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  • For the Erased

    For the Erased
    Diamanda Gal commemorates victims of a long-forgotten Turkish ethnic cleansing

    by LD Beghtol
    August 29th, 2005 4:22 PM



    Ages ago at college in her native California, singer, composer, and cultural provocatrice Diamanda Gal abandoned the study of science to pursue her true passion: experimental music. But biochemistry's loss is our gain; over the last two decades, her controversial works have earned her a place high in the avant-garde music pantheon. Fearlessly outspoken, frighteningly knowledgeable, and dangerously openhearted, Gal dedicates her latest work, Defixiones: Orders From the Dead to the estimated 3 million to 4 million victims of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Anatolian Greek "ethnic cleansing" committed by the Ottoman Turks between 1914 and 1923.
    Since 1999, Defixiones has been performed to near unanimous acclaim at prestigious venues the world over, from London's Royal Festival Hall to the Sydney Opera House, from the Athens National Opera to Mexico City's Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana. Its New York premiere (presented by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's "What Comes After: Cities, Art + Recovery" international summit) is scheduled for September 8 and 10 at Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University—appropriately enough, just across from City Hall, mere blocks from ground zero.

    The word defixiones refers to warnings engraved in lead placed onto graves in Greece and Asia Minor, threatening desecraters with grievous harm. Gal uses this term in a broader memorializing sense, urging us to remember the forgotten dead, the "erased," the massacred. Her epic performance for solo voice, piano, and electronics speaks for the poet-author in exile—both far from home and in his homeland—as well as for "born outlaws," as Gal calls homosexuals, echoing Genet.

    Informed by excerpts from the Armenian Orthodox liturgy and the traditional amanethes, or improvisatory lamentations sung at Greek funerals, Gal 70-minute masterwork showcases both her astounding vocal technique and her enormous capacity for rage, compassion, defiance, and ferocious emotionalism. Though at times truly fearsome in its raw, insistent pathos—familiar to those who know her crushing Plague Mass (1990) or Schrei X (1996)—Defixiones' real power lies in those seductively lyrical, quiet passages that occur just before Gal wail of existential anguish erupts in reverberant majesty. Iraqi artist-scholar Selim Abdullah notes, "The sentiment, strength . . . and sensitivity contained in this Saturnian representation go back to the very aspects the Greeks gave to a whole Occidental culture." Awash in blood and tears, and haunted by images of unspeakable (and until now, largely unspoken) butchery, Gal funeral mass is cathartic, but neither glib nor sentimental. Any redemption is hard-won.

    I spoke with Miss Gal who has lived in the East Village for the past 10 years, on two occasions in mid August. Over multiple cappuccinos—caffeine being her current drug of choice—she dazzled me with her famous intelligence and often barbed wit. Onstage she's a mythic figure come to life; in person she is perhaps even more mesmerizing.



    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Few people in America, other than those of Greek, Armenian, or Assyrian descent, seem to have heard of this horror. Why is it so unknown? This country discusses one or two genocides and markets them in very contrived ways. They don't write about them truthfully, the way [author and concentration camp survivor] Primo Levi did. Think of Spielberg and the legions of mediocrity he has propagated.

    And there's the conflicting numbers, and . . . What does it matter if it was 6 million or 2 million or 200? Genocide is genocide. Every culture has its particular way of killing and torturing its enemies. And the Turks are still trying to cover it up by calling it deportation, but that's just another word for "death sentence."

    You're perceived as the voice of the fallen and forgotten. Is that something you've chosen? No—I hated being the poster girl for the AIDS epidemic. It had to be done, but I hated it. I never meant to be political— I'm an artist. An artist can only speak for herself. But if you get particularly good at something it has a sort of universality, and then it has a certain audience, and you're answerable for that. Like Adon [Syrian-born poet Adon Ali Ahmed Said]—a great, great poet—who is seen as the voice of a "leftist movement" of some sort, but he's only writing about what is truth to him.

