Overall it was a good concert by Amritha Murali with violin support by Ganesh Prasad, mridangam by J. Vaidyanathan and ganjira by Alathur Raja Ganesh. Syama Sastri’s swarajati, ‘Raave Himagirikumari,’ in Thodi was soulful.
A fast-paced ‘Deva Deva Jagadeeswara’ in Purvikalyani followed with niraval of the second line of anupallavi ‘Padmanabhavasa’; this was quite an unusual line taken for niraval and thus attractive; but the niraval and swarams were rather too long in proportion to the kriti.
The elaboration of Ritigowla was quite spirited by Amritha. The chosen song was Thyagaraja’s ‘Badaligateera’ with swaras for the Pallavi. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s vibhakti kriti ‘Sri Guruguhasya Dasoham’ in Poorvi was sung in a proper reposeful tempo. The alapana of Khambodi was expansive .
Amritha is intelligent, hard working, and has a clear voice, her brigas and sangathis came with every note occurring without ambiguity; nevertheless, when ideas appeared to chase each other, it wove an inextricable web around her.
This is the trend among many young artists and she is no exception. Also, instead of hovering on the upper octave all the time, a little bit below panchamam would have made it more appealing. Ganesh Prasad’s essay was impressive.
‘Sri Raghuvara’ was rendered with swara-sahityam with second kaalam too; left without niraval and swaras it would have been neat. Vaidyanathan’s percussion support was, as always, a great asset, particularly during kalpanaswaras.
The thani by him and Raja Ganesh enhanced the recital. She rounded off the concert with Purandara Dasa’s ‘Sharanu Sharanu’ in Behag followed by a Ragamalika, ‘Kumaragurupara’ and a Thiruppugazh.
