DIAMANDA GALÁS - Defixiones : Will and Testament (2003) 2CD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On November 11, 2003, Diamanda Galás released two albums, ending a five-year recording hiatus with a bang. Both are solo live recordings and present two very different sides of her. La Serpenta Canta showcased her song-based material (mostly blues). Defixiones: Will and Testament, Orders From the Dead is more typical of her operatic works of the 1990s. The album revolves around the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides carried out by Turkey between 1914 and 1923. Galás has chosen poems and texts in Greek, Armenian, Spanish, French, and Hebrew that express the kind of anger, sorrow, and despair these people probably went through (some texts, like Gérard de Nerval's "Artémis," have no historic relation to the events, but foray into psychologicaly related topics). The music draws from various sources of sacred music (Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish, in particular) to form a hypnotic ceremonial. Galás is a powerful pianist, but her voice dominates throughout, as usual. The album begins with the 34-minute "The Dance," sung a cappella for the most part, except for a discreet drone. Her vocal prowess articulates human emotions in a way that propels them to an epic level, even though the performance is less extreme than some of her most riveting works from previous decades (Plague Mass, for instance). Her vocal range remains highly impressive, but she doesn't aim at frightening and shocking anymore. That said, this relative restraint makes the material all the more moving. The album ends with a rendition of the blues standard "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," also interpreted on La Serpenta Canta. by François Couture  
Tracklist 1 :
1-6    The Dance (31:17)
Translated By [English Translation] – Nevart Yaghlian, Peter Balakian
Translated By [Traduccion En Español] – Nicolas Alvarado
Words By – Siamanto (Atom Yarjanian)
Written-By [Liturgical Melody "Ter Vogormia"] – Marar Yekmalian
Written-By [With Excerpts From "A Desperate Vitality"] – Pier Paolo Pasolini
Written-By [With Excerpts From "Priere-Litanie" (Psalm 34)] – Anonymous
Written-By [With Excerpts From "Sevda Zinçiri"] – Anonymous
Written-By [With Excerpts From "The Desert"] – Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said)
7    The Eagle Of Tkhuma 2'47
Performer – Boys' Choir Of Deyruzafaran Monastery
Read By [Recitations] – Nicholas Bet-Gulawi
Written-By – Dr. Freidoun Bet-Oraham
8    Orders From The Dead 11'38
Music By ["The World Is Going Up In Flames"] – Diamanda Galás
Sequenced By [Drum Sequencing] – Blaise Dupuy
Translated By [Excerpts From "Farewell Anatolia"] [For "Kedras"] – Fred A. Reed
Words By – Diamanda Galás
Written-By [With Excerpts From "Farewell Anatolia"] – Dido Soteriou
Written-By [With Excerpts From "Zikir"] – Kudsi Erguner
Tracklist 2 :
1    Hastayim Yasiyorum 4'20
Words By, Music By – Udi Hrant
2    Σαν Πεθανω Στο Καραβι 2'38
Anonymous
3    Je Rame 9'10
Music By – Diamanda Galás
Translated By – David Ball
Words By – Henri Michaux
4    Epístola A Los Transeúntes 5'33
Music By – Diamanda Galás
Translated By – Clayton Eshleman, José Rubia Barcia
Words By [With Excerpts From "The Windows Shuttered"] – César Vallejo
5    Birds Of Death 5'08
Words By, Music By – Diamanda Galás
6    Aνοιξε 3'14
Words By, Music By – Yannis Papaioannou
7    Todesfuge 6'14
Music By – Diamanda Galás
Translated By – John Felstiner
Words By – Paul Celan
8    Artémis 5'05
Music By – Diamanda Galás
Translated By – Geoffrey Wagner
Words By – Gérard Nerval
9    See That My Grave Is Kept Clean 6'05
Written-By – Traditional
Credits :
Composed By, Voice, Piano, Arranged By, Producer, Management [Director Of Intravenal Sound Operations], Created, Music Director [Director Of Intravenal Sound Operations] – Diamanda Galás