The lights dim until it becomes pitch dark. The audience applauds and soon after you hear the chilling voices that accompany her on the piano. In this solo performance, the sounds range from shrieks to whispers. The vocalist is Diamanda Galás, a diva with an octave range of three-and-a-half, who sends a shock wave penetrating through your back when she hits those wailing high notes.
In her performance at the Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, November 20th, Galás projects her unbelievable voice through the crowded hall. She begins one of her songs in dim, red light that floods over the piano and the diva’s body. Shrieks and wailing permeates the theater while accompanying her high octave cries and screams. This is a typical scene from her performance that night. The noise fills the theater and echoes of howling create a most dramatic and breath-taking feel. Then, suddenly, there is silence. Roars of delight from the audience follow after the quick pause. Diamanda surprises the audience with a demonic and knowing glare. She turns her head and gives the audience a rather sinister grin. This causes yet another uprising throughout the cheering crowd. | Galás projects her unbelievable voice through the crowded hall. |
In her fourth song, Miss Galás performs the piece with a gloomy electronic piano moan, and begins to utter lyrics from the Supreme’s hit; "My World is Empty Without You." However, it is a solemn cover differing from the principal rendition. Instead of the original pop version, Galás slows the tempo down to a rather despairing mood.
The audience consists of a wide variety of people of all ages who came to see Ms. Galás perform. Crowds and couples of middle-aged men and women, students, as well as fans and newcomers, had come to see her perform. It seemed that most of the crowd were adoring fans, already familiar with her work.
Galás also did a cover of Johnny Cash’s "I’ve Got 25 Minutes to Go," a song that counts down to the execution of a person. This song may have been chosen by Ms. Galàs to cover because of her never-ending effort to express her rage until a cure to the AIDs epidemic is found. In previous performances and recordings, such as in her 1991 release Plague Mass, she sings a requiem for those who have died of AIDs. Ms. Galás has lost many friends over this virus, including her brother, Philip-Dimitri, in 1986. She sings: "Won’t someone come and cut me loose? I’ve got four more minutes to go. And it’s too damn pretty for a woman to die. . . two more minutes to go. . ." As she counts to the final two minutes before the execution, she mimics the voice of that of an innocent whine. This girlish voice does not last, because she quickly changes her tone to a frightening ghost-like moan when the song comes to an end. | She sings a requiem for those who have died of AIDS. |
The concert was dominated by soul and blues as well as covers by artists such as Johnny Cash, Phil Ochs, Son House, and Willie Dixon. She emulates the sound of a banshee, which I’m sure that one would agree after experiencing the opportunity to hear or see her live. Other songs originally performed and written by Ms. Galás included "Let’s Not Chat About Despair," and "Last Man Down."
In the cover of Willie Dixon’s song, "Insane Asylum," Galás lets out every possible sound that a human being could possibly create. She babbles and slips in various maniacal laughs throughout the song. This was certainly one of the most interesting songs that one could bear to watch. She lets out several blood-curdling cries that would certainly frighten anyone. Every attempt to let out these cries mutated her facial expression as if she had to flex every muscle on her face in order to create these screams. Her laughs were convincing to the song’s title as if she had become the patient in an insane asylum. She appropriately utters words that sound as if she was in the state of refuting among herself. She then asks the listener; "save me." She repeats these same words as the piano playing and vocals grow more and more intense. Suddenly she lets out a high pitch screech and holds it for over 30 seconds. This never-ending cry comes to an abrupt halt, but the silence is quickly filled as the music begins to fill the hall once again. As you might have guessed, this was a popular song among the delighted audience. | The piano playing and vocals grow more and more intense. |
Ms. Galás plays the piano beautifully. Since the age of five, Ms. Galás has been practicing her musical skills accompanied by the piano. As a native of San Diego, this Greek singer has released several albums including her latest release "Shrei X" on Mute Records. She has also released a book called “The Shit of God” last year.
Her song material includes jazz and gospel, as well as blues and soul. There’s really no way of defining what she does, since her music involves so many different elements. There is just no way to categorize it. One needs to experience the sounds of her voice in order to understand what she does. Take my word for it. You haven’t heard anything like her if you’ve never sampled her work. Listening to her song is like watching a good horror movie. This is certainly not easy-listening, and should not be considered or compared with the likes of (dare I say?) Mariah Carey. Ack! Blasphemy!! | ...like watching a good horror movie. |
