U Srinivas, the hugely talented and highly respected electric mandolin player based in Chennai, passed away at about 9.30 am on Friday in a Chennai hospital after a short illness, his uncle told Scroll.in over the phone.

"We are now caught up with the formalities," he said.

Srinivas was hospitalised about ten days ago for a liver transplant, and until two days ago, his family was confident that he was on the way to recovery, according to shocked friends of the mandolin player.

Srinivas, who turned 45 in February, was not only a top Carnatic musician but also made a mark in world music, regularly playing with top international artistes. Among his most popular collaborations was his stint with Remember Shakti, which featured the guitar legend John McLaughlin.

A child prodigy, Srinivas stormed the staid world of Carnatic music at the age of 12, impressing the cognoscenti not only with his preternatural musical ability but by playing the south Indian classical music form on the electric mandolin for the first time.

Although referred to as "Mandolin" Srinivas, the instrument he played was closer in design and sound to the electric guitar than the acoustic mandolin, except that it had five strings instead of the electric guitar's six.

"What he did was unprecedented," said N Ravi Kiran, the great chitravina player who was himself a child prodigy, speaking from Chicago. "He took an instrument like the mandolin and made it a household name not only in Indian music but also world music. What has he not done? He has played in top venues in India and around the world, including the Olympic Games in Barcelona, and he has performed with top musicians. From a musical perspective, his contributions were immense, inspiring and irreplaceable. But to me, he was not just a fellow musician; he was a dear friend. I am devastated."

Srinivas and Ravi Kiran were scheduled to play a series of fundraising concerts together next month in the US to raise money for struggling musicians. "He had even sent me an email two days before being hospitalised, discussing a composition of mine that we were thinking of presenting at one of these concerts," Ravi Kiran said. "I cannot believe that he is no more."