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February 20, 2004
Last Wishes of the DeadDEFIXIONES refers to the warnings engraved in lead which were placed on the graves of the dead in Greece and Asia Minor. They cautioned against moving or desecrating the corpses under threat of extreme harm. WILL AND TESTAMENT refers to the last wishes of the dead who have been taken to their graves under unnatural circumstances. The concert material that Galás has included in this song cycle includes music set to the texts of the Armenian poet/soldier Siamanto; the Belgian/French poet Henri Michaux; the Syrian/Lebanese poet Adonis; the rembetika songs of Sotiria Bellou; the Anatolian Greek Amanedhes; the blues music of the American musicians Boise Sturdevant and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and the sacred songs of the Deep South. A new addition to the song cycle is a striking piece written by Galás called "The World Has Gone Up In Flames", which premiered at Royce Hall (UCLA) November 2001. Galás warns that, even in death, those that were chosen to die have not been defeated nor are they forgotten. "My death is written in a rock that cannot be broken." The work is concerned with the poet/author living in exile, away from his homeland. DEFIXIONES, WILL AND TESTAMENT speaks for individuals who have had to live as outlaws, as they were treated as outlaws; and for those who have had to create houses out of rock. DEFIXIONES, WILL AND TESTAMENT is dedicated to the forgotten and erased of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Anatolian Greek genocides which occurred between 1914 and 1923. Text: Diamanda Galás.com ...Singer and pianist, poet and composer, emissary and philosopher, Diamanda reminds us the voice is an instrument that needs to be more than just something finely honed and rigorously developed; it is the blade that cuts us all to the heart. Text: Richard Morrison, June 2003
ORDERS FROM THE DEAD THE WORLD IS GOING UP IN FLAMES THE WORLD IS GOING UP IN FLAMES THE WORLD IS GOING UP IN FLAMES But these flames are NOT new I will see you again, Mother. Don't worry. THE WORLD IS GOING UP IN FLAMES My children! Our dead watched their daughters Our dead watched an ax removed their OUR DEAD watched while Chrysotomos From our group they snatched a man, OUR DEAD watched their sisters drenched with gasoline OUR DEAD gave birth to Turkish victories In the name of Christ! OUR DEAD WERE DRAGGED IN MARCHES and when the flames turned inside out their mouths and They've betrayed us! They saw the WORLD IS GOING UP IN FLAMES "GIAVOURI, INFIDELI: Terror commands: And now the unblessed dead have ordered us to say: YOU can NOT ERASE MY NAME to give their date of birth, their earthly city, GOODBYE And so those were the orders from the dead SECOND granted to the Infidel since an Infidelite Hell And now the Infidel is told Advance into a paradise of Dead Memories, "Do not ask me for the NUMBER of that Grave: "What IS this love for bones and dirt? YOU HAVE NO CLAIM GIAVOURI!!!!! Remember just how lucky, sperm of Satan, NOW! HERE! "They shook us off the landing stairs ACROSS THE SEA! GIAVOUR! You HAVE no God. A man without God BUT I HAVE orders from the Dead "DO NOT FORGET. ME. "MY DEATHBIRD is not DEAD VRYKOLAKA! I am the man unburied I am the girl, I am the open mouth until MY DEATH IS WRITTEN And these are the orders Text: Diamanda Galás with excerpts from Farewell Anatolia, By Dido Soteriou, translation [in italics] by Fred A. Reed for Kedros, Greece Posted by robert at February 20, 2004 10:32 PM |