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Amrit Ramnath Finds Catharsis in Quiet, Tender Tamil Songs ‘Megangal’ and ‘Kaatre Va’

The Chennai-based artist, however, has plans to do “something totally different” with cheerier Hindi songs coming up soon

Jul 05, 2023
Rolling Stone India - Google News

Singer-composer Amrit Ramnath. Photo: Praneeth Reddy

On his latest Tamil song “Kaatre Va,” singer-composer Amrit Ramnath takes the indulgent route, crafting a six-and-a-half-minute song with Kochi-based violin and cello artist Rithu Vysakh. It adapts a poem by Tamil poet Mahakavi Bharathi (also known as Bharathiyar) and Amrit turned to one of his most trusted collaborators, vocalist Bombay Jayashri (also his mother) for help in structuring it.

The stirring tune takes a cathartic journey, powered by guitar, string sections and Ramnath’s distinctly affectionate and versatile vocals. “This is one indulgent song where creatively, I’m just like, ‘I’m just gonna do everything I want to do and release it.’ This is that song,” he says over a call where he’s sharing his upcoming and unreleased music.

Like most of us, Amrit is drawn to strings and knows it’s “easy to feel very intensely” with the instrument group. “I can hear strings in everything. I’m a huge fan of [composer] Ennio Morricone. I’ve recently rediscovered a lot of this stuff and I think just compositionally I like to I feel like strings are a cop out to emotion,” he adds. The message on “Kaatre Va” is one of healing and moving on in life, but from a perspective of romance in a different era.

The song follows his previous Tamil release “Megangal,” which also lay in a similar somber space. Releasing music since 2019, Amrit has offered variety in his tunes so far, singing in Hindi and Tamil and often having acoustic guitar as a fixture. It calls out to the singer-songwriter in him, but raised in different cities by parents who are heavily inclined to music means that there’s always a lot more to tap into. The artist says music is a “second language of sorts” and learning to play violin, guitar, and harmonium, as well as become a classically trained vocalist is all formative to the kind of music he makes.

He released his EP Jago with fellow singer-composer Amira Gill in 2022 and has since put out only Tamil songs. That’s about to change, though, as he previews an upcoming Hindi song called “Jeene Do.” True to his love for acoustic melodies, the song has a breezy, Jack Johnson-esque influence that could make it fit into any spirited film soundtrack. He adds about the track, “It’s very transparent and I really want to enter the Hindi music scene.”  It’s among about nine Hindi songs that Amrit has in the bank, with “Jeene Do” already being road-tested at a gig in Bengaluru earlier this year. “It was interesting to see how people were reacting. It was the only Hindi song among five songs we played,” he adds.

That’s not to say it’s a complete pivot. Tamil songs like “Oorkuruvi” and “Nila” are in the works, showcasing two different ends of the songwriting spectrum for Amrit. “Oorkuruvi” – which translates to “village bird” – is a Tamil folk-influenced song about gossip culture that fits right into the heartland with plenty of playful percussion flourishes and vocals that seemingly draws from gospel choir. “It’s this fictional story that I came up with about this bird that goes from house to house in the village and gossips with the families,” he adds. The somber “Nila,” on the other hand, is among his most recent compositions, written and recorded while he was taking care of his mother as she recovered from an aneurysm in the U.K. earlier this year.

The family’s just returned home a week ago after extensive treatment that has the renowned Carnatic vocalist in recovery mode. Amrit says, “What she had was fairly critical. So when she was there, things were all over the place. It was very overwhelming for me and my family. But then once she got out of the ICU, and when things eased out, she started writing a lot of poetry […] Writing was something she was really keen on doing. She wrote this one particular poem [where] she’s metaphorized pain with darkness and how the moon can sort of take away that pain.” The artist had a “mini setup” in the room, with his MIDI controller, mic and guitar to record. The backstory makes “Nila” even more heartwarming in the way it sounds triumphant, becoming bright and nocturnal in turns.

Outside of writing on his own and making the most of a mobile setup, Amrit is also working on a song with Rashmeet Kaur, plus another tune with singer-songwriter and percussive guitarist Dhruv Visvanath adding his signature flair. Amrit adds, “I’ve got about one and a half albums’ worth of songs that I’m gonna phase out and release over the next few months and then I just want to get back on stage, because I just love performing.”

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