Vani Ramamurthi’s voice has charm. This asset, in combination with a bent for melodic aesthetics is the USP of the artist’s music.
After an energetic start with ‘Umaiyor Baagane’ (Nattai, Papanasam Sivan), the vocalist’s swarakalpana strings for ‘Balamu Kulamu’ (Saveri, Tyagaraja) were enlivened by poruthams and also made intelligent use of the iconic ‘grsd rsd sd…..’ chittaiswara motif of ‘Bhavayami Raghuramam.’ Two standalone kritis, a soothing ‘O Jagadamba’ (Anandhabhairavi, Syama Sastri) and a sprightly ‘Bhogindra Sayinam’ (Kunthalavarali, Swati Tirunal) prepared the ground for the main alapana in Kalyani.
The exposition’s strength manifested via the pidis that fortified the panchama suite, while subtlety surfaced through the silky dip and glide of jarus textured by instinctive tonal modulation. Shadja-varja prayogas added light and shade to the nishada suite. But it was in the tara sthayi that the artist truly came into her own. The sancharas were chiselled with a maturity and insight far beyond her years. It was this evidence of finer aesthetics which announced that this was an artist increasingly likely to feature on rasikas’ radar. A reposeful ‘Bhajare Re Chitta’ (Muthuswami Dikshitar) was taken forward at a kalapramana that maximised bhava. Catchy little kanakkus peppered the free-flowing kalpanaswara that capped the niraval at ‘Devim Sakthi.’
Fluent sweep of voice and emotive intensity impressed in the viruttam and ‘Sodanai Sumai’ (Kapi, Papanasam Sivan). Violinist Apoorva Krishna’s zest and kalpanaswara responses complemented the vocalist’s efforts. On the mridangam, Karthick Ganeshraman’s accompaniment and tani avartanam were marked by resonance.
Headed in the right direction, there is one aspect Vani would benefit from working on. Her voice has a tendency to thin out in the tara sthayi. With the right techniques, this issue can be addressed to achieve a more uniform timbre.
