Amritha Murali’s concert, hosted by Federation of City Sabhas, was marked by both discipline and dynamism. She was ably assisted by R.K. Shriramkumar on the violin, K. Arun Prakash on the mridangam and Chandrasekara Sharma on the ghatam.
Tyagaraja’s ‘Tulasidala’ in Mayamalavagowla was the opening kriti. A vivacious composition, Amritha opted for a fairly engaging niraval at ‘Sarseeruha punnaga’ following it up with an elaborate swaraprastara.
Harikamboji came next, a raga that has to be handled with care to avoid unknowingly entering the arena of related ragas. Amritha handled the alapana with perception and flair. The kriti was ‘Kamala pada malarinai’ by Papanasam Sivan on the Subramania deity. She adorned the line ‘Thirumal marugane’ with both keezh and melkala swaras, with her concluding swara strands landing on ‘daivatam’.
A balanced approach
A rare composition, ‘Krishnananda mukunda murare’ in raga Gowlipantu by Muthuswami Dikshitar came as a filler and was subsequently balanced by Swati Tirunal’s brisk ‘Bhogindra sayeenam’ in lilting Kuntalavarali. The Bhairavi raga treatise for Syama Sastri’s ‘Sari evvaramma’ was the prime presentation. Amritha developed the raga slowly, taking care to convey its beauty and depth. Phrases with brigas and karvais were added at appropriate junctures to present not an elaborate but a perfect picture of the raga.
With a detailed exploration at ‘Syamakrishna paripalini devi’, the vocalist wove keezh kala swaras and the vibrant panchamam-centric mel kala notes with professional expertise. R.K. Shriramkumar’s responses on raga alapana and swaras were elegant exercises.
Arun Prakash and Chandrasekara Sharma were quite subdued in their support as well as in their tani avartanam.
Amritha signed off with ‘Sathyam vidathum’, a shloka from Srimad Bhagavatham, in ragamalika appended by ‘Prahalada kaarane,’ Sant Tukaram’s abhang, set to tune in Peelu by Shriramkumar.
The Chennai-based writer reviews Carnatic concert.