    How did you come to create Defixiones? My father is an Anatolian Greek. All my life he's talked about how the finest Greek culture was from Anatolia—home to Assyrians, Armenians, Greeks, and Jews, who for centuries traded languages, songs, ideas, histories—and how many of these cultures are indistinguishable from one another. So the notion of racial purity there is just absurd. He also told me about the atrocities committed by the Turks against Greeks from Asia Minor. But the direct catalyst was an interview I saw with Dr. [Jack] Kevorkian, who said, "I'm Armenian, I know what torture is all about. I know the difference between homicide and helping people end a life of misery." He was so articulate, and he was discussing Greek Stoic philosophy and the Armenians in the same breath, which I found very unusual at the time. So in 1998 I said to myself: It's time to do this work.

    Later I read Peter Balakian's book Black Dog of Fate, which talks about what being an Armenian in America means—it means you're invisible. It's the same with the Greeks. Most people think of Greek culture as a dead culture: Socrates and Aristotle and the statues . . . And they think Assyrians are the same as Syrians.

    Then, as a fellow at Princeton in 1999, I studied texts by Giorgos Seferis and others in preparation for a performance at the Vooruit Festival at the Castle of Ghent [in Belgium].
    Defixiones was more a song cycle then, with [the underground Greek protest music known as] rembetika and works by Paul Celan, Henri Michaux, and César Vallejo. I concentrated on exiled poets like the Anatolian Greek refugees of the 1920s—my father's people. The premiere was on September 11, 1999, which marked the anniversary of the reign of terror under Charles V, who persecuted homosexuals, women thought to be witches, and other heretics.

    Defixiones is somewhat a work in progress? Yes. Currently I'm using texts by Giorgos Seferis, [who] is like my bible—and Nikos Kazantzakis, who people will know from his novel The Last Temptation of Christ. And Pier Paolo Pasolini, whose poem is addressed to the people who survived. Everyone just hated him. And Yannis Ritsos. And "The Dance" by Siamanto, with its description of brides being burned alive. And the pro-genocide poem "Hate," which was published by [the Turkish newspaper] Hürriyet and broadcast by the BBC in 1974, right before the invasion of Cyprus—about why the Turks should decapitate the Greeks.

    September is such a politically charged month . . . Yes, starting with the destruction of Smyrna in September 1922. And Black September 1955, when Turkish officials waged a disinformation campaign stating that Greeks had bombed the consulate in Thessalon resulted in the desecration of Greek churches and the mutilation and murder of priests and other men. And the Black September of Ariel Sharon's going into Lebanon in '82. He was doing a real con job. And then the situation in America in 2001 . . .

    Your aggressive style and disturbing subject matter automatically put you outside the mainstream. Yet your music has a surprisingly broad appeal. Well, I've been creating sacred masses, which are not exactly a popular art form in this country today. But they're meant to be, literally, for the people. The American idea of a populist art form is rap. Some of it is good, but most is appalling in that it promotes stupidity and the abuse of the same groups that monotheist totalitarian governments persecute: women, homosexuals, and anyone who doesn't speak precisely your language.

    You must get tons of hate mail. Fundamentalists of all sorts despise me. I'm attacked by my own people too—American Greek men who are homo- phobic and think everything I say is heresy. I got xxxx recently from a Jewish promoter about doingDefixiones in Mexico. She asked me if I really believed people would be interested. And I thought: "Please don't insult my intelligence—or theirs. They'll understand the concept of genocide as it has occurred and continues to occur to so many people around the world . . . "

    I want to perform Defixiones in Istanbul and Smyrna. The psychic manifestations of violence can be just as devastating as the physical acts—especially when people refuse to recognize them. It's depersonalizing. I have a line in INSEKTA: "Believe me, believe me." Not being believed can kill.

