Since her career began in 1981, Gerrard has been involved in a wide range of projects. She received a Golden Globe Award for the music score to the film Gladiator, on which she collaborated with Hans Zimmer.
Lisa Gerrard was born on 12 April 1961 in Melbourne, and grew up in the suburb of Prahran with her Irish immigrant parents. She has said that she grew up with "Mediterranean music blaring out of the houses" and that this influenced her music, particularly on later Dead Can Dance albums and in her solo and collaborative works.
Gerrard's first foray into forming bands and creative music-making was in Melbourne's little band scene, an experimental post-punk scene which flourished from 1978 until 1981. It was at one of these little band events that she first met Dead Can Dance co-founder Brendan Perry. Perry recalls, "It never occurred to me that we would one day collaborate musically together because at the time I thought her music was too avant garde. I particularly remember one song that she sang about finding a man in the park and asking her mother if she could bring him home to keep in her wardrobe as she attacked this chinese dulcimer with two bamboo sticks".
Dead Can Dance originally formed as a quartet in 1981 in Melbourne, but in 1982 moved to London with members Gerrard, Brendan Perry and bass player Paul Erikson. Shortly after coming to England, Erikson flew back to Australia, leaving the band as a duo. Dead Can Dance recorded eight albums on the 4AD Records recording label beginning with the self-titled Dead Can Dance LP in 1984. In 2005, the song "Nierika" became part of the opening titles for Mexican television station TV Azteca's soap opera "La Chacala". The band split in 1998, but reunited in 2005 for a world tour. In 2012, the band announced a new world tour to coincide with the release of their new album, Anastasis.
Gerrard possesses the vocal range of a contralto but can also reach upward into the mezzo-soprano range. Her voice has been described as rich, deep, dark, mournful and unique.
Examples of Gerrard's mezzo-soprano range include the songs "The Host of Seraphim", "Elegy", "Space Weaver", "Come This Way" and "One Perfect Sunrise". Gerrard however performs more predominantly in the dramatic contralto range in her other songs, "Sanvean", "Sacrifice", "Largo", "Lament" and "Not Yet".
Gerrard sings many of her songs, such as "Now We Are Free", "Come Tenderness", "Serenity", "The Valley of the Moon", "Tempest", "Pilgrimage of Lost Children", "Coming Home" and "Sanvean" in idioglossia. With respect to such work she has said, "I sing in the language of the Heart. It's an invented language that I've had for a very long time. I believe I started singing in it when I was about 12. Roughly that time. And I believed that I was speaking to God when I sang in that language."
Gerrard was married to Polish graphic design artist and music producer Jacek Tuschewski, with whom she has a daughter (born 1992).
Her nephew Jack Gerrard plays for Cairns post-hardcore act Almost a Square as the drummer and back-up vocalist.
Now We Are Free
Lisa Gerrard Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Anol sheh lay konnud de ne um
Flavum nom de leesh
Ham de nam um das
La um de Flavne
We de ze zu bu
We de so a are you
Un vi-I bee
Un da la pech ni sa (ah)
Un di-I lay na day
Un ma la pech a nay
Mee di nu ku
La la da pa da le na da na, ve va da pa da le na la dumda
Anol shadon
Anol sheh ley kon-nud de ne um
Flavum, flavum
M-ai shondol-lee flavu
Lof flesh lay nof ne
Nom de lis
Ham de num um dass
La um de flavne
Shom de nomm
Ma-lun des dwondi, dwwoondi
Alas sharum do koos
Shaley koot-tum
The lyrics to Lisa Gerrard's song "Now We Are Free" are an example of a constructed language (conlang). The words themselves are not in any recognizable language but rather a unique vocabulary and grammar created by Gerrard, in collaboration with film composer Hans Zimmer, specifically for the soundtrack of the movie Gladiator. The first stanza of the song features a set of nonsensical phrases that are designed to create an emotional impact through the sounds and patterns of the words, rather than conveying any specific meaning. The lyrics are performed by Gerrard in her signature style of glossolalia or "vocables" - using the voice as an instrument to create sounds, rather than communicating words in any language.
The second stanza of the song is slightly more structured, with some phrases that can be understood as having a meaning. "Anol shalom" means "peace to you" in Gerrard's conlang, while "Flavum nom de leesh" appears to mean "the yellow flower is mine". The rest of the stanza is similarly poetic, with a mix of invented words and phrases that are more suggestive than concrete in their meaning. The final lines of the song, "Alas sharum do koos, shaley koot-tum" roughly translate to "We are free souls, let us rejoice in our freedom".
Line by Line Meaning
Anol shalom
A prayer for peace
Anol sheh lay konnud de ne um
May peace be on all people
Flavum nom de leesh
The presence of the divine
Ham de nam um das
Unification with the divine
La um de Flavne
Blessed be the divine
We de ze zu bu
His glory shines upon us
We de so a are you
We are one with him
Un va-a pesh a lay
We walk the path of righteousness
Un vi-I bee
We are bound to him
Un da la pech ni sa (ah)
We are true to our faith
Un di-I lay na day
And we will never betray
Un ma la pech a nay
Our loyalty is unwavering
Mee di nu ku
We are free
La la da pa da le na da na, ve va da pa da le na la dumda
We celebrate our freedom with joyous song and dance
Flavum, flavum
The divine presence
M-ai shondol-lee flavu
We feel his presence
Lof flesh lay nof ne
All creation bows to him
Nom de lis
In the name of the divine
Shom de nomm
Let us give praise
Ma-lun des dwondi, dwwoondi
For he has given us life
Alas sharum do koos
May he bless us
Shaley koot-tum
And keep us safe
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt, Lisa Gerrard
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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