(no subject)

[thejunipertree]

Fuck.

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.

Comments

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

From what I've read, it's about AIDS dementia and madness/depression -

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.

[edwards.livejournal.com]

I do get to listen to music Siani isn't keen on - Cave, Diamanda, Jarre, all sorts of ambient stuff, the lamer 80s synthpop. It's nice to share it, though. Or in the case of the 80s stuff, inflict.

[edwards.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot - I don't think beauty has to be happy, tralala. I also don't think that it's necessary for brutality to have a message. Cave is beautiful, most often when he's at his darkest and most morbid and tuneless.

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.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot - I don't think beauty has to be happy, tralala. I also don't think that it's necessary for brutality to have a message.

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.

[edwards.livejournal.com]

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.

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.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

I was responding that I don't believe that either.

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.

[edwards.livejournal.com]

I wasn't being defensive so much as clarifying. I wouldn't be surprised if you did think that I wanted it to be all sweetness and light to be beautiful.

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.