Rooted in tradition
B.R.C. IYENGAR
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Ramamurthy's forte lay in his classical approach to his presentation.
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MUSIC & MELODY Ramamurthy retains time-honoured values.
Carnatic music is undergoing a sea change in recent years and it is hard to find the traditional and conventional style in contemporary music. The passionate desire to win applause has made the artiste include as much of academic and intellectual litter at the cost of music and melody. It is however gratifying to note that a few like Ramamurthy, who gave a concert under the sponsorship of Kalasagaram have yet preserved the time-honoured values of the past. Ramamurthy belongs to the parampara of Ariyakudi and like him the style had vibrant dynamism and moved from item to item with renewed passion. Predominantly based on the madhyamakala (medium paced) format, there was brevity reflecting the style of Ariyakudi and the relaxed singing had its designed place and time too. The overall layout lead from the simple to the complex all the time being aware of the response of the audience.
The items were well chosen both in terms of importance as well as melodic content and some of the items like Varali were evocative of the parampara. Without resorting to popularly pleasing tactics, the chastity of the concert was well maintained and there was no moment when the concert nagged. As a concert, in its entirety as well as in its individual items, the performance was well balanced. Nothing needed to be added and nothing was found superfluous. The kritis were well coined; the alapana was brief but covered a broad band, the neraval was to the point and swarakalpana crisp and attractive. Kalyani ata thala varnam augured the concert well. Mahaganapathim in Naatai and Nada sudha in Arabhi built up the tempo. Varali with crunchy sangathis covered the alapana and the kriti, Seshschalanayakam, with smart neraval and swarakalpana was a la Ariyakudi. The concert soon calmed down with a moving rendering of Namakusuma of Thyagaraja in the raga Sri. The kriti has outstanding raga bhava and Ramamurthy did full justice to it. The highlight of the concert was the item in Hindola. The alapana had all the embellishments and the kriti, Mansuloni marmamalu caught the ear of one and all. Paripalinchumani in Suddha saveri was wedged in as an entrée to be followed by the main item Sri subramanyaya namasthe in Kamboji. In every aspect the item was complete and satisfying. The entire concert was to some extent soiled by a couple of lighter items that were not pleasing. The concert was impressive partly because of the rich voice of Ramamurthy, which travels well and effortlessly.
Dinakar on the violin followed up the ideas of the artiste implicitly and added his own imagination, particularly in the alapana of Hindola and Kamboji. Arvind on the mridangam is an intelligent player and on the occasion enhanced the dignity of the concert with his imaginative ideas. The thani with Balasubramanyam on the ghatam was a fitting finale to the concert. The performance to a great extent was spoilt by incessant rain and the audience was rather thin.
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Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
