Two weeks after H Sridhar's death, (December 1), the music industry paid homage to the audio wizard who showcased sound engineering on a global platform. "What twists the knife in my heart is the fact that a couple of days after his death, my album Floating Point', mixed by him has been nominated for the Grammy awards," said John McLaughlin, the bassist who founded Shakti, in a written message, read out at the homage held on Sunday at Real Image, where Sridhar worked as chief audio engineer.
A visibly sad A R Rahman, with whom Sridhar was working on mixing the songs for Ghajini' (Hindi) said the self taught audio engineer was held in high regard by the fraternity. "Last week when I was in Los Angeles, the head of Fox Music told me he liked my melody in Bombay Dreams', but was really moved by the sound of the strings. It is a tribute to the ultimate sound technician. I miss the man whom I always held as the brother I never had," added Rahman. Sridhar's body of work included films such as Lagaan, Roja and Bombay. Cinematographer Rajiv Menon, classical pianist Anil Srinivasan and drummer Sivamani were among those who saluted the sound technician. Srinivasan played Bharathiar's famous song, Asai Mugam', interspersing it with the background score of Chariots of Fire' while Sivamani dedicated the track, Infinity' from his new album Aaha Leela' to Sridhar. The most moving tribute came from Sridhar's two sons, who played Day Break' (Pat Methney), Black Magic Woman' ( Carlos Santana) and Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb'. P Jayendra, director Real Image announced the institution will give an all-India scholarship for audio engineering, in Sridhar's memory. A five-minute audio visual on the man who blended scientific temperament with unbridled passion for music, was also shown. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/Rahman_McLaughlin_pay_tribute_to_sound_wizard_H_Sridhar/articleshow/3837189.cms -- regards, Vithur
