| Diamanda Galás, internationally acclaimed vocalist, pianist, composer and poet has performed worldwide since 1978. She is the creator of works such as 'The Plague Mass', 'Vena Cava' and 'Schrei X', as well as the concerts / recordings of 'Malediction and Prayer', 'Judgement Day' and 'Masque Of The Red Death'. In 1996, Serpents Tail published 'The Shit Of God', a compilation of Galás' original performance texts and writing. In September1999, she gave the world premiere of 'Defixiones, Will and Testament' at the Gravensteen Castle in Ghent, Belgium. An extraordinary singer of unparalleled emotional intensity, she performs with a purity of intent which leaves her listeners breathless. Her voice is one moment serpentine, the next a juggernaut. The subjects she addresses are profound and terrible; her response - rage and grief - beautiful and cathartic. Alan Wilder: 'Diamanda and I had been aquainted for a long time but we'd never really got to know one another. I'd always wanted the opportunity to work with a fully trained, classical singer and she has an extraordinary and unique range of singing styles. I had 2 tracks specifically in mind for her. When it came to the session, she was a consummate professional, to the point where she not only rested her voice the night before but also spent an hour in the studio bathroom warming up prior to recording. Diamanda tends to work very much off the cuff and didn't come to the session with much prepared. This was fine by me as I wanted her to mainly ad-lib, so we just put her in front of the mic and recorded everything directly to hard disk. As each take was completely different to the previous one, this approach also meant I could compile all the choicest moments from the various takes. She was great fun, fussed over our daughter Paris and was a joy to have around for 5 days - not to mention a dream to work with. I hope everyone enjoys the results, because to my ears, the work she did on 'Liquid' sounds completely different to anything she's done before.' |
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Diamanda Galás appears on the following Recoil releases: |