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	Bay Area Reporter Nov. 1, 1990 Diamanda Galás This article appeared in the "Bay Area Reporter" on Nov. 1, 1990 by: Michael Flanagan (also appears inside The Plague Mass) DIAMANDA'S IN THE SANCTUARY There are those who will wonder why Diamanda Galas chose to perform the Masque of the Red Death at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on October 12th and 13th. Her last public action at a Cathedral was on December 10, 1989, when she was arrested with ACT UP at St. Patrick's Cathedral for disorderly conduct, disrupting a religious service, resisting arrest, and criminal trespass. One had only to be present at the performance to dispel all such questions. She emerged on center stage in front of the altar, stripped to the waist. Behind her a crucifix is lit. The opening work "Were You A Witness" there is text from the spirituals "Were you there when the crucified my Lord?" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" with exhortations to action such as: "We who have died do not rest in peace There is no rest until the fighting's done" With a multi-octave voice she sings of messages received from angels/devils who warn of the perils of resistance. From the beginning there is no question as to what this performance is about. It is a Requiem for those who have died from AIDS and an accusation of those who ask that they proceed politely into death. "This is the Law of the Plague" from "The Divine Punishment" is the second piece of the Masque. Enshrouded in darkness, and surrounded by candles she excoriates those who accuse people with AIDS from a context of judgement and moral hysteria. "And he that toucheth the flesh of the unclean Becomes unclean" Here her voice is the voice of judges who judge without compassion. Her voice courses out a mocking "Unclean" over the Cathedral as red light and smoke fill the apse. This piece is from Leviticus, the "Old Law" which (within the Christian context) refers to a society based in judgement, and not the compassion of salvation. It is the voice of a God of judgement without compassion that fills the Cathedral. It is part of the message of this mass that in a world without redemption the person who is unjustly accused should rebel. The mass continues with Job, Chapter 10, which questions the plan of this God; a Gospel "I Wake Up and I See the Face of the Devil..." (delivered from a platform on the right of the stage); and a Confiteor "Confessional" which accuses judging clerics who approach the person with AIDS as someone who needs to be purified: "In that house there is no time for Compassion there is only time for confession." Diamanda's Epistle is "How Shall Our Judgement Be Carried Out Upon The Wicked." This is a warning to the enemies of those who fight AIDS, delivered from center stage. It is a call for justice upon those who would slaughter, burn, or intimidate people with (or perceived to have) HIV. With texts from Revelations and Malcolm X it sings of a bloody Armageddon: "How shall our judgement be carried out upon the wicked? 'By any means necessary We shall not keep silent A fire shall devour before us... And burn up our enemies round about" Consecration follows the Epistle. During the Consecration (performed in the forward section of stage right) the stage is bathed in red light. As Diamanda chants "Hoc est signum corpus meum" (This is my body) and "Hoc est signum sangre meum" (This is my blood) and a chorus of taped voices echo the consecration she covers herself with ceremonial blood while bells ring. The consecration portrays the transformation of the person with AIDS into the Christ, the sacrificial victim of judgemental clerics seeking salvation. The offertory of this mass is a cry of desolation in the midst of unjust affliction. "Lamentationes" is a cry in which the New Testament treatment of Christ reflects many hospital scenes: "My flesh and my skin hath be made old: he hath broken my bones... He hath filled me with bitterness, He hath made me drunken with wormwood" The offertory continues in "Sono l'Antichristo" from "The Divine Punishment" a work which spits venom and bile in the eyes of the God of the false accuser. It is work such as this that some have mistaken as "Satanist." It should be clear upon even cursory study of her work that what she is raging against is not a loving compassionate deity. It is against the meanspirited, malevolent God of the unjust judges that she rails. In this work she claims all of the epithets which could hurled and turns them back on the accuser: "I am the sign I am the plague I am the Antichrist" Thus she calls upon those who have been disempowered by accusation to turn back the power of that accusation. "Invocation of the Dead", the piece which follows, should be seen as the essence of the Requiem spirit of this mass. Ms. Galas sings this piece hauntingly and beautifully. It must be noted that though she has been known in the past for the frightening and effective use of her range, this work will establish her as one of (if not the) premiere voices of our age. Although no Communion is offered in this mass, the piece "Cris D'Aveugle: Blind Man's Cry" should be seen as a spiritual communion in which the audience is brought into the experience of the suffering of the dying: "The hammer pounds my wooden head... My golgotha is not over... Doves of Death Be thirsty for my body" Following the "Communion" are two pieces which can be seen as recessionals, "Artemis" and "Let My People Go." Both demand that we define our own destinies. Diamanda sings on "Artemis" from "Saint of the Pit": "White roses, fall! you offend our gods, Fall, white phantoms, from your burning heaven; -The saint of the pit is stronger in my eyes!" Diamanda has sometimes been identified with the "Enemy" as the devil is sometimes called (the word Satan originally meant accuser.) In the spirit of Milton, Diamanda seem to believe that it is better to rule in Hell that to serve in Heaven. The voice of the oppressed is found throughout the Masque of the Red Death Plague Mass. It calls for respite in "Let My People Go" from "You Must Be Certain of the Devil": "O Lord Jesus, here's the news from those below: The eight legs of the devil will not let my people go." Father Conrado Balweg (a priest and guerrilla of the Philippine New People's Army) has said liberation from oppression is "the essence of the Mass." The Masque of the Red Death is an exorcism of a false and unjust spirits, a cry for liberation from meaningless death, and a prayer for power over our enemies. In this piece Diamanda Galas shows that she has grown beyond performing in small venues. This work is about the impact of one of the central moral issues of our time. It is only appropriate that "Masque of the Red Death" should be performed in Cathedrals, or similar venues. I hope San Francisco is fortunate enough to see such a performance.

