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

- ANURAG TAGAT

ON HIS LATEST TAMIL SONG "KAATRE VA," singer-composer Amrit Ramnath takes the indulgent route, crafting a six-anda-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.