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

Autumn Leaves
Diamanda Galás Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The falling leaves
Drift by the window
The autumn leaves
All red and gold
I see your lips
The summer kisses
The sunburned hands
I used to hold.

Since you went away
The days grow long...
And soon I'll hear
Old winter songs
But I miss you most of all
My darling, when autumn leaves start to fall...

C'est un chanson
Qui nous ressemble
Toi qui m'aimais
Et je t'aimais
Nous vivions tous les deux ensemble
Tou qui m'aimais
Moi qui t'aimais

Mais la vie separe
Ceux qui s'aiment
Tout doucement
Sans faire de bruit
Et la mer efface sur le sable
Les pas des amants desunis.

Since you went away
The days grow long...
And soon I'll hear
Old winter songs

But I miss you most of all
My darling, when autumn leaves start to fall...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Diamanda Galás's "Autumn Leaves" are a melancholy reflection on lost love and the passing of time. The imagery of falling leaves outside a window sets the tone for the rest of the song, as the singer reminisces about a past romance. The lyrics are bittersweet, as the singer acknowledges that their love has faded away, but they still yearn for it. They remember the warmth of summer kisses and holding hands, but now those moments are gone. As the days grow longer and winter approaches, the singer is reminded of what they have lost, especially when the autumn leaves start to fall.

The second part of the song is sung in French, adding an extra layer of emotion to the already poignant lyrics. The use of the second person singular pronoun "toi," meaning "you," creates a sense of intimacy and personal connection between the singer and their lost love. The French lyrics describe how the two lovers used to live together, sharing a deep connection that has now been lost. The metaphor of the sea washing away the lovers' footprints on the sand is a powerful image of the passing of time and the erasure of memories.

Line by Line Meaning

The falling leaves
The leaves are falling

Drift by the window
The leaves are floating past the window

The autumn leaves
The leaves are from the autumn season

All red and gold
The leaves are mostly red and gold in color

I see your lips
The artist is remembering the lips of their loved one

The summer kisses
The singer is remembering the kisses they shared with their loved one during summer

The sunburned hands
The hands of the singer are sunburned, a sign of time spent outdoors during summer

I used to hold.
The artist used to hold the hands of their loved one, but not anymore

Since you went away
The artist's loved one has left them, they're separated now

The days grow long...
The days feel longer without the artist's loved one around

And soon I'll hear
Winter is coming and the singer expects to hear winter songs soon