Where do you think that your music fits on the classical-popular divide? Why? Diamanda Galas
 Diamanda Galas Photo by Tom Pitts |
I think it is, indeed, difficult to locate my music; and I have seen it under pop, opera, new music, new electronic music, blues, satanic music, noise, gothic, black metal, world music, and lysergic vampire vocals (in San Francisco).
What unites all the music in the mind of its audience must be the performer/composer/interpreter of the musics. I think my performances, as independent as they may be from each other, allow me to reside, musically, under my own name.
I have often been told that the diversity of my records probably provides a “no faith” relationship to record buyers because I will release a record like Schrei X directly after The Sporting Life (with collaborator John Paul Jones). But it is precisely this sort of thing that excites me. To imagine the record buyer scurrying home to groove to Schrei X (which is a torture piece for solo voice and radical electronic processing) makes my day. This sort of thing satisfies a malevolence in me that more than compensates for, shall we say, inconsistent record sales, or the inability to be trusted— I mean— categorized.
I am notably NOT invited to perform on television shows, etc. for this reason, among others.
On the other hand, my live shows are consistently recorded and broadcast – excepting the United States, of course – on and by news, arts, or music stations worldwide. So again, lifelong performance will probably land me in a category I can not refuse–my own.