(no subject)
Sep. 13th, 2004 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thejunipertreeFuck.
Diamanda Galas' "Vena Cava" is probably NOT the thing I should be listening to right now.
I never realized what it was actually about, before.
This hurts.
Bad.
The funny thing is, I brought all of my Diamanda CDs into work today as a celebration of the fact that my ex-husband, the Cheshire Cat, bought me a ticket for my birthday to see Galas at the TLA on October 11th. Every other time she's performed in Philadelphia, I've missed her and that fact has always made me extremely petulant.
So, I carted up all my CDs by her and brought them into work. Due to the nature of her work, I couldn't play them very loud because I know it would have bothered my boss (my office adjoins hers). The music loses a lot of its power when it's turned down low and you miss quite a bit, especially when she gets into her practically subsonic whispering.
I'd been saving "Vena Cava" for the end of the day, when Miss Angel had left. Now, sitting here alone and attempting to get some work done, I can play it as loud as I like.
And truly listen to what's being broadcast.
Pain. Brutality. Truth. Anger. Sadness. Joy. Denial. Regret. Isolation. Disorientation. Beauty. Insanity. Vulnerability.
I'm only on track #4 (none of them have names). I don't think I can handle the rest of this album right now.
Diamanda Galas' "Vena Cava" is probably NOT the thing I should be listening to right now.
I never realized what it was actually about, before.
This hurts.
Bad.
The funny thing is, I brought all of my Diamanda CDs into work today as a celebration of the fact that my ex-husband, the Cheshire Cat, bought me a ticket for my birthday to see Galas at the TLA on October 11th. Every other time she's performed in Philadelphia, I've missed her and that fact has always made me extremely petulant.
So, I carted up all my CDs by her and brought them into work. Due to the nature of her work, I couldn't play them very loud because I know it would have bothered my boss (my office adjoins hers). The music loses a lot of its power when it's turned down low and you miss quite a bit, especially when she gets into her practically subsonic whispering.
I'd been saving "Vena Cava" for the end of the day, when Miss Angel had left. Now, sitting here alone and attempting to get some work done, I can play it as loud as I like.
And truly listen to what's being broadcast.
Pain. Brutality. Truth. Anger. Sadness. Joy. Denial. Regret. Isolation. Disorientation. Beauty. Insanity. Vulnerability.
I'm only on track #4 (none of them have names). I don't think I can handle the rest of this album right now.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-13 04:01 pm (UTC)Now, live, Diamanda Galas is a performance and an experience, I imagine. Something anyone could understand and enjoy. The recordings... are merely your own emotions, amplified. To me, anyway. I don't quite get the CD.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-13 08:01 pm (UTC)As for "Vena Cava", knowing what I know about her life, I did a bit of research and found out that the album is written from the perspective of a dying person. Personally, I think it's about her brother who died of AIDS some years back.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 02:08 am (UTC)I think it depends on why you listen to the CD. I'm not a fan - I relate to Vena Cava on one or two minor levels, headnoise, release of anger, chaos, and of course, she has an astonishing natural range /and/ uses processing - the idea that she could produce something which wasn't angry, wasn't 'challenging', but could still knock together a decent album fascinates me (she's impressive on a technical level if you're interested in that stuff, which most people aren't).
I think Vena Cava is not the best album to own if you only own one like I do, from reading about her I think that earlier work is more accessible and features more 'music' (plus Plague Mass is supposed to be genuinely disturbing), and later work is more focussed and powerful 'per song' - Vena Cava is probably an album for fans to enjoy and others to be utterly bemused or freaked out by.
Her current/new album would also appear to be inspired by someone dying of AIDs - it sounds like an interesting concept (the material, not the inspiration - I think she needs a tattoo that says "Inspired by AIDS"); presumably the performance that you're going to see will be based on this material.
Siani, of course, cannot stand Diamanda Galas, and therefore I'm unlikely to get more no matter how curious I am about the early albums which apparenrly feature industrial-esque synthesizers; whilst I'm never very impressed by activists (the problem with being a fan of an activist is that you probably already got the message. Twice. By the 12th album it's a little tiring), and can overlook it to get to the part I'd enjoy, the musical concepts. I always think of her as a mad scientist, a sort of cross between Professor Brundle (post Teleporter) and Mr. Freeze, Mozart and an Opera Singer, someone who would have produced beauty, or advanced the world, but due to some tragedy, wants to lash out, and hurt and scream. A tragic character. She'd probably hit me, or scream at me, or something, if I was important enough and said that though.
Of course - discussing Diamanda brings out the wanker in everyone, the pretentious moron just itching to get out and anlyse it to death. I haven't found her an acquired taste, more a curiosity and a fascination that I'd be happy to buy the CDs to explore. I probably 'don't get it' in a way that fans will tell me I'd never understand ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 06:45 am (UTC)Based on her brother's writings during his own AIDS dementia, as he was dying. Her brother, Phillip Galas, was a poet/writer.
either at her behest or because it gets peoples attention - she'd be very easy for the masses to dismiss if she didn't have a 'cause'.
