Diamanda Galás

Malediction does something special for me because she sounds more conventional - never really conventional, but at least not as freaky. The freaky mixed in with the not so freaky makes it all sound more powerful by way of contrast. Favorites: "The Thrill is Gone", "My World is Empty Without You", "25 Minutes to Go".

My first exposure to her was "Litanies of Satan" and "Wild Women with Steak Knives," but the CD containing those may be hard to find. (I don't own it myself, actually.) The more recent AIDS related works probably are a better starting point. (I like "Vena Cava," though it's not the sort of thing I listen to regularly.)

If you get a chance to see her live, I definitely recommend that. The recordings only partially capture the multi-media, intense, performances she gives.

Oddest place I've ever heard her -- as a backing vocalist on Erasure's self-titled semi-prog-rock album!

surely the point of a good cover version cover is to find things in a song that you thought were not there.

''Oddest place I've ever heard her -- as a backing vocalist on Erasure's self-titled semi-prog-rock album!''

you learn something from ILM every day don't you! just amazing...it probably only happenened because they were on the same label (and they both wanted it, I suppose).

I see your point Julio, but it's as if the songs she covers turn into caricatures of Diamanda Galas. The thing is, I'm not sure that she's finding something that is there in the song, or is superimposing something of herself onto the song. It's been a while since I've listened to her covers, so I can't get too specific. They're not bad, but I haven't found them satisfying. Find something new, yes, but completely reorient the song: maybe not. While her voice is great, somehow it seems that it belongs in the context of her own compositions. Just my take on it.

But I don't want to be too critical of her, since I'm afraid she might track me down, break into my apartment, and forcibly sodomize me some dark night. She has said in interviews that she hates her audience, so I prefer to keep my distance (though she might be favorably impressed with my Oum Kalthoum collection, as she is an admirer).

There's also a companion album, La Serpenta Canta, which is a collection of her blues reinterpretations we've come to expect and, uh, enjoy. It's very good as well.

But I love all of it.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/issues/2003-12-25/music3.html/1/index.html

Great show, and terrifying too.

the CD that combines 'Divine Punishment'/'Saint of the Pit' is still my favorite. the sustained note on 'Deliver Me From Mine Enemies'.

Ok this is another one of Aaron's dumb ass "is yours like mine" questions. I just got "The Mask of the Red Death" which comes in the old school fat 2-CD jewel case. I open it up (new copy) and....no booklet. Was there even one in the first place? I only ask because when you look it up on the internet, there's all these song titles that are nowhere to be found on the outside cover. So, anyone else who's got this just let me know if there's supposed to be a booklet and if so, what was in it. thanks.

This album is sick as fuck btw, but in a good way.

if you are in new york this week go see her rbma set if you at all like her

New albums en route:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/diamanda-galass-on-new-music-adele-taylor-swift-don-rickles-w461868

Say I'm up here, I'm starting with the amanes, then I'm going through these things – people call it "microtonal inflections" – what the fuck do they know from microtonal inflections? It's not microtones, it's complicated melodies, that's what amanes are. It's microtonal, but we don't use that word there.

Attention imago.

she is a force of nature

Saw her last night at St. Vibianas in LA last night. Umm.... wow. Bears repeating that puny human recording tech cannot really record the full-on effect of seeing her live.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2881/33839332896_78bf02abaa.jpgDiamanda Galás @ Vibiana, Los Angeles

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2857/33839333696_608a57ec0a_z.jpgDiamanda Galás @ Vibiana

We'll be seeing her here Saturday -- can't wait.

Let us know if "Refugee" (seen on the set list above) is the Tom Petty song.

Good to know she's back, and this thread reminded me of a couple of things. I still need to hear her album with John Paul Jones, and also to check---yeahhh, this is still here: Last Exit with DG and Billy Bang, live at Moers New Jazz Festival, in 1986:
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1664

Last Exit with DG

!!!!!!!!

There's a recording from last week that has appeared on a couple of torrent sites. Not listened to it yet.