    Who are your fans? People who find it necessary to think for themselves in order to survive, because they're damned by the fact they don't agree with the mediocrity that society shoves down their throats. They rise above this by continuing to educate themselves. This is especially true of homosexuals, who are born outside the law anyway. They're still figuratively and literally buried alive by the Egyptians and Turks. Here in New York they're visited upon by the Aesthetic Realism Foundation and treated with electroshock. In Iran, they hang teenage "infidels." It's unbelievable that ethnic groups still shut out those who can be so disciplined and organized, and who can do great things. [Gay men] either disappear completely or they address the situation. They've had to—to save their own lives. They are great fighters. I say these are the first soldiers you should enlist, not the last. This is the man to whom you should say, "Will you be my brother? Will you help me?"

    Will the Turkish government ever admit these atrocities? I think it will be forced to, through the ongoing work of their own scholars, both old and young, and by artists and writers who want to be part of the rest of the world, despite the horrific censorship that the Turkish government exercises over them. My website is listed as a hate site, which is completely ridiculous. I do not hate the Turkish scholars who are trying to address true events in the world. There are many Turks who want to see things change, but they're not given the opportunity to express themselves. When they do, they get sent to prison or mental asylums. Midnight Express is absolutely the truth.

    But until the government officially apologizes, there is no reason for it to be accepted by the European Union. You must admit what you've done—it shows that your present actions will be mandated by the apology for your past actions. But until this happens there can be no trust at all.



    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For more information about the Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian genocides, Black September, and Galas's work, see: diamandagalas.com "Voices of Truth" series: hellenic-genocide.com/voices-of-truth"Before the Silence" archival news reports series, run by Sofia Kontogeorge Kostos: www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/bts go to next article in music ->
    "All truth passes through three stages:
    First, it is ridiculed;
    Second, it is violently opposed; and
    Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

    Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

  • #2
    Threatened By Legal Action, Time Apologizes For Offending Armenians

    Six weeks ago, the Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA) sent a letter of protest to TIME magazine expressing its "shock and disappointment" that TIME included in its European Edition (June 6, 2005 issue), as a paid ad, a Turkish DVD that denied the Armenian Genocide.

    As the denial of the Armenian Genocide is a criminal offense under Swiss laws, the SAA threatened TIME with legal action, unless the magazine took nine corrective steps ranging from publishing a formal apology to disseminating, at TIME’s expense, a factual DVD on the Armenian Genocide, in the same seven languages as the Turkish DVD.

    James Kelly, the Managing Editor of TIME, responded last week to SAA’s letter by stating: "We regret distributing the [Turkish] DVD as part of TIME’s European edition and are very sorry for the offense it has caused. The so-called ‘documentary’ portion of the DVD presents a one-sided view of history that does not meet our standards for fairness and accuracy, and we would not have distributed it had we been aware of its content. Unfortunately the DVD was not adequately reviewed by anyone at TIME because it was believed to be a benign promotion piece. I can assure you that we have changed our review process and will be much more vigilant in the future. We apologize to the Armenian community, and to our readers."

    This is a fine letter that makes several very important points:

    -- It expresses regret three times in the space of a few short lines;

    -- It challenges the credibility of the Turkish DVD by referring to it as a "so-called ‘documentary’" that is "one-sided" and not meeting TIME’s "standards for fairness and accuracy";

    -- It acknowledges that TIME would not have distributed the Turkish DVD had it been "aware of its content";

    -- It accepts TIME’s negligence by admitting that the DVD "was not adequately reviewed by anyone at TIME";

    -- It pledges to be "much more vigilant," should the Turks attempt a similar ploy in the future.

    Clearly, this letter is an improvement over TIME’s initial wholly inadequate reaction to Armenian complaints. James Geary, the editor of TIME Europe, had callously responded that the magazine was "not endorsing any political organization or cause." Mr. Kelly’s letter, on the other hand, reinforces the e-mail Norman Pearlstine, the Editor-in-Chief of TIME, sent to a reader admitting that the contents of the DVD were "different from what we had been led to believe." In other words, Mr. Pearlstine acknowledged that TIME was tricked by the Turks.

    Despite Mr. Kelly’s more understanding letter that included profuse apologies, the most critical element is still missing from his response to the Switzerland-Armenia Association. He expresses regret for TIME’s dissemination of the offensive DVD; acknowledges that the Turkish DVD was one-sided, unfair and inaccurate; admits that the magazine was negligent in not reviewing the DVD; and accepts that the DVD should not have been distributed by TIME.

