Defixiones: Will and Testament, Orders from the Dead

• Artist: Diamanda Galás
• Rating:
• Release Date: January 20, 2004
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Avant-Garde

Review

On November 11, 2003, Diamanda Galás released two albums, ending a five-year recording hiatus with a bang. Both are solo live recordings and present two very different sides of her. La Serpenta Canta showcased her song-based material (mostly blues). Defixiones: Will and Testament, Orders From the Dead is more typical of her operatic works of the 1990s. The album revolves around the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides carried out by Turkey between 1914 and 1923. Galás has chosen poems and texts in Greek, Armenian, Spanish, French, and Hebrew that express the kind of anger, sorrow, and despair these people probably went through (some texts, like Gérard de Nerval's "Artémis," have no historic relation to the events, but foray into psychologicaly related topics). The music draws from various sources of sacred music (Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish, in particular) to form a hypnotic ceremonial. Galás is a powerful pianist, but her voice dominates throughout, as usual. The album begins with the 34-minute "The Dance," sung a cappella for the most part, except for a discreet drone. Her vocal prowess articulates human emotions in a way that propels them to an epic level, even though the performance is less extreme than some of her most riveting works from previous decades (Plague Mass, for instance). Her vocal range remains highly impressive, but she doesn't aim at frightening and shocking anymore. That said, this relative restraint makes the material all the more moving. The album ends with a rendition of the blues standard "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," also interpreted on La Serpenta Canta. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide

Tracks

CD 1

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
The Dance: Ter Vogormia	Paolo Pasolini	Diamanda Galás	(13:02)
The Dance: The Desert, Pt. 1	Paolo Pasolini	Diamanda Galás	(4:11)
The Dance: The Desert, Pt. 2	Paolo Pasolini	Diamanda Galás	(5:31)
The Dance: Sevda Zinçiri	Paolo Pasolini	Diamanda Galás	(4:20)
The Dance: Holokaftoma	Paolo Pasolini	Diamanda Galás	(4:39)
The Dance: Ter Vogormia (Reprise)	Paolo Pasolini	Diamanda Galás	(2:28)
The Eagle of Tkhuma		Diamanda Galás	(2:46)
Orders from the Dead	Kudsi Erguner	Diamanda Galás	(11:34)

CD 2

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Hastayim Yasiorum	Udi Hrant	Diamanda Galás	(4:20)
If I Die on the Boat		Diamanda Galás	(2:37)
Ja Rame (I Am Rowing)	Henri Michaux	Diamanda Galás	(9:09)
Epístola a los Transeúntes (Epistle to the Transients)		Diamanda Galás	(5:33)
Birds of Death		Diamanda Galás	(5:08)
Open Up		Diamanda Galás	(3:14)
Todesfuge (Death Fugue)	Paul Celan	Diamanda Galás	(6:14)
Artémis		Diamanda Galás	(5:05)
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean	Traditional	Diamanda Galás	(6:35)

Credits

Diamanda Galás (Piano), Diamanda Galás (Arranger), Diamanda Galás (Composer), Diamanda Galás (Director), Diamanda Galás (Voices), Diamanda Galás (Producer), Diamanda Galás (Performer), Diamanda Galás (Creation), Blaise Dupuy (Producer), Blaise Dupuy (Drum Sequencing), Richard Morrison (Liner Notes), Austin Young (Photography), Rex Ray (Design), Mathu Anderson (Make-Up), Robert Schilling (Project Manager), Alison Brummer (Production Assistant), Peter Balakian (English Translations)