Amritha Murali @ Nadasurabhi Annual Festival , 2nd Nov 2019

Vocal :  Amritha Murali

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma

Ghatam : Sukanya Ramgopal

List :

00 shLOkam ( sadguru gajAsyavANim ) – hamsadhwani ?

01 vandE vAsudEvam anisham – shrI – khaNDachAp – Annamacharya ( S )

02 Ee vasudhA nIvaNTi daivamu – sahAna – Adi – Thyagaraja ( O, S )

03 nIvaNTi daivamunu – thODi – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & Swaras @ ‘sAreku nA madini nilipina kumAra dayAkara nIraja lOcana’

04 sharaNu venkaTa ramaNA – sAranga – mishrachAp – Purandara Dasa

05 pArvati ninnu nE – kalgaDa – Adi tisragati – Shyama Shastri

06 shrI subramanyAya namastE – kAmbOji – tishra Eka – Dikshitar ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swaras @ vAsavAdi sakaladEva vanditAya varENyAya ‘

07 shLokam ( sad-chidAnanta rUpAya) – behAg, kApi,dEsh,hamsAnandi,bhAgEshrI

sAgara shayana vibhO – bhAgEshrI – Adi – M D Ramanathan

08 vandEmAtaram jaya jaya – rAgamAlika – Subramanya Bharathi

09 thillAna ( tanana dhiraNA dhIm) – khamAs – Adi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

10 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

Very commendable and laudable effort. Top class thodi and kamboji. Full 3 hr fair, despite some early difficulties with the amplification, the concert was really measured up to a grand one. Solid all round support from the co artists.

It all moved well with the thOdi. Very well done alapana, especially the second half of it, once the initial to and fro was settled. The concluding 2-3 minutes were awesome. Nivanti daivamu wasn’t expected, not heard much in concerts ( Malladi Bros a couple of times), but boy, she sang well. Long neraval lines are my weakness, and she did it expectantly well and matching swaras too.

Kamboji, was even better. The alapana had more order and progression. Some of her takes in the middle and higher octaves were mesmerizing. Charulatha, by now with a contact mic, was equally brilliant. I did predict Shri Subramanyaya, rightly. Solid singing, and the neraval at vasavadi. All that kAmbOji can give you was there. Her use of the voice, those kAmbOji special ‘tArastAyi’ movements, clear and clever use of words and splits. The two speed swaras were equally good.

After a very long time a really enjoyable tani avartanam. There was near 100% coordination between both the artists. Shri Anooru Ananthakrishna Sharma, played some really really delectable moves, followed by Vidushi Sukanya. The Korvai/ Mohra were so matching as if they had practiced it together before the concert.

The ragamalika shlokam, post the main stood out preceding the MDR’s masterpiece in bhAgEshrI. And, for once I heard the mangalam starting at the pallavi line.

 

Amritha Murali at Nadasurabhi, 17th June 2018

Vocal : Vid. Amritha Murali

Violin : H M Smitha

Mrudangam : B C Manjunath

Ghatam: S N Narayana Murthy

List:

01 shLOkam ( sadguru gajasyavANim)

pankajAkSi nI pai (varNam) – kAmbOji – Adi – Ramaswami Sivan

02 rAmA ninnE nammi nAnu – husEni – Adi – Thyagaraja  ( O,S )

03 tyAgarAjAya namastE – bEgaDa – Roopakam – Dikshitar ( A,S )

04 vihara mAnasa rAmE – kApi – Mishra Chap – Swathi Thirunal ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘karuNArasa nilayE sarasIruha nAbhE ‘

05 mAyamma yaninE – Ahiri – Adi x 2 – Shyama Shasthri

06 venkaTaramaNanE bArO – paras – Adi – Purandara Dasa

07 RTP – thODi – mishra jhumpa , 2 kaLai , + 3 akSaram eDuppu

pallavi line : ‘shankaram lOkashankaram bhakta vashankaram, sadA bhajE shiva-‘

rAgamAlika swaras in malayamArutam, khamAs, amrutavarSiNi

tani Avartanam

08 hari chitt satya – jOnpuri – Mishra chAp – Purandara Dasa

09 shLOkam ( kastUri tilakam) – behAg, sindhubhairavi, bhAgEshrI

sAgara shayana vibhO – bhAgEshrI – Adi x 2 – MDR

10 thillAna ( ni ri ni ri ga ma ga ri sa ) – pUrvi – T Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar

