Songs of Exile

She plays the piano like driving rain slapping on concrete, and she sings like a demon going to war, a valkyrie scatting, a lizard queen seeking revenge for the dead...Galas is profound, rigorous, vocally unlimited, terrifying and utterly compelling. To hear her is to have your soul scoured clean...

- The Age Australia

Following her earlier presentation of La Serpenta Canta (October 13) at the Festival de Otoño, the celebrated US pianist, composer and singer, Diamanda Galás, returns to the Teatro Albéniz with Songs of Exile. With this work, she examines the situation of poets, musicians and composers forced into exile and how they continue the creative process far from their native country. The programme includes amanedhes - improvised laments from Asia and the Middle East - and Galás’ own compositions, based on the works of exiled poets from various parts of the world such as Adonios, Celan, Michaux, Gerard de Nerval, Vallejo, Pier Paolo Pasolini and the Salvadorian writer and poet, Miguel Huezo Mixco. All of them are seen through the eyes of Galás, who has been described variously by the critics as “volcanic” and an “exhorter of hell”.

www.diamandagalas.com