I don't know about the easy dismissal. The woman has an almost four octave range, has been trained in bel canto, can sing in ten different languages, compose in about five, and is constantly mentioned in the same breath as Marie Callas. I don't think she could ever be easily dismissed, no matter what music she choose to do.
Her current/new album would also appear to be inspired by someone dying of AIDs - it sounds like an interesting concept (the material, not the inspiration - I think she needs a tattoo that says "Inspired by AIDS"); presumably the performance that you're going to see will be based on this material.
There's two new albums out: "Defixiones, the Last Will and Testament" and "La Serpenta Canta". To over-simplify it, "Defixiones" is about Armenian, Anatolian, Hellenic, and Greek genocide conducted by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
http://www.diamandagalas.com/defixiones/the_concept.htm
"La Serpenta Canta" is basically voice and piano, a lot of it covers of old blues songs, and is "a campaign against forgetting" (one reviewer called it that).
I'll be seeing the "Defixiones" performance, the other one isn't being performed as much on this tour, which is sad because I would have liked to see that performance as well, especially since she covers a lot of blues and old R&B artists that I love, as well as doing material from "The Sporting Life", which is my absolute favourite album by her.
As for a tattoo, she has one across her knuckles which reads: We are all HIV+. It's a cause she is intensely involved in, as her brother and numerous other loved ones died from the disease.
Siani, of course, cannot stand Diamanda Galas, and therefore I'm unlikely to get more no matter how curious I am about the early albums which apparenrly feature industrial-esque synthesizers;
That's a shame. Whenever I'm with someone who doesn't like the music I wish to hear, I buy it and listen to it it anyway or just without them around. For instance, Chris hates techno (most forms of it) and I love it. I have large amounts of different DJs burned to disc and can occasionally even get Chris to come out with me to see/hear someone spin, even if he does drag his feet and complain about it a lot.
Also, almost all of her albums feature synths. It's just something she does and a lot of the time, her use of them is deceptively subtle.
(the problem with being a fan of an activist is that you probably already got the message. Twice. By the 12th album it's a little tiring), and can overlook it to get to the part I'd enjoy, the musical concepts. I always think of her as a mad scientist, a sort of cross between Professor Brundle (post Teleporter) and Mr. Freeze, Mozart and an Opera Singer, someone who would have produced beauty, or advanced the world, but due to some tragedy, wants to lash out, and hurt and scream. A tragic character.
I was a fan of hers for a very long time before I realized how much of an activist she is. It never put a dent in my enjoyment of her music. If anything, when I discovered the messages in those albums, it made me enjoy and understand her even more. AIDS, in particular, is a problem that I hold very dear, especially since I worked in an AIDS coalition for over a year and met/worked with/was friends with many people had it and thusly, died from it.
In her early career, Galas produced a lot of traditional "beauty". She toured with operas and jazz bands and in my opinion, the work she produces now is even more beautiful. Brutal and hard to look at, but beautiful all the same. That ties into my long standing opinion that beauty doesn't need to be some tra-la-la happy bullshit with sunshine and roses, no matter what form it takes: be it writing, art, or music.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 12:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 12:24 pm (UTC)I don't think Vena Cava is beautiful. It's not a word I'd use to describe it. I will reserve judgement until I've heard the earlier stuff/later stuff - in other words, anything other than the purely vocal (generally) Vena Cava.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 07:16 pm (UTC)For what it's worth, I never said either of those things.
I don't think Vena Cava is beautiful. It's not a word I'd use to describe it.
As always: Beauty, eye, beholder and all that stuff.
I've been well aware, for a very long time, that my idea of 'beauty' can be vastly different from that of the average person's.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 01:50 am (UTC)I was responding that I don't believe that either.
Yes, beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder. I like Vena Cava but I feel I'm missing something in it - I'm not getting everything Diamanda can provide, and as a result I want something more. Vena Cava is raw and basic, and fascinating, and I like it - but I don't think it is beautiful.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 07:42 am (UTC)However, you were beginning to sound a little defensive. I needed to clarify that I wasn't making blind attacks about what you were saying.
Vena Cava is raw and basic, and fascinating, and I like it - but I don't think it is beautiful.
Try "The Sporting Life". If I recall correctly, I told you years ago that this album was the one you'd probably go for out of all of them.
The music on it is more complex. And it seems to be more palatable for people, probably due to the influence of her jazz roots and John Paul Jones (who plays bass on the album). It is still undeniably Diamanda Galas, but it's not like everything else she's done.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 11:39 am (UTC)I'll get several albums. The newest one sounds quite intriguing, actually, but I feel I can't move on until I've acquired Plague Mass.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 06:45 am (UTC)(continued)
I probably 'don't get it' in a way that fans will tell me I'd never understand ;)
Truthfully? I'm going to have to be one of those fans who say you don't 'get it'.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 11:16 am (UTC)I do get her talent. I couldn't comment on her earlier work because I haven't heard it - if she produced 'conventional' work before, I probably would have enjoyed it less because I generally like to be challenged if I want to try something new.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-14 07:12 pm (UTC)From the things you've said directly to me in this thread and the recent post you've written in your journal, it seems as if you automatically dismiss anything dealing with AIDS as activist bandwagon bullshit. Of course, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
But if this is what you are actually doing, and not just how it is appearing, then no, you are never going to 'get' her work. Dismissing someone's work solely based on the material they tend to write about is ignorant, at best.