    Acknowledging its error and apologizing for it does not, however, go far enough in redressing the harm done to the psyche of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish DVD also tarnished the memory of the Armenian martyrs by casting doubt on the truthfulness of their agonizing eyewitness accounts.

    Mr. Kelly and his superiors at TIME now have an obligation to undo the damage they have caused by their negligence. They need to take the nine steps suggested by the SAA. The least TIME could do is agree to disseminate free of charge, to the same 500,000 readers that received the Turkish DVD, a new DVD that accurately portrays the facts of the Armenian Genocide. Otherwise, TIME’s admission of mistakes and expression of regrets remain simply empty words devoid of any meaning and sincerity. It is too easy for TIME executives to pocket the one million dollars for circulating the Turkish hit piece and then simply tell the Armenians, "we apologize." A true apology has to be accompanied by concrete steps that include making amends to the aggrieved party -- the Armenians.

    Until then, Armenians worldwide should continue their boycott of TIME magazine and resort to all possible legal measures accorded to them under European genocide denial laws to seek adequate redress. Kind words alone do not compensate for the damage caused by TIME’s negligent, insensitive and offensive act.

    By Harut Sassounian; Publisher, The California Courier
    "All truth passes through three stages:
    First, it is ridiculed;
    Second, it is violently opposed; and
    Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

    Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

    Comment


    • #3
      Guilty Of Being Too Precise: Diamanda Gala

      by Luke Beesley

      The Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
      October 17, 2005 Monday

      Diamanda Galas, Guilty Guilty Guilty
      Concert Hall, QPAC, October 14

      ECCENTRIC, internationally renowned vocalist and pianist Diamanda
      Galas' new show Guilty Guilty Guilty was much more subdued than the
      reputation preceding her.

      Her Defixiones performance piece is one that's stirred up audiences
      around the world with its angry exploration of a denial, by Turkey
      and America, of Armenian, Assyrian and Anatolian Greek genocide.

      This performance, though, was a moody, almost conventional, concert of
      blues, country and jazz tunes on the themes love, death and injustice;
      and she began deep and husky and bluesy, working over the bass notes
      on the piano in a cover of Johnny Cash's Long Black Veil.

      Her approach to these iconic songs including original tunes and those
      by artists as disparate as Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Edith Piaf was
      to begin at the bottom of the register and then push up through the
      murky tones of the piano. She experimented with varied emphasis on
      familiar blues moans and screeches, and her voice was heavy with a
      very physical vibrato that kind of waved the audience in.

      She followed Cash with O. V. Wright's Eight Men and Four Women and
      skipped octaves, suddenly, to some siren-like melodies.

      Her incredible range (three-and-a-half octaves) almost mimicked the
      piano's, yet in a unique version of Ralph Stanley's

      O Death, she climbed to a sustained, scratchy note that at one point
      seemed to split in two, the scratchiness separating from the fuller
      note before bursting to a pure, strong voice again.

      It was a highlight, this shaft of light through the gothic shade.

      Overall her performance was characterised by a confident vocal control,
      though something was missing.

      This is music of raw, emotive communication, and it's heightened by
      a strong personal connection with an audience.

      Oddly, for such an erratic and flighty approach to technique, the
      performance seemed a little too precise. Her fairly still presence
      at the piano for the hour or so, and demure presence on the stage,
      came across as a little distanced.

      As a bookend to her opening song (before covers James Carr and Desmond
      Carter, as encores) Galas attempted a very slow version of Cash's
      25 Minutes to Go. She played it hauntingly, counting down the last
      minutes of a man's life before the gallows, the last line "And now
      I'm swingin' and here I go", ironically emphasising her deathly take
      on a music that's often described as "swing" or "swingin"'.

      It was a witty end to a warmly received program of melancholic blues.
      "All truth passes through three stages:
      First, it is ridiculed;
      Second, it is violently opposed; and
      Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

      Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

      Comment

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