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
Malediction
Diamanda Galás Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
of the youngman who ran screaming through
the street,
streaming blood in trails of terror,
are the arms that point me to my door,
which forsaken by the blood of Jesus,
invites the Devil, who now waits for me outside.
are the arms that point me to the red eyes
of the pentecostal killers and the black eyes
of the roman catholic killers and the blue eyes
of the pinhead skinhead killers,
and the dirty angel does his target practice night
and day,
making ready now to steal my soul away.
The arms that you cut off that Sunday night
are the arms that wait between my T.V. and my gun,
while the winks and smiles of singing debutantes
and eunuchs whisper,
"We don't want you, Unclean, lying there in vomit,
filth, and perspiration,
coming back with Elvis or with Jesus from the dead."
The arms that you cut off the body
of the screaming youngman
dance before my eyes the endless murder of my soul
which, taunted every hour by open windows,
has kept itself alive with prayer,
but not for miracles,
and not for heaven.
Just for silence
and for mercy
until the end.
In Diamanda Galas's song "Malediction," the lyrics describe a haunting scene in which the arms of a young man, who was brutally killed one Sunday night, symbolically point the singer towards her own door, which she believes has been forsaken by the blood of Jesus and is now inviting the Devil to wait for her outside. The severed arms also act as a reminder of the violent and hateful actions of different religious extremists, such as the pentecostal, roman catholic and skinhead killers, who all seem to have their sights set on the singer. The final verse suggests that the singer's soul is in danger of being stolen away by this same hate and violence, leaving her praying for mercy and silence until the end.
Line by Line Meaning
The arms that you cut off that Sunday night of the youngman who ran screaming through the street, streaming blood in trails of terror, are the arms that point me to my door, which forsaken by the blood of Jesus, invites the Devil, who now waits for me outside.
The arms of a victim cut off by the killer are now the same arms that beckon the Devil to the singer's door because the blood of Jesus has forsaken it. It implies that the singer is surrounded by darkness and despair.
The arms that you cut off that Sunday night are the arms that point me to the red eyes of the pentecostal killers and the black eyes of the roman catholic killers and the blue eyes of the pinhead skinhead killers, and the dirty angel does his target practice night and day, making ready now to steal my soul away.
The arms of the victim point the singer to the killers with their colored eyes and the dirty angel who now practices aiming at the singer day and night, showing that she is in constant danger and surrounded by evil.
The arms that you cut off that Sunday night are the arms that wait between my T.V. and my gun, while the winks and smiles of singing debutantes and eunuchs whisper, "We don't want you, Unclean, lying there in vomit, filth, and perspiration, coming back with Elvis or with Jesus from the dead."
The arms of the victim wait between the singer's T.V. and gun, while debutantes and eunuchs whisper disgustedly about her state of cleanliness and reject her, adding to her loneliness and desperation.
The arms that you cut off the body of the screaming youngman dance before my eyes the endless murder of my soul which, taunted every hour by open windows, has kept itself alive with prayer, but not for miracles, and not for heaven. Just for silence and for mercy until the end.
The arms of the screaming young man remind the singer of the endless murder of her soul, which is tormented every hour by the open windows. She prays not for miracles or heaven, but for the relief of silence and mercy until the end of her suffering.
Writer(s): Diamanda Helena Galas Copyright: Embassy Music Corp. O/B/o Mute Song
Contributed by Dylan J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.