Don’t know where to put this so: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/style/she-taught-new-york-to-sing.html

yeah that’s obviously indefensible

True, that's bad. I just think it's true that the album doesn't work musically, and I think that has to do with a lack of engagement with country music per se, which is what I took as the point. That's not at odds with Galás also being a racist crone.

y'all must really like her music

Cool to see it’s okay to be super fucking racist if it’s about an album you don’t like

Thanks, Trump!

yeah she's got edgelord brain

yeah there’s a lot of ways to make the point she’s trying to make without all that uh *checks notes * racism

Galas’s outspoken persona can be entertaining, but yeah, this is just racist. The “black imperialism” bit is awful, not least for someone who is so engaged with free jazz. Maybe she thinks that gives her a free pass. Her genre purism is dubious too: where does Ray Charles’ country album sit in this analysis?

Speaking as someone who has followed, been challenged by, and has enjoyed the challenge of her work, I am complete unsurprised by this. *sigh*

Diamanda's awesome. I have never had more fun or laughed as hard talking to an artist as when I interviewed her in 2019. You may disagree with her judgment of a given piece of music, but on the subject of the craft of singing and making music, I will defer to her every time.

― wipes chooser (unperson), Sunday, 23 August 2026 bookmarkflaglink

Next time you interview her you could ask about Graham Platner and all that business. I'd read it.

You never talk down to that culture. You never talk down to poor white trash. People who talk down to them have never been there; they don’t know how those people live.

sure thing Diamanda I guess if you set the entirety of American history aside it's the Southern black woman who you need to remind not to talk down to white trash and not vice-versa. classic old goth behavior... vanity, gatekeeping, and death-grip contrariness. felt like I was overhearing a conversation in the upstairs room at Numbers in 1988.

Her genre purism is dubious too: where does Ray Charles’ country album sit in this analysis?

― Composition 40b (Stew), Monday, August 24, 2026 5:05 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

anyone who's saying shit like she is without comprehending the constant and profound cross-pollination of black and white American roots musics in the early part of the 20th century is, frankly, a fucking idiot.

She does mention Ray Charles btw.

Gotta say that over time it's been real easy to let go of people, even if I've seen and enjoyed their work in concert before, say.

I will say it felt like the interviewer was gunning for challops

simply calling beyonce's country album a grift wouldn't even really be challops. but galas brought in all this other ugliness/racism out of nowhere.

also she really shouldn't be speaking on behalf of country fans. i guess that's her thing though, is attaching herself to and trying to speak on behalf of these groups she sees as downtrodden, and this interview exposes how hollow that can be.

Counterpoint: I do not want to hear Diamanda Galas’s take on Graham Platner.

Misread that as:

Counterpoint: I do not want to hear Diamanda Galas’s take on Graham Parker.

yeah she's got edgelord brain

Sadly true, at least Lydia Lunch is middlingly entertaining when she goes off on one (i.e. permanently)

Personally, I think Galas has misread the room, thinking that as a comparatively impoverished 70-year old genius, the AOTY-winning effort by one of the richest Black women in entertainment is fair game for any vein of critique. I say boo to her comments, but given her breadth of historical knowledge, especially when it comes to the performance of works written by/made popular by Black authors/voices, I'm more-inclined to think she veered out of her lane on this occasion rather than "secretly holds any honest-to-goodness white supremecist attitudes/beliefs".

Yeah, I mean, in that same sentence she praised Patti Labelle and Fantasia Barrino, who I didn't even know had a country moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyy8fXDjJpo

Being racist against Beyonce but considering Fantasia "one of the good ones" would be quite the niche opinion.

if U.S. history has taught us anything, it's that white people definitely can't appreciate the cultural works of african americans while at the same time harboring horrible racist opinions.

yeah but in the case the horrible racist opinion is saying that Beyoncé's country album sucks

I love Fantasia's 2013 and 2016 albums and don't remember a country moment on them.

fuck off Whiney

yeah but in the case the horrible racist opinion is saying that Beyoncé's country album sucks

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 24, 2026 4:14 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

people don't say shit like "Black Imperialism" without having a bunch of brainworms shit in their head, use your head

I mean, yeah, “Black imperialism” objectively sucks and Fuck All That, but there definitely has been a culture war thing around this album between mouth breathing maga chuds saying white people invented country music and pop music/media people saying black people invented country music, both of which are reductive and contrary to the unique cross pollination that creates American musics and I have no idea how a cranky 70 year old is supposed to parse “please repeat this harmless but ultimately ahistorical opinion because it’s confronting 400 years of racism” and it absolutely sucks that “black imperialism” is the words she used

but she did use those words and why do you think she used them?

