Joi Srivastava was born in Allahabad on 1st January 1930. He learned Hindustani classical violin from Gagan Chandra Chatterjee, a violinist who is credited with introducing the gat-style of violin playing in North India. After his teacher passed away, Joi Srivastava learnt from the celebrated Ustad Alauddin Khan as well for a few years. He was a prodigy who became a master of the instrument even before he turned 20. He had already made a name for himself by the time he was 17, having performed a duet with his own guru, Ustad Allauddin Khan at that age. Such was the magic of his violin that when he played, famous poet and litterateur, Pandit Harivansh Rai Bachchan would wait outside his house, sometimes for an hour, rather than enter and interrupt him. His performances at the Banda Music Conference, Nainital Music Conference (1952) and Calcutta Music Conference gave him a lot of critical acclaim.

He started teaching at the University of Allahabad, Prayag Sangeet Samiti and also at Kala Bharati Allahabad. Invited by Pandit Ravi Shankar to join the national orchestra at All India Radio, he came to Delhi in 1957. There he blended Carnatic music techniques with the Dhrupad genre he had been trained in, taking inspiration from his colleagues at AIR like TK Jayarama Iyer and Emani Sankara Sastry. He was a regular artiste on All India Radio Delhi till his retirement in 1987. After that he taught violin at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi till 1994.

Joi Srivastava pioneered a unique style of playing North Indian Classical music on the violin. He was the most accomplished student of Gagan Chandra Chatterjee and could play the full range of music hitherto possible on sitar and sarod only. He also went further and imbibed techniques of Carnatic Veena and Western classical as well into his playing. But he chose to forgo fame in favour of passing on his knowledge to countless students – both in India and from other countries. Still he retained the respect of contemporaries like Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia and other senior musicians of his time.

Joi Srivastava passed away on 6th December 2003.