Lisa Gerrard (born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and com… Read Full Bio ↴Lisa Gerrard (born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. In addition to singing, she is an instrumentalist for much of her work, most prolifically using the yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer).

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.

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The Song Of Amergin
Lisa Gerrard Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

An gaeth I m-muir
Am tond trethan
Am fuaim mara
Am dam secht ndirend
Am séig I n-aill
Am dér gréne
Am cain lubai
Am torc ar gail
Am he i l-lind
Am loch I m-maig
Am brí a nadai
Am gái I fodh feras feochtu
Am dé delbas do chind codnu

Coiche nod gleith clochur slébe?
Cia on co tagair aesa éscai?
Cia du I l-laig fuiniud gréné?
Cia beir buar o thig Tethrach?
Cia buar Tethrach tini?
Cia dám, cia dé delbas faebru a ndind ailslu?
Cáinte im gal - cainte gaithe?

Overall Meaning

The Song of Amergin is believed to be one of the oldest poems in Irish literature, and this song by Lisa Gerrard is an interpretation of that poem. The lyrics describe a powerful presence, representing the force of nature and its elements. The opening lines "An gaeth I m-muir / Am tond trethan / Am fuaim mara" could be translated as "I am the wind on the sea / I am the ocean wave / I am the sound of the sea." Here, the singer is explicitly claiming to embody the forces of nature.

The lyrics go on to describe the singer's connection to other natural elements, including "Am dér gréne" (the sun), "Am torc ar gail" (the stag on the hill), and "Am loch I m-maig" (the lake on the plain). As the song progresses, the singer asks a series of philosophical questions about the world, including "Who will separate the soaring height?" and "Who will call the names?" These questions seem to suggest a kind of cosmic or metaphysical resonance, as if the singer is attuned to the universe itself.

Overall, The Song of Amergin is a powerful ode to nature and its mysteries, evoking a sense of wonder and reverence for the world around us.

Line by Line Meaning

An gaeth I m-muir
The wind on the sea

Am tond trethan
The strong wave

Am fuaim mara
The sound of the ocean

Am dam secht ndirend
The stag of seven tines

Am séig I n-aill
The hawk on the cliff

Am dér gréne
The dew on the grass

Am cain lubai
The clamor of the birds

Am torc ar gail
The roar of the stag

Am he i l-lind
The shining of the lake

Am loch I m-maig
The brilliance of the sun