11 mangaLam – saurAStram / madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja

 

 

Amritha Murali @ Nadasurabhi 16th March 2014

Vocal : Amritha Murali

Violin : Mathur Srinidhi

Mrudangam : Prof V Krishna

Ghatam : Phanindra Bhaskara

List :

01.  SLOkam ( sadguru daSasya? vANi) – nATa

02.  jAnaki ramaNa – Sudha sImantini – Thyagaraja ( S )

03.  endukku nIrdaya – harikAmbOji – Thyagaraja ( O, N, S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ dharalO nIvai tyAgarAjupai‘

04.  ninnu vinAga mari – pUrvikalyANi – Shyama Sasthri ( A,N )

neraval @ ‘kAmitArttha phaladAyaki nIvE’

05.  brOva bhAramA – bahudhAri – Thyagaraja

06.  srI nIlOlpala nAyikE – nari rItigauLa – Dikshitar ( A,S )

07.  Saravanabhava guhanE – kannaDa – Papanasam Sivan

08.  raksha bettarE doraku – bhairavi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ sangItapriya tyAgarAja gEyuDaina – doraku’

09.   SLOkam ( kastUri tilakam lalAta) – rAgamAlika ( nAdanAmakriya , kApi, chenchurutti)

nInyAkO ninna hangyAkO ranga – rAgamAlika ( chenchurutti, punnAgavarALi, nAdanAmakriya,kurinji?, bhAgEShri, kApi, sindhu bhairavi) – Purandara Dasa

10.  sundar tE dhyAn (abhang) – ?? – Thukaram

11.  thillAna ( nadru tadhIm dhiraNa) – sindhu bhairavi  – Tanjavur Kalyanaraman

12. mangaLam – saurAshtram, surutti – Tyagaraja

Amritha Murali’s concert despite a cold start, picked up steam midway and finished with a bang, to an enthusiastic audience at Nadasurabhi. 30 mins into concert, I was having second thoughts on  my decision to come and attend the concert, diplomatically seeing off a guest to be on time at the hall. Having taken more than 10 mins tuning the tanpura ( such unprofessionalism, keeping the listeners waiting) she started off with a neat slokam and instead of continuing with the same raga, skipping varnam, started off with the sudha simantini kriti. Some not very appealing ‘padachedams’ and the damp ‘rakta naLina daLA’ did not really impressed me. She extended this with few rounds of swarams. The next hari kamboji also came and went without much ripples albeit the neraval and swaras.

Purvikalyani was the first detailed alapana. It started very elegantly, but traced a sinusoidal path of its execution ( some interesting takes moving to a phase of indifference). She, however, chose a brilliant kriti of Shyama Sastri given it a long and deserved treat, adding to some rounds of neraval. A quickfire bahudhari, as a filler seems to have set the shift of ‘plain’ to a different level.

Nari ritigaula alapana, started with clear indication of the raga ( not to my limited knowledge to differentiate) and there was an acknowledging nod and smile from Srinidhi. Dikshitar’s kriti, I thought, was beautifully rendered, with a delectable kalpana swara at the first line of ‘madhyamakala sahityam’. I like when artists sing the complete line of the madhyamakala sahityam using the swaraksharam. Sanjay did the same last week at NMGA for ‘sadAchalESwaram’ in bbhUpALam.

After another filler in kannaDa, she launched herself into an elaborate bhairavi. A decent exposition of the raga from her side, with even better exhibition from Mathur Srinidhi. Raksha bettare was again a pleasant choice and she excelled herself in singing the kriti, the neraval at ‘sangItapriya’ and the kalpana swara. At the first speed swara singing, she enthralled the audience with a long phrase of sarvalaghu swaras before moving into the second speed. Brilliantly conceived and  executed. By now, she was brimming with control and confidence. The percussion duo, supporting the main artist eloquently until now, played an entertaining tani avartanam.

Post main is noted for the ragamalika slokam and the devarnama sang again in ragamalika spanning into seven ragas. She closed the concert with a marathi abhang and a thillana.

Amritha Murali, by the time she concluded her concert, had won the the audience. Despite a cold start ( like playing cricket in a wet ground where the ball does not come up to the bat), she managed to turn it around and deliver a good concert with some clever selection of kritis. I would still like to see a bit more energy transpired from the performer to the audience. She is a good musician and will watch out for her concerts in Bangalore.