Because she’s brilliant about a lot of things and a huge dumbass about other things?

Yeah, I mean, in that same sentence she praised Patti Labelle and Fantasia Barrino, who I didn't even know had a country moment

This is what I see in the article:

Her voice is a beautiful voice, and she clearly has good ears. She could have studied the traditions of the great, great country singers. But she didn't. She decided to do soul renditions of country songs. That don't make it, sister. And don't be playing me with all that 'Blacks were the first country [musicians].' I don't want to hear that shit. Shut up. It'd be like me saying that Turks were the first Byzantine singers. Fucking shut up. If you want to do your little Black imperialism dance, go for it. But I'm not interested. And don't take it out on the music, bitch.

It's bingo music for clowns. It's a cartoon record. You wanna be a cartoon of a white person? Go ahead. Waste your fucking time and everybody else's, because you suck. It's dead inside. It's a political thing.

When people [in Nashville and the country music establishment] say, "Oh, I thought it was kind of nice," know that those people are snobs down there. They know what's real, and they know what's not real. They'll say, "Oh, yeah, it's really nice. We're really glad Beyoncé did it." But that's because there's cash-money on the line.

You think about the life experience of Johnny Paycheck, who was in the joint his whole life for being a speed freak and wrote all of his songs from behind bars. It's not just because he had that lifestyle. It's because the guy knew chord changes—the country chord changes—and he knew the way you sing when you're country, which is low down. I remember my mother told me that when she and my father went to the South the women were very depressed—because there'd be this lilt of the voice downwards instead of upwards. I'm not saying they'd do it all the time, but it'd lilt down: "Well, I suppose so." That kind of thing you're not gonna hear in California, you know, unless you've got, unless you've met a lot of people from the South here, and Oakies.

You've got to incorporate the timbres of their voice. They're scratchy timbres, like sandpaper. They've got sandpaper in the sound, and they've got unusual, slightly off intonation when they choose to do it. The language is the dance—is the singing. It's got its own characteristics, and you have to respect that.

You never talk down to that culture. You never talk down to poor white trash. People who talk down to them have never been there; they don't know how those people live.

Look at Hank Williams dying in the back of a car because he had a very dangerous spinal condition, but he could only travel in cars. They didn't have money to take trains. So he had to go and do gigs, and he died in the back of a fucking car in Knoxville. I played the Tennessee Theatre at the Big Ears Festival, and he died in a hotel right down the road from it.

I've talked to his grandson, Shelton Williams, who sings country and punk and writes his own music. He's a great musician, and it's just the way he talks—that sliding-down-the-road talking. He's so smart and really an unusual, rare human being. He sent me some of his songs, and they are spooky songs—incredibly great. This shit is out of nowhere, and that's why this Beyoncé crap is an insult to real culture.

Where exactly is she praising Fantasia or Patti Labelle?

Her voice is a beautiful voice, and she clearly has good ears. She could have studied the traditions of the great, great country singers. But she didn’t. She decided to do “soul” renditions of country songs. But we aren’t talking Ray Charles, Esther Phillips, Patti LaBelle, or Fantasia—masters of vast musics. This is bloodless, and that don’t cut it, sister. And don’t be playing me with all that ‘Blacks were the first country (musicians)’ I don’t want to hear that shit. Shut up. It’d be like me saying that Turks were the first Byzantine singers. Fucking shut up. If you want to do your little Black imperialism dance, go for it. But I’m not interested. And don’t take it out on the music, bitch.

Did Spin … update the article to make her seem less racist?

It's weird because someone earlier on also said, what about Ray Charles?

