The Mountain Has the Last Say by Sushma Soma

After losing her husband to the wild, frigid slopes of Mount Everest, Tamil folk music experimentalist Sushma Soma entered a deep, dark period of grieving that culminated in The Mountain Has the Last Say, a heartbreaking tale of the most difficult kind of stoic acceptance. Unsettling drones set the scene for a windblown landscape of deep, sparse percussion, gradually undulating, harmonically difficult strings, and a surreal mix of sung and chanted vocals. Every instrumental element stokes the flames of our discomfort, enhancing Soma’s words as she bravely remains steady, pushing back against the tonal chaos raging all around her, choosing to continue her life despite the unspeakable cruelty with which nature has cursed her. Though grief persists for our entire lives, reaching a point of lasting acceptance represents the pinnacle of emotional development after such a trauma. For those of us scaling the sheer cliff face of grief to the point of acceptance, Soma’s work provides an invaluable map and soundtrack for our journey.