Diamanda Galas
Diamanda Galás is an American-born avant-garde performance artist, vocalist, keyboardist, and composer of Greek heritage.
Known for her expert piano as well as her distinctive, operatic voice, which has a three and a half octave range, Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror." Galás often shrieks, howls, and seems to imitate glossolalia in her performances. Her works largely concentrate on the topics of suffering, despair, condemnation, injustice and loss of dignity. Critic Robert Conroy has said that she is "unquestionably one of the greatest singers America has ever produced", and comparisons are frequently made between her and another singer of Greek origin, Maria Callas.
She has worked with many avant-garde composers, including Iannis Xenakis, Vinko Globokar and John Zorn. She made her performance debut at the Festival d'Avignon in France as the lead in Globokar's opera, Un Jour Comme Un Autre. The work was sponsored by Amnesty International.
“I think God is a callous bitch not making me a lesbian. I'm deeply disappointed by my sexual interest in men.”
“Robbery is not just the robbery of money or human flesh; it involves the soul murder of cultures which will soon die if they have no more songs to sing.”
“I wake up and I see the face of the devil and I ask him, "What time is it?"And he says, How much time do you want?”