Internationally acclaimed vocalist, pianist, composer and poet, Diamanda Galás is currently presenting her latest work “Defixiones, Will and Testament,” for solo voice, piano, and tape. The performance is an angry meditation on genocide and the politically cooperative denial of it, in particular the Turkish and American denial of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Anatolian Greek genocides from 1914 to 1923.
The program “Defixiones, Will and Testament” features selections of work that address man’s inhumanity to man, and is concerned with material written by those living in exile: “The Dance,” a poem by Armenian poet Siamanto; “The Desert,” by Syrian poet Adonis; “Epistle to the Transients,” by Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo; “Todesfuge,” by Rumanian-Jewish poet Paul Celan; Greek and Armenian rembetika (a form of music brought by Asia Minor refugees from Smyrna down into Greece) and amanedhes (an Asia Minor style of improvisation), including “If I Die on the Boat,” made famous by Sotiria Bellou and “Anoixe,” by Papaiannou; “Hastayim Yasiyorum,” by Udi Hrant; “Artémis,” by Gérard Nerval; work by Assyrian poet-martyr Dr. Freidoun Bet-Oraham and the music of the deep South.
“Defixiones” refers to the warnings engraved in lead that were placed by relatives of the deceased on the graves of the dead in Greece and Asia Minor. These warnings cautioned against moving or desecrating the corpses under the 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. Concerned with the poet/author living in exile, either from his homeland or within his homeland, “Defixiones, Will and Testament” speaks for individuals who have had to live as outlaws, and for those who have had to create houses out of rock.
Diamanda Galas will be on stage in Peter Jay Sharp Theatre @ Symphony Space ( 2537 Broadway, New York, NY 10025) on October 4, 2004 @ 8:00 pm. Ticket prices are $39 & $29.
For tickets:
Tickets.com
For more info of Defixiones, Will and Testament go to:
http://www.diamandagalas.com/defixiones/defixiones.htm
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