Season Reviews 1 - Music Academy

By Sivapriya Krishnan

Vocal – Pantula Rama

Violin – MSN Murthy

Mridangam – VV Ramanamurthy

Khanjira – Nerkunram Sankar

Music Academy – 20.12.25

Pantula Rama’s concert was a picture of a poised rendition with a scholarly approach to music presented in the most unassuming and effortless way. The concert was like a gentle breeze, no drama, no noise. Just music wafting in the air with the renewed audio system at the Academy being put to the best use.

A special mention should be made about her decision to bring the ragam-tanam-pallavi to the first half of the concert. This ensured that the RTP was given the due respect and time in all its glory without rushing it and micro packaging it at the end as some sort of a mandatory disclaimer announcement.

Her RTP in Kedaragaula raga, with the words Neelamegha dhaama Venuganalola was set to Misra chapu tala. The rendition was replete with all the tala intricacies without losing sight of the melody aspects, which Rama always takes care of. Her tanam and raga were filled with traditional and well-balanced Kedaragaula phrases.

Chinna nadena in Kalanidhi, Nadaloludai in Kalyaavasantam and Gopalaka in Revagupti set the initial mood for the concert before the RTP. Entavedu kondu Ragahava in Saraswati Manohari was a super fine rendition with sangatis cascading one after the other. The meaning of the song was delivered with its full import due to the correct accent and pronunciation of the Telugu lyrics. Meenakshi Me Mudham Dehi in Gamakakriya was the centerpiece in the concert, and the intelligent niraval and swara kalpana at Veena gana dasha Gamakakriye were much appreciated by the audience. Chelinenetlu, a javali in Paras, was rendered with all the subtle romanticism and again the knowledge of the language gave a heft to the rendition.

MSN Murthy is an unwavering support, with the violin and matched Rama’s creativity swara for swara, adding to the melodic content of the concert. V.V. Ramanamurthy has a powerful style of playing the mridangam and has a good naadam. Nerkunram Sankar’s khanjira added to the rhythmic value and the overall melody of the concert sensitively.

***

Vocal – Amrutha Venkatesh

Violin – Bombay Madhavan

Mridangam – Arjun Ganesh

Morsing – Payyanur Govindaprasad

Music Academy – 27.12.25

Amrutha Venkatesh presents her concerts with a studied excellence. The display of her technical expertise and exploration all have a certain ease and finesse that comes with ultimate confidence and assuredness from her knowledge. Over the years, she has grown as an intelligent musician who can marry melody to technique without the imposition of her knowledge, but with a fine rendition that is both pleasing to the ears and food to the brain.

She opened with a varnam Intha Chouka by Sadasiva Rao, in Pantuvarali. Brova Samayamide in Gowri Manohari by Garbha Puri Vasa was rendered with ease and felicity of swaras and enunciation. Muruga Muruga in Saveri was imploring, and Raja Raja Radhithe in Niroshta was galloping in contrast to one another. Swati Tirunal’s Jagadeesa Mamava saw an intricate raga alapana of Natakurinji where she unravelled the raga layer by layer, delving into the contours dexterously. The niraval at Khaga vahana was handled with care and intelligence, and followed with a wide range of swara kalpana.

Sucharitra was a bold raga that she chose to present her ragam-tanam-pallavi. The tala name also corresponds to that and is structured with a framework of guru, chatusra jathi laghu, dhrutasekhara viramam, and anudhrutam. She chose this from an academic session of the Academy during which this was discussed and documented. The pallavi line was from the composition of vidwan M. Balamuralikrishna on Muthuswami Dikshitar – Chintayaami Santatam Sree Muthuswami Dikshitam parama pavitram. We should recall that even last year, Amruta had painstakingly researched a tala from the academic sessions and presented the same, thus proving that she effectively researches and demonstrates her learning methodically and melodiously in her concerts.

Bombay Madhavan has a melodic bowing on his violin, and that evening, he shadowed her well with sensitivity. Arjun Ganesh has matured into a very good mridangam vidwan and gels well with Amrutha Venkatesh’s approach. He embellished the concert and provided intelligent support along with Govindaprasad’s morsing, which melded with the overall melody of the concert.

***

Vocal – Vignesh Ishwar

Violin – Trivandrum Dr N Sampath

Mridangam – Praveen Sparsh

Ghatam – U N Giridhar Uduppa

Music Academy – 29.12.25

Vignesh Ishwar is blessed with a robust voice, melodious and pliant with a slight nasality, and he uses it well to display his ideas, leaving you with a sense of fullness of listening. His manodharma aspects are measured and complete, with no unwanted excess. Vignesh takes care to create an enveloping sound with melody and raga bhava as the pivot of the concert.

Biranavaralichi brovumu ninnu nera nammiti in Kalyani, composed by Syama Sastry in Roopaka tala, was given its full stature with all the contours of the raga, except that one heard him repeatedly stop at ‘bro’ instead of brovumu. Yes, it’s not easy to be so exact while singing, but with attention, it can be avoided. Entha vedu kondhu Raghava in Saraswati Manohari was true to the lyrical import of the song sounded very melodious in Vignesh's voice. Veena Pustaka Dharini, a Muthuswami Diskshitar masterpiece in raga Vegavahini, is one of its kind. This song was sung with respect to the composition and to the intent of the composer, laying out grandly the various nuances of the raga and the song, in a fulfilling manner.

Karaharapriya saw an excellent treatment, and Vignesh touched all aspects of the raga in the manner in which he presented it. The quintessential Pakkala Nilabadi was the offering. The neraval at Manasuna dalachimeimarachi unnara came with the complete raga bhava, intelligent spacing and precise landing.  Following this was a ragam-tanar-pallavi in Raga Surati and tisra Triputa tala in four kalai. The pallavi was sung with poise, demonstrating the trikalam, changing the gait with a good amount of neraval and swara kalpana. The dwi raga tillana in Surati and Sindhubhairavi, a composition by R.K. Shriramkumar, was sung with aplomb.

Trivandrum Sampath is an excellent accompanist and mirrors the main artist intelligently while standing on his own. Praveen Sparsh is a spirited mridangam vidwan, and he lent the right balance in providing percussion support along with Giridhar Uduppa, who treats his ghatam with utmost sensitivity. Both of them rounded off the melodic content with the right proportion of rhythmic values, thus making for a pleasant listening experience.

(The author is a Carnatic vocalist, writer and management professional)