Amrutha Venkatesh @ Naada Inbam, Chennai

Venue: Raga Sudha Hall, 85/2, Luz Avenue, Mylapore, Chennai

Date: 18 Apr 2007

Organizer: Naada Inbam (SVK Birthday Concerts Series)

Vocal: Vid. Amrutha Venkatesh

Violin: Vid. Padma Shankar

Mrudangam: Vid. Tanjore Kumar

Ghatam: Vid. Pudukkottai Ramchandran

List of songs:

1) inta chAlamu (varnam) – bEgaDa – Adi – vINai kuppaiyer (0)

2) dhanyu devvaDO – malayamArutam – Adi – paTTaNam subramaNya iyer (OS)

3) nAma kusuma – srI – Adi – thyAgarAja (O)

4) rAmanAtham bhajEham – pantuvarALi – tisra Ekam – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (ANS)

5) tappaganE – sudha bangalA – rUpakam – thyAgarAja

6) pArthasArathI nI – yadukula kAmbOji – Adi – subbarAma dIkshitar (A)

7) ini oru kaNam – srIranjani – rUpakam – pApanAsam sivan (O)

8 ) jananI mAmava – bhairavi – misra chApu – swAti tiruNAL (ANST)

9) ? tuyaram tIra ayOddhi mAnagaril vandu (viruttam) – kalyANi

enakkun iru padam – rAgamAlikA – misra chApu – aruNAchala kavi

10) smara sundarAnguni (jAvaLi) – paras – Adi – dharmapuri subbarAyar

11) navasidhI peTrAlum – kharaharapriyA – misra chApu – nIlakanTa sivan

12) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) – saurAshTram – Adi – thyAgarAja 

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Sri SVK, when he was alive and in charge of Naada Inbam, ensured that he gave ample opportunities to youngsters who had talent and had attained a considerable level of expertise. In fact I have many times seen other sabha secretaries come to Naada Inbam concerts, listen to artists featured by Sri SVK and having convinced themselves of their talent, offer the artists a chance to perform in their own sabhas. One such artist who I think was encouraged a lot by Sri SVK is Vid. Amrutha Venkatesh. The young lady from Bangalore seems to be right on track to making it big in the field.

The fact that she has talent and has put in lots of hard work was evident right from the time she started the varnam. The pantuvarALi alapana only reinforced this. Vid. Padma Shankar played a nice alapana in reply. It would suffice to say that she handled every song with a maturity and confidence characteristic of singers with a lot of experience and that her alapana, neraval, kalpana swarams and kriti renditions underlined the fact that she is a great artist in the making.