Clear diction, clean lines
LALITHAA KRISHNAN
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Amrita Murali's musical expression reveals an underlying conviction that rings true even to the jaded listener.
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Amrita Murali
Her music is refreshingly honest. With no pseudo-iconoclastic propensities to distort the clean lines of her straightforward presentation, Amrita Murali's musical expression is tempered by an underlying conviction that rings true even to the jaded listener.
Flagging off her vocal recital for Nayaki at the Ragasudha hall with Pachimiriam Adiappa's ever-fragrant Bhairavi Ata tala varnam "Viriboni" in two speeds, her voice carried the requisite weight and depth to handle the commanding composition, particularly in the mandira sthayi.
Muthuswami Dikshitar's "Swaminatha" in Nattai was a neat package that showcased her major strength in kriti rendition — clear diction.
Wise choice
The Swathi Tirunal kriti "Deva Deva Jagadeeswara" in Poorvikalyani proved a wise choice, with the accompanying sarvalaghu swaras encased in raga bhava. It was the Ritigowlai alapana that contributed significantly towards raising the tone of the concert.
Elaborated at length without ever losing sight of the unique aesthetics of the raga, the individual components of jaru, karvai, pidis and the proportion-conscious placing and execution of fast phrases fused to form an amalgam that carried the stamp of excellence.
The soft glow of karunya rasa lit up Shyama Sastri's "Janani" in which the only unsuitable note was the stylised transition from nishada to shadja in the line of "Manasija manasa."
"Taamasamu" was the chosen landing point for the kalpanaswaras on which care was lavished to ensure that they echoed the spirit of the composition.
The Tamil kriti "Saravanabhava guhanay" in Kannada infused pep before the artiste embarked upon the main raga, Todi.
Interestingly, Amrita chose to commence with the phrase "pdnsrs" that outlined the raga in a one-line sweep before landing on the lower register and elaborating the gandhara to panchama range. The use of medium to fast intertwined sancharas to enliven intervals between shorter phrases and the brigas cascading from the tara sthayi rishabha and gandhara proved effective devices, although the closing suite could have been enriched by dwelling upon shadja-centred sancharas.
Tyagaraja's "Koluvamaragatha" claimed pride of place with detailed kizh and melkala swaras and neraval replete with well-rounded gamakas.
Scoring full marks for time management, Amrita breezed through Tyagaraja's "Sarasasamadaana" (Kapinarayani) to do ample justice to a ragam tanam pallavi in Kiravani, complete with anuloma and pratiloma.
The raga was a leisurely exposition, and the artiste was in her elements in the tanam where inhibitions crumbled under the onslaught of imaginatively phrased patterns.
The pallavi, "Un darisanam kidaikkumo Nataraja dayanidhe" was set to Khanda jati Triputa tala followed by pleasing ragamalika swaras in Hindolam, Ranjani and Malayamarudam.
Padma Shankar on the violin provided compact raga essays. B. Sivaraman on the mridangam was subdued and zestful by turns and came up with an energetic tani.
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