Diamantes em NY

Diamanda Galas vai dar três concertos este Agosto em NY. Faria a viagem Lisboa-NY só por isso, apesar de já a ter visto actuar algumas vezes, em Portugal e fora.

Diamanda Galás will perform Chansons Malheureuses and Amanedhes at New York’s Highline Ballroom on August 19th, 2007. In Chansons Malheureuses and Amanedhes, Diamanda Galás will combine original compositions set upon the poetry of symbolist and surrealist French poets with the dazzling vocal tradition of the Amanedhes (improvised lamentations from Asia Minor and the Middle East), and Greek and Armenian Rembetika songs. The evening will feature, among others, “Keigome Keigome,” “Hastayim Yasiyorum” by Udi Hrant, songs by the great Stelios Kazantzithis and texts by Gerard de Nerval, Aimé Cesaire, Jules Supervielle, and Ferdinand Freiliger.
Diamanda Galás’ Chansons Malheureuses and Amanedhes will be performed at The Highline Ballroom, located at 431 W 16th St. (between 9th and 10th avenues) in New York City, on Sunday, August 19 at 8pm. Tickets are $30. To order tickets, please call (212) 414-5994 or visit www.highlineballroom.com

In Imitation of Life, Galás will transform classic jazz standards and French ballads about the thrill and pain of romantic love into haunting elegies to Eros. The set of chosen songs draws its inspiration from the ancient Greek meaning of desire – an ambivalent state of being combining both the sweet and the bitter. Accompanied by her own ominous piano, the dark queen of extended technique will deliver an unforgettable set of songs, ranging from lovers’ blind fascination to carnivorous desire. “Love is akin to the courtship of the female praying mantis who, right after mating, devours the male’s brain matter,” says Galás. “It is an obsession that prevails in the face of despair. Ending it is too painful to contemplate, though not to digest.” Both concerts will include different selections of songs made famous by Judy Garland and Nancy Wilson (Never Will I Marry), Earl Grant (Imitation of Life), Chet Baker (The Thrill Is Gone and You Don’t Know What Love Is), Ronnie Earl (A Soul That’s Been Abused), Jacques Brel (La chanson des vieux amants), Juliette Greco (Amours perdues and Bonjour tristesse), Edith Piaf (Padam, Padam), and Marlene Dietrich (Je m’ennuie), among others. It will also include selections from Galas’ upcoming compilation of tragic, homicidal love songs, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, to be released by Mute UK on the Day of the Dead (November 1, 2007), such as Ralph Stanley's haunting O Death (The Reaper's Love Song), O. V. Wright’s Eight Men and Four Women, and the classic Autumn Leaves.
Diamanda Galás’ Imitation of Life will take place at the Highline Ballroom on August 6th and 12th, 2007 at 8pm. The Highline Ballroom is located at 431 W 16th St. (between 9th and 10th Avenues). Tickets are $30. To order tickets, please call (212) 414-5994 or visit www.highlineballroom.com.

Diamanda Galas tem um dos percursos musicais que mais me apaixonam.
Compõe, toca e canta. A sua voz, são "só" 4 oitavas de gama vocal, de registo doce ou na mais infernal articulação.

"..and she sings like a demon going to war, a Valkyrie scatting, a lizard queen seeking revenge for the dead….Galás is profound, rigorous, vocally unlimited, terrifying and utterly compelling."

Mas há também o piano, ou as electrónicas. Galas consegue que a sua música não seja óbvia, embora nem sempre se afste totalmente de algumas raízes culturais, como o blues, que nos criam uma zona de conforto. A sonoridade geral pode ser simultaneamente estranha e muito apelativa, qualquer coisa que se poderia classificar como surrealista.

"Galás approaches the French chanson and the blues in an unusual way—by means of Chopin-inspired accompaniments that denounce her classic training (she has worked with Boulez), modulating her voice with operatic and tribal mixtures that leave her fans fearless."

A música de Galas não é fácil. Uma das razões está na própria essência do que Diamanda Galas pretende comunicar. Cada sua actuação, revela uma faceta humana socialmente intervencionista, pelos direitos de diversas minorias. Mas também uma atitude "contra o sistema".

"Someone dies every 13 minutes [of AIDS]," Galas rages during Masque, a series of arias and invocations meant to make the nation confront the disease.

Vão vê-la. Há aí uma boleia?