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Great artistry

by Mahes Perera

The extraordinary thing about Mignonne in Concert was its timeless quality. The music was old, it was new and it was fresh.

It was a spectacular achievement by her, brilliant in virtuosity. She made each song a dramatic new entity thrillingly fresh and original in its arrangement. A concert of such stature was never attempted before on our stages for the simple reason that her sophisticated and complete knowledge of musical arrangement and direction has yet to be paralleled. A well balanced programme, it took Mignonne through her 40 year career. So Mignonne's celebration concert on Saturday March 25 undoubtedly is now a page in music history.

Where do I begin to tell you about it all? Naturally from the Overture which was crafted in true musical theatre style and contained selections of her music from her CD 'A Celebration of Life'. It was a splendid opener with Mignonne on stage making her impact in a sparkling red dress with a white feather stole waiting to move into her song the Judy Garland favourite 'Over the Rainbow.' From then on, in theatre parlance, the music rolled.

The Motown favourite 'Dancing in the Street' got a rousing rocking expression from Mignonne, Soundarie David's Soul Sounds, Mariazelle and Yasmin and what followed were Jetliner favourites like and at a random pick My Boy Lollipop from Mignonne, Living Dollfrom Ishan Bahar, Mocking Birdfrom Mignonne and Rukshan, the solo by Rukshan Perera of the Jim Reeves hit He'll have to go given a fabulous new treatment, the rock n' roll medley from Ishan, Sohan Weerasinghe and Rukshan, and the poignant Wind Beneath My Wings - Mignonne's dedication to Tony her late husband.

The timeless standards As Times Goes By, The Girl from Ipanema and I'm Beginning to See the Light a segment which culminated in a perfect arrangement of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for four keyboards performed for the first time on stage and featuring Mignonne, Soundari David, Neranjan de Silva and Surekha Amerasinghe joined by Dylan Lye on guitar, Aruna Siriwardhana on drums and Musty Weerasinghe - bass.

This was one of the highpoints in the concert - something Mignonne had always wanted to do even at the time she was flying high at the Regent in Hong Kong, but could never get down to it.

The other high point was the arrangement of her best known composition Mangala Mohotha where she teamed up with Soul Sounds and Soundarie David to give the audience a sophisticated harmonized version of the song, which was stunning.

Not to be left out was the expression of Images her composition for the Asian Composers' League Conference in Thailand which saw Sajeewa Gurusinghe on an esoteric ethnic flute and an exciting drum dialogue with exchanges between Nesan Thiagarajan ethnic drums and Aruna Siriwardena on acoustic drums.

Mention must be made here that being a perfectionist, her music team also included other talented musicians like Shobi Perera - bass, Christopher Prins - drums, Neville Davidson - rhythm guitar and Kumar Molligoda - sax.

There were further favourites too in the programme like Proud to be Sri Lankan, Jeevithe Vasanthaye, Ada Api Inne Vinotheyen, the Abba Selection by Soul Sounds, the Celebration Stomp, the tribute to the Beatles' sung by Ishan, Sohan and Rukshan arranged by Mignonne and of course the scintillating Bombay Mere Hai. This concert was one of the finest things Mignonne has done and was presented by DK Promotions with the media sponsors Sunday Observer and Daily News.

To strike a discord, the show could have been clipped a little in duration. The voices could have been a fraction louder in sound balance. Choir members on the extreme left of stage suffered now and then.

With all due respect to the sponsor, it was a selfish thought to block the view of the audience seated on the extreme left side of the auditorium with the placement of their advertising board on stage. Hope it won't happen again.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.