Mithali and musical sublimity
a postscript
by Khairul Chowdhury
Mithali has attained truly the musical sublimity in
her performance on the evening of the 10th June at UNSW.
Her performance has not only benefited but also
altered and activated her audience.
She attained the sublimity by:
(a)
involving every member of the audience, and her musical rendering
became the collective experience for the whole assemblage of the evening;
(b)
the grand musical voice, she turned every song into even more
powerful trance, building a link between the performer and the audience.
She
was the star of the night who appeared as the signifier, or image of eternal
Bengali musical self with her glowing tribute to the audience as
participants.
The
evening would be cherished by the Bengali community with the hope of
experiencing many more such evenings in the future. The community will sing through Mithali’s voice:
A
LOVE SUPREME
a
love supreme
a
love supreme
a
love supreme
(Walter
K. Dancy, “Jazz Coltrane Sings”)
