Amritha Murali @ Naada Inbam, Chennai

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

Date: 12 June 2007

Organizer: Naada Inbam

Vocal: Vid. Amritha Murali

Violin: Vid. R. Hemalatha

Mrudangam: Vid. Erode Nagaraj

Ghatam: Vid. N. Guruprasad

List of songs:

1) ninnE kOri (varnam) – kAnaDA – Adi – tiruvOTriyUr tyAgayyA (O)

2) shankaram abhirAmi – kamalAmanOhari (manOhari) – rUpakam – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (S)

3) bhuvinidAsuDanE – shrIranjani – Adi – tyAgarAja (ANS)

4) kAmAkSi – bilahari – Adi – muthsuwAmi dIkshitar (AS)

5) brOvavammA tAmasamElE – mAnji – misra chApu – syAma sAstri

6) nenarunchinAnu – mALavi – Adi – tyAgarAja

7) dAsharathI – tODi – Adi – tyAgarAja (ANST)

8 ) nArimaNi (jAvaLi) – khamAs – Adi – dharmapuri subbarAyar

9) sacidAnanda rUpAya vishvOtpatyAdi hetavE (viruttam) – rAgamAlikA

krishnA nI bEganE bArO – yamunA kalyANi – misra cApu – vyAsarAya

10) nADi thEDi (tiruppugazh) – bAgEswari – ** (see below) – aruNagirinAthar

11) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) – saurAshTram – Adi – tyAgarAja

** each Avartanam of tALam for tiruppugazh was put as two tisra cApus followed by tisra ekam

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

Vid Amritha Murali is one artist who can always be banked upon to give a quality concert and this concert was no exception. She started the concert with a kAnaDA raga outline which led me to speculate on the possibility of hearing the kAnaDA aTa tALa varnam. Instead the kAnaDA Adi tALa varnam was sung beautifully in two speeds to some very good accompaniment from Vid Erode Nagaraj on the mrudangam. Then came “shankaram abhirAmi” – a song I heard for the first time from one of Vid Balaji Shankar’s audio releases. (The tape in that audio cassette had worn down because of my listening to the song so many times) Vid Amritha sang this song well and followed it up with exciting rounds of kalpanA swarams. All the other songs were rendered well too. Special mention must be made of “brOvavammA” and “krishnA nI bEganE” which were also embellished with some very good accompaniment especially from the percussion department.

Vid Hemalatha accompanied well on the violin. Vid Erode Nagaraj and Vid N. Guruprasad played taniavartanam in Adi tALam in catusra and tisra naDais for eDuppu of 0.5 beat before samam at “prakAshimpa jEsina rasika shirOmaNi” in the tODi kriti “dAsharathI“.