Kahan Gaye Woh Log.. (Where have they gone?)
The excitement in the open air Key's High School auditorium was palpable. People had gathered to hear a young kid play a new instrument (new from a Carnatic music point of view), called Mandolin. The kid went by the name of Srinivas. He came, he played and he conquered everyone's heart. Those were the years when many ears heard the instrumentalists play. Those were the golden years for instrumentalists, both in the carnatic music field and in Tamil film music. It was late 1970s and most of 1980s when instrumentalists held sway. Let's have a nostalgic look at those times. U.Srinivas was not the only prodigy who had exceptional skills on an instrument. Before him had come people like Veena Gayathri, on, what else, veena and Ravikiran on Gottuvadyam (which he later renamed as Chitraveena.) It was an exciting era when some experienced stalwarts brushed shoulders with exceptionally gifted youngsters. One one hand was the violin trio of Lalgudi, MSG and T N Krishnan, who between...