay their condolences:

The great Shrinivas has left us but lives on forever in my heart.

— John Mclaughlin (@jmcl_gtr) September 19, 2014

Awful news! U. Srinivas aka Mandolin Srinivas, gone. An absolute genius, and an ambassador for Indian classical music! So young, too! :(

— VISHAL DADLANI (@VishalDadlani) September 19, 2014

Today mother India cries, today a part of Indian music died and we are orphaned, RIP my dear brother Mandolin Srinivas

— Zakir Hussain (@ZakirHtabla) September 19, 2014

Very sad news. U Srinivas, the extremely gifted mandolin player, has passed away. Liver failure. He was a child... http://t.co/ekSW6EeuQd

— indian ocean (@indianoceanband) September 19, 2014

Watch U. Srinivas perform with Remember Shakti live in Vienna below: