Ranjani Ramakrishnan – Violin
Trivandrum Balaji – Mrudangam
Nerkunam Shankar – Khanjira
Approximate Songlist:
01. jaya jaya jaya jAnaki (S @ pallavi) – nATTai – khaNDa cApu
02. sarasiruhAnanA – mukhAri – Adi
03. rAma nIvu (R, N @ nI endu prEma, S) – kalyANi – Adi (tisra)
04. srI guruguhAsya – pUrvi – miSra cApu
05. parAkEla nannu – kEdAragowLa – Adi
06. karuNajUDavamma (R, N @ tanu sarIbu [?] , S, T) – tODi – Adi
07. rAgam tAnam pallavi – bilahari – Adi (khaNDa) (sama eDuppu)
pallavi: abO bilaharim naTaharim sadASrayE nAdOdam bUdAdim
rAgamAliga swaras in varALi, bEhAg
08. ratnAkara (vruttam?) in kApi and yamunAkalyANi, and then vandE mAtaram – Adi
Amritha began her concert with a nice rendition of the PD krithi in nATTai, appending kalpanaswaras to the pallavi. This was followed by a beautiful and rare krithi in mukhAri. While she sang it well, I felt she could have slowed down slightly for this krithi to better bring out mukhAri’s bhAvam. Amritha’s first alapanai came in kalyANi, and she sang a thoroughly classical kalyANi without any of the yaman excursions that have become all the rage. In particular, I enjoyed the brisk kAlapramANam she adopted for the alapanai, giving the ragam nice intensity (kalyANi sometimes sags). I thoroughly enjoyed her fluid brighas in delivering kalyANi. A krithi I have not heard before was sung, and it was fair. The neraval was sung mostly in mEl kAlam and was crisp. The kalpanaswaras continued in the same vein.
Amritha then sang another composition I have not heard before in a rAga mostly famous for the Ni Ri Ni Ri tillAna. This was one of the highlights of the concert. Amritha delivered this krithi in a leisurely pace, and it was very beautiful. In sharp contrast, a lightning fast parAkEla nannu came next, and it was a good filler – one of the few compositions in the rAgam that can be sung quickly and still convey the essence of the rAgam. The chiTTai swaras are particularly nice.
Amritha then began a beautiful tODi alapanai. Her tODi was elaborate and was also delivered in a faster kAlapramANam. It was also extremely classical and featured some lovely brighas in the tAra stAyi. She even essayed some mandra stAyi phrases as she concluded the alapanai, and these were nicely handled. The beautiful T composition was sung well with a thorough neraval in two speeds. The kalpanaswaras were mostly in mEl kAlam and done well.
Amritha then sang a concise bilahari. I was a bit surprised to hear her introduce the N2 very early in the alapanai, but it sounded very aesthetic. I loved her brigha sangathis to the tAra shadjam as well. It was a crisp bilahari. The tAnam was actually very neat. Patterns like P,D, PDS, - D,S, DSR, were used nicely. In addition, I liked the fast descent phrases like S,R, - GRSNDP ; R, G, - MGRSND, etc. Amritha confirmed my long held belief that bilahari is a rAgam well suited for tAnam singing. The pallavi was nice but the neraval and swaras were not particularly probing since the clock was ticking. I did enjoy the non-chatuSra naDai setup, and Amritha did trikAlam and anulOmam (I think). The ragamaliga swaras were brief (and unnecessary) and were sung in reverse order, too.
The yamunAkalyANi was beautiful, though this vandE mAtaram seems to feature several ragas all returning to the yamunAkalyANi pallavi – it seemed somewhat peculiar.
This was my first time listening to Amritha and I was taken by her singing. She has a nice voice that surprisingly reaches quite well into the lower octave, though it is somewhat thin in the tAra stAyi. She has a tendency to angle her head upwards when she sings and as a result loses some volume, which seems to accentuate the thinness of in the upper octave. In any event, she has very good azhuttam and is very classical in her approach. She sang in a slightly faster clip most of the time in the concert but somehow retained a lot of sowkhyam – at times, her approach reminded me of KVN. In addition, her raga alapanais were never very long but because of the kalapramANam, they packed a lot of punch. She has great sense of direction when singing alapanais and has a very good grasp of the essence of even vast ragas like kalyANi and tODi. In addition, she varied her kAlapramANam throughout, with a memorable pUrvi. I liked her song choices, too (with a bilahari RTP, would I complain?
). Most of her kalpanaswaras were also sarvalaghu and were very aesthetic. TB and NS were both quite good. TB accompanied nicely and embellished krithis quite well and has gentle, sparse strokes. NS was also good, and the thani was brief but satisfying. I would like to hear more of both these percussionists.
RR was fair on the violin. She did not seem to be in tune with Amritha throughout the concert, and her responses often seemed to differ almost entirely from what Amritha was singing. In particular, she offered a really sedate and meandering kalyANi in response to Amritha’s faster and razor sharp alapanai. The contrast was very jarring and reminded me immediately of RKSK’s lecdem where he emphasised the need for the violinist to match the vocalist’s kAlapramANam. Additionally, she emphasised the nishAdam (often plain) in her kalyANi, but thankfully avoided stepping into HM territory too much. Her tODi was slightly better, and the bilahari featured some lovely, gentle glides to the tAra shadjam. I felt she could have paid much closer attention to what Amritha was singing throughout the concert.
I thought it was a fabulous concert by Amritha.