Her voice is a beautiful voice, and she clearly has good ears. She could have studied the traditions of the great, great country singers. But she didn’t. She decided to do “soul” renditions of country songs. But we aren’t talking Ray Charles, Esther Phillips, Patti LaBelle, or Fantasia—masters of vast musics.

It does seem like the quote was padded after the fact. And it could be that the original, uglier version was an editorial choice by the writer, who decided to tell this story in the intro:

As powerful as Diamanda’s performance was, however, that specific reference later came to mean more to me on a drunken road trip through Kosovo with a Serb nationalist. Late one afternoon we found ourselves alone on the outskirts of Mitrovica in the smashed and burned ruins of a pogromed Orthodox church. Even many of the tombstones were kicked down. And thus grew the fury of the Serb. So when we heard voices and saw about seven Albanian Kosovars had appeared and were laughing at my companion’s distress he clenched his fists, his face red with rage. I told him to cool down and we’ll walk around them. “Fuck that,” he said. “I am too angry.” He stormed straight at them roaring fit to wake the dead.

"Serb nationalist" is a nice way of saying "Nazi."

I'm a longtime fan of Diamanda Galas, but come on... she's from San Diego! Beyoncé is from Houston... you can't really try and claim she's coming at country music as an outsider. However she reckons with it is inherently real.

EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten) at 5:19 24 Aug 26

Because she’s brilliant about a lot of things and a huge dumbass about other things?

ok good dumbass is getting closer! it's a different word..let me give you a hint...ra....ra... you'll get there 🙂

Here's the author's Muckrack page, if anybody wants to read anything else by him.

https://muckrack.com/matt-thompson-15/articles

Almost posted a long quote from this piece byBurundian Judicaelle Irakoze in Essence magazine, 2020, in reference to Beyonce's Lion King album and specifically "black imperialism" (in a strictly African context), but decided not to derail the thread too much.

oh good

re: Diamanda Galás

"Focus on the Beyoncé / Country Music Angle - Best for Clicks & Search Trends"

💀😭 pic.twitter.com/XjlMlTwWU3

— tay (@Yayyab) August 24, 2026

I thought Best for Clicks and Search Trends was a Trail of Dead singles compilation

The whole article and interview read like a voice-to-text transcript from two people who don't speak English as their first language.

I didn’t realize that Galas was an immaculate being beyond reproach until you posted this good but irrelevant-to-this-conversation essay. Thank you, white man, for showing me the errors of my ways. I’sa thinkin right now, yassuh.

No defense of her, but let's take "crone" out of it---I mean she may be old *and jealous of B's success*, yes, who knows---but plenty of young people say as bad or worse online all the time.

The whole article and interview read like a voice-to-text transcript from two people who don't speak English as their first language.

yeah pretty amateurish

Sorry, DJP. I had just gone searching to see if I understood the term. The essay made the Johnny Paycheck part make more literal sense where it hadn’t on my end.

I appreciate that. I am getting a little hot about how much people are bending over backwards to excuse/downplay/handwave blatant racism. It’s maddening.

truly amazing work everyone

dow at 6:23 24 Aug 26

No defense of her, but let's take "crone" out of it---I mean she may be old *and jealous of B's success*, yes, who knows---but plenty of young people say as bad or worse online all the time

if some dude in a corny semi popular indie band said this every one of the Diamanda Defense Force would be running to rhetorically disembowel him

So before this all came about, I remember that Galas had other occasions of saying things that were at best controversial, and at worst fucked up.

Nothing that made me not pick up 'Broken Gargoyles' when it came out in 2022 and playing it back to back with 'The Litanies of Satan.' Nothing that made me think I could not support the art she made that I enjoyed. But I was still cognizant that she held some views antithetical to my own.

However when I tried to find the specifics of them now to refresh my memory, I get all of the Beyonce stuff (of course) and how her AIDS activism was controversial, which may have been true at the time but that was not something that bugged me (and the intervening decades kinda showed that ACT-UP was the better side to be on than the church).

What other opinions/commentary has she espoused which got her negative notoriety before all of this? I remember her reputation but damned if I can recall the specifics.