Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is a Greek-American avant-garde perfo… Read Full Bio ↴Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is a Greek-American avant-garde performance artist, vocalist, and composer. Galás was born and raised in San Diego, California, USA.

Galás is known for being a fiercely confrontational avant-garde performer and is noted for her wailing, four-octave vocal range. Galás was the daughter of Greek Orthodox parents and her singing was roundly discouraged, although her prowess as a classical pianist was nurtured; ultimately, her strict upbringing resulted in a reckless, drug-fueled youth prior to her entrance into the University of California's music and visual arts program. Galás made her performing debut in 1979 at France's Festival d'Avignon, which led to an invitation to assume the lead role in composer Vinko Globokar's politically charged opera Un Jour Comme un Autre. In subsequent solo performance art pieces like Wild Women with Steak Knives and Tragouthia Apo to Aima Exon Fonos, Galás further honed her unique, shattering vocal style, inspired by the Schrei ("shriek") opera of German expressionism (a form employing a system of four microphones and a series of echoes and delays).

She worked with many avant-garde composers including Phillip Glass, Terry Riley, John Zorn, Iannis Xenakis and Vinko Globokar. She made her performance debut at the Festival d'Avignon in France as the lead in Globokar's opera, Un Jour Comme Une Autre which deals with the death by torture of a Turkish woman. The work was sponsored by Amnesty International. She also contributed her voice to Francis Ford Coppola's film Dracula (1992) and appeared on the film's soundtrack.

Her work first garnered widespread attention with the controversial 1991 live recording of the album "Plague Mass" in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. With it, Galás attacked the Catholic Church for its indifference to AIDS using biblical texts. In the words of Terrorizor Magazine, "The church was made to burn with sound, not fire." Plague Mass was a live rendition of excerpts from her same-titled trilogy which began as a response/homage/indictment to the multitudinous effects of AIDS upon the silent class - of which her brother was a member. During the period of these recordings, Galás had "We are all HIV+" tattooed upon her knuckles; an artistic expression of disillusionment and disgust with the ignorance and apathy surrounding the AIDS epidemic. Her brother, who died during the trilogy's final production, reportedly appreciated her efforts.

Susan McClary (1991) writes that Galás, "heralds a new moment in the history of musical representation," after describing her thus: "Galás emerged within the post-modern performance art scene in the seventies...protesting...the treatment of victims of the junta, attitudes towards victims of AIDS...Her pieces are constructed from the ululation of traditional Mediterranean keening...whispers, shrieks, and moans."

In 1994, Galás collaborated with Led Zeppelin bass guitarist John Paul Jones. The resultant record, "The Sporting Life", while containing much of Galás's trademark vocal gymnastics, is probably the closest she has ever come to rock music.

Galás also performs as a blues artist interpreting a wide range of songs into her unique piano and vocal styles. This aspect of her work is perhaps best represented by her 1992 album, "The Singer" where she covered the likes of Willie Dixon, Roy Acuff, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins while accompaning herself on piano. For that album, she also recorded several traditional songs as well as the rarely heard Desmond Carter-penned version of Gloomy Sunday. Many of her selections both within and outside of blues repertoire have sometimes been categorized as 'homicidal love songs'. She also focuses on the death penalty. One program of songs, "Frenzy", has been dedicated to Aileen Wuornos and features the work of Phil Ochs and Hank Williams Sr.

Her latest song cycle is an interpretation of songs by Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich.

Official Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/songsofexile

Artimis
Diamanda Galás Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

By Gerard Nerval

The Thirteenth returns... Once more she is the first;
And she is still the only one, or is this the only moment;
For you are surely queen, first and last?
For you are surely king, O first and last lover?...

Love the one who loves you from the cradle to the grave;

The one alone I love loves me dearly still:
She is death - or the dead one... Delight or torment!
And the rose she holds is the hollyhock.

Saint of Naples with your hands full of fire,
Mauve-hearted rose, flower of Saint Gudule:
Have you discovered your cross in the desert of the skies?

White roses, fall! You offend our gods

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Diamanda Galás's song "Artimis" are a poem by Gerard Nerval. The song is a haunting and ethereal ode to love, death, and royalty, blurring the lines between the three. The first stanza speaks of the return of the "Thirteenth," which may refer to the return of a particular constellation or an astrological event. The "first and last" could represent the cyclical nature of life, where everything comes full circle. The lines "For you are surely queen, first and last?/For you are surely king, O first and last lover?" suggest that the subject of the poem is simultaneously royalty and a lover, embodying both traits fully.

The second stanza speaks of a love that lasts from birth to death, with the object of love being death itself. The use of the hollyhock instead of a rose is a symbolic choice, representing both life and death. The third stanza speaks of a saint with "hands full of fire," which could represent the power and passion of belief. The "mauve-hearted rose" could again represent both passion and pain. The final line "White roses, fall! You offend our gods" is a strong statement, possibly referring to a rejection of traditional religious views or beliefs.

Line by Line Meaning

The Thirteenth returns... Once more she is the first;
The Thirteenth has come back again, and she is once again the first to arrive.

And she is still the only one, or is this the only moment;
She may still be the only one, but is this just a fleeting moment in time?

For you are surely queen, first and last?
Are you, without a doubt, the queen, the first and the last of your kind?

For you are surely king, O first and last lover?...
Are you the first and last lover, the king of all those who came before and all those who shall come after?

Love the one who loves you from the cradle to the grave;
Give your love to the one who loves you from the very beginning to the very end of your life;

The one alone I love loves me dearly still:
Even though I love only one person, that person still loves me;

She is death - or the dead one... Delight or torment!
She is either a representation of death itself, or someone who has already passed away, and her presence is either comforting or agonizing;

And the rose she holds is the hollyhock.
The flower she holds in her hand, which appears to be a rose, is actually a hollyhock.

Saint of Naples with your hands full of fire,
Oh, Saint of Naples, with your hands ablaze with fire,

Mauve-hearted rose, flower of Saint Gudule:
Oh, rose with a heart of purple, flower of Saint Gudule:

Have you discovered your cross in the desert of the skies?
Have you found your purpose or meaning in the vast emptiness of the celestial heavens?

White roses, fall! You offend our gods
Whitened roses, descend and perish! Your existence is an affront to our higher powers.

Contributed by Lucas Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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