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crosspicker
Apr-15-2004, 8:59am
There is a VCD (video CD) out that features U. Srinivas and his brother U. Rajesh in concert in India. They also have a CD called Mystic Raptures. I got them at www.abstractlogix.com. Both the concert and the CD are very good.

delsbrother
Apr-29-2004, 2:34pm
A little caveat here:

I ordered a bunch of CDs from this place, and they arrived yesterday..

Even though they are in shrink wrap, I get the feeling they were all used. All had surface scratches and pits. Some had fingerprints, broken cases, etc. I guess these could've been created in shipping, or maybe Indian CD packaging isn't as "sterile" as in the West.. But that surprised me. I'm still working my way through listening to see if any skip.

The thing I hated the most was the VCD (the thing I really wanted to watch) was cracked at the hub and unplayable.

I'm sending off my complaint email today; we'll see if they make things right. This stuff is hard to come by - it's frustrating to finally find them and then have it not be a good experience.

crosspicker
Apr-30-2004, 10:41am
delsbrother,
I hope everything's resolved to your satisfaction. I'd hate to think I steered anybody towards a dodgy website.
If they don't make things right by you, let us know and I'll tell them that I won't be buying anything from them again.

delsbrother
May-13-2004, 2:04pm
Got my replacement VCD the other day - the company was fine to deal with.. Though they still insist the items are completely new. Never had a new CD have fingerprints on it.. I think the lesson I should take from this is never buy CDs from the Subcontinent without visually inspecting them first..

That being said, the VCD is amazing. I guess I knew there was a lot of sliding going on in Srinivas' style, but to watch him play was a revelation - his hands are sliding up and down the fretboard so fast you can barely see where he's landing. Plus, they keep dipping their fretting fingers into some substance - is this the oil Spruce was talking about earlier? I wonder where you might get some..

Interesting to see both players shaking out their hands and stretching their fingers during the songs - that's physically demanding stuff!

delsbrother
May-13-2004, 2:18pm
Oh, almost forgot - I had asked this awhile back but never got confirmation until I watched the VCD - Srinivas uses a combination of flatpicking, fingerpicking (he palms the pick for some muted doublestops), and an Indian version of Travis picking (pick and fingers).

I thought he might be overdubbing or playing multiple independent lines with his brother. But at least in the VCD, he's either trading phrases (one player is completely silent while the other plays everything) or they're both playing the same melody in unison.

At least that's how I saw it - the right hand attack was just as interesting to see as the left hand gymnastics.

crosspicker
May-14-2004, 3:20pm
Glad to hear everything worked out for you in your dealings with abstractlogix.com. Now I can rest easy and buy more stuff from them.
What thread are you referring to where Spruce said that U. Srinivas dips his fingers in oil? What would that do to the strings and the fingerboard?
I also noticed that U. Srinivas plays with a lot of consecutive upstrokes.
His brother seems to be playing the same style of mandolin as Srinivas. I also have an album of a woman and man duo playing Carnatic music on the electric mandolin and from the picture on the album cover their mandolins look the same as U. Srinivas'. Somebody has to find out who makes those mandos.

delsbrother
May-14-2004, 4:29pm
Crosspicker,

That was in an earlier thread back when Mandobirds first came out.. Spruce was contemplating yanking the frets on his and doing something with (coconut?) oil.. I dunno - are other Indian instruments played with oil?

They're certainly doing something with their fretting hands during the concert, but I can't really tell what it is.

The make of Srinivas' mando was discussed earlier as well. There was a reference in one of the recordings to it being a "Shamax" mandolin, but internet searches were fruitless for me. I actually owned one of these mandos for a time (or at least one that looked like it) but it had been damaged in shipment so I sent it back - it had no maker's mark on it at all. Quality was pretty poor too. I have pictures if you want to see it closer.