Defixiones, Will and Testament: Orders from the Dead (review)

Abstract

Defixiones, Will and Testament: Orders from the Dead, Diamanda Galás's latest work for solo voice and piano, is a radical and exacting working through of language, voice and memory. Traversing at least five languages (English, German, French, Arabic, and Greek) Galás borrows from the texts of exiled poets as diverse as Siamanto, Henri Michaux, Adonis, Césare Vallejo, Paul Celan, and Gérard de Nerval. She also employs musical styles ranging from the rembeticka songs of Sotiria Bellou to the blues music of American musicians Bosie Stuyvesant and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and the sacred songs of the deep south, to create a disorienting present—a present haunted by ghosts.