Aside from that, I don't believe that one has to have gone through the same exact, or even just similiar, experiences that inspire her music to 'get it', though.
All of her albums are inspired by pain in what ever shape or form. All of them deal with pain and loss. Not all of them specifically relating to AIDS, but even the albums that directly relate to that disease can be understood by those who have little to no experiences with the illness.
In their lives, everyone has experienced pain in some way. Stripping down all the notions of 'causes' and whatnot exposes the root of her music's basis: pain.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 01:47 am (UTC)You're wrong. My comments on my journal were made in the context of pure cynicism; the possibility that Diamanda's continuing promotion as an AIDS activist (even when her latest work is really quite unrelated) may have affected her direction - her popularity - is slim, and merely a cynical glance. Plague Mass predates the real period of AIDS being a popular 'cause' and is allegedly one of her most powerful works - I look forward to hearing it - but I'd like to read something about her technical abilities and production skills without the journalist in question having read the crib sheet and decided to throw the word AIDS in there.
In other words - Diamanda's motivation was to write about pain, and her experience of pain was AIDS related, but it could easily have been, I don't know, extreme sports related. Or old age. Or, well, pretty much anything. However, it is inevitable that when the respective markets went into AIDS overdrive - in the UK after Freddie Mercury died, in the US when people actually got that it was a serious issue (way before the UK, too) - there will have been people who bought Diamanda /because/ she was an activist in a popular cause.
Presumably she's human. She may or may not have played up to this, her PR/management clearly have. Again - why I want to hear her later work, to see how diluted it is, if it is. I don't want any preconceptions, but that doesn't prevent me from making snide remarks about bandwagoneers - which I don't believe Diamanda is.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 07:36 am (UTC)If a journalist includes the word 'AIDS' in any of their write-ups of her work, they do it because she is effectively forcing it down their throats, most of her work is indeed AIDS related. Her name is always connected to the disease because of that fact.
Her latest works aren't specifically AIDS related, you're right. A handful of her work hasn't been (most notably, "The Sporting Life", you want an album you want to like, I recommend that). But that doesn't erase the fact that she is still very much an activist.
And if people buy her albums solely because of her being an activist with a 'popular' cause, so what? I don't understand this attitude, that so many people have, that if a cause becomes popular (or "trendy"), it's suddenly not as noteworthy and the people supporting the cause are just sheep.
If celebrities want to trot around wearing their little red ribbons, fucking let them. What's the harm in it? The name of the cause is getting out, education about it is getting out; who cares about the manner in which it gets out?
This is a very hot button with me, I've never understood the derision that people have for things like this. Especially on a subject such as AIDS. It's something which NEEDS to be popular and thought of and talked about. Who cares if it's a fashion statement? The information is getting out, in one way or another.
You'll have to excuse me, because I am beginning to get a bit frothy over this.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 11:37 am (UTC)I'm not suggesting that the cause is less important, merely that I am cynical about the motivation of some people (NOT Diamanda by any means) to get involved when that involvement earns them and not necessarily the cause, any publicity. I'm not even suggesting that people supporting the cause are just sheep, just some.
What I am wary of with Diamanda and people who discuss her music elsewhere is the concept of her as an elitist taste; hence the remark about 'rarely played'. I've played Vena Cava more than many of the albums I own by artists I know I like; I've listened to it more than Bloodflowers, more than Captain Beefheart, more than Supe.. actually, I only bought Supertramp for The Logical Song *shame*.
I don't want an album you think that I, an uneducated peasant, will enjoy. I want Plague Mass because it's supposed to be Diamanda's most intense work, I want to actually feel something from the music. I want the same thrill up my spine that I got from listening to early prog, or even the same sadness I felt listening to War of the Worlds when I was a kid. It's trivial, but I haven't been made to think by any modern music and in many ways I've blocked out the minority acts that should challenge me.
I don't trust journalists. If she's forcing it down their throats, great. I can't help mistrusting them and assuming that in fact, they haven't listened to the CD, have read the PR pack, and don't actually have an opinion about her work.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 01:08 pm (UTC)I don't have the time or the energy at this moment to address any of the other things you've said (as I'm at work and dealing with myriad personal issues at the same time), however I will say this: "The Sporting Life" is my absolute favourite album that Galas has ever put out. I love all of her work, but that is the one I love the most. It's the first album that I recommend to every single person who asks me what I think is good by Diamanda Galas.
I wasn't snarking at you with that recommendation. I was suggesting something I figured you might enjoy on the basis that it's more intricate musically and less 'activist'.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-16 01:13 am (UTC)Extreme Music. The latest Pepsi-Max inspired sport - listen to Diamanda on a 5000W stereo then switch to Salt 'n' Pepa's Greatest Hits before finishing with Isao Tomita, backwards, mixed with R Kelly.
Like everything, I'll try it. "Less activism" isn't actually that important to me in the music as long as it's good.