malediction & prayer reviews

Nothing shines as brightly as Diamanda in the dark.

Diamanda Galas' fans know what to expect: a performance with lost of spectacle, drama and vocal athletics.

This time, however, it was just Galas with her gritty but soulful voice, a grand piano and a few subtle lights – high drama in a low-key setting. The lady came to sing the blues, not the kind that makes you want to cry in your beer.

Rather, Galas' version of the blues explores isolation and despair, death and insanity with all the melancholy beauty of a bouquet of belladonna.

"I went to the insane asylum," she sang in a deep, throaty voice, "and I saw my baby in there…"

The Manhattan performance artist delivered her arrangements of spirituals, poetry set to music and other songs in a program called "Malediction and Prayer" on Saturday night before a sold-out house at the Northwest Service Center.

She was dressed in black. With red lips and dark blue heavy on her lids, Galas' face was luminescent. Her lips trembled as she opened her voice box, alternately crooning and versifying her lyrics.

Her fingers danced along the full range of the piano's keyboard, never missing a note.

There were plenty of classic Galas riffs in this performance, such as when her voice swelled with the passion of an imam's on her opening song "Last Man Down," a composition she co-wrote with John Paul Jones.

On her Willie Dixon cover of "Insane Asylum," she released a barrage of her trademark earsplitting, otherwordly cries, then dipped into a world-weary whisper without missing a beat: "Save me!"

The best surprises, however, were her haunting renditions of The Supremes' "My World Is Empty Without You," and Schwartz and Dietz's "Dancing in the Dark." Galas used a flange effect, giving the piano's notes a watery echo.

Her final piece, Johnny Cash's song of a condemned man called "25 Minutes to Go," might have been the most memorable. The vocalist began with an irreconcilable bitterness weighing down her voice, then ended with a light, breathy sadness as her voice floated away.

The divine diva's Portland audience didn't let her go easily; she had to return to the stage three times before the crowd was satisfied. But we'll always come back for more.