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plague mass reviews

Bay Area Reporter Nov. 1, 1990

Diamanda Galás

This article appeared in the "Bay Area Reporter" on Nov. 1, 1990

by: Michael Flanagan

(also appears inside The Plague Mass)
DIAMANDA'S IN THE SANCTUARY

There are those who will wonder why Diamanda Galas chose to perform the Masque of the Red Death at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on October 12th and 13th. Her last public action at a Cathedral was on December 10, 1989, when she was arrested with ACT UP at St. Patrick's Cathedral for disorderly conduct, disrupting a religious service, resisting arrest, and criminal trespass. One had only to be present at the performance to dispel all such questions.

She emerged on center stage in front of the altar, stripped to the waist. Behind her a crucifix is lit. The opening work "Were You A Witness" there is text from the spirituals "Were you there when the crucified my Lord?" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" with exhortations to action such as:

"We who have died do not rest in peace
There is no rest until the fighting's done"

With a multi-octave voice she sings of messages received from angels/devils who warn of the perils of resistance. From the beginning there is no question as to what this performance is about. It is a Requiem for those who have died from AIDS and an accusation of those who ask that they proceed politely into death.

"This is the Law of the Plague" from "The Divine Punishment" is the second piece of the Masque. Enshrouded in darkness, and surrounded by candles she excoriates those who accuse people with AIDS from a context of judgement and moral hysteria.

"And he that toucheth the flesh of the unclean
Becomes unclean"

Here her voice is the voice of judges who judge without compassion. Her voice courses out a mocking "Unclean" over the Cathedral as red light and smoke fill the apse. This piece is from Leviticus, the "Old Law" which (within the Christian context) refers to a society based in judgement, and not the compassion of salvation. It is the voice of a God of judgement without compassion that fills the Cathedral.

It is part of the message of this mass that in a world without redemption the person who is unjustly accused should rebel. The mass continues with Job, Chapter 10, which questions the plan of this God; a Gospel "I Wake Up and I See the Face of the Devil..." (delivered from a platform on the right of the stage); and a Confiteor "Confessional" which accuses judging clerics who approach the person with AIDS as someone who needs to be purified:

"In that house there is no time for Compassion
there is only time for confession."

Diamanda's Epistle is "How Shall Our Judgement Be Carried Out Upon The Wicked." This is a warning to the enemies of those who fight AIDS, delivered from center stage. It is a call for justice upon those who would slaughter, burn, or intimidate people with (or perceived to have) HIV. With texts from Revelations and Malcolm X it sings of a bloody Armageddon:

"How shall our judgement be carried out upon the wicked?
'By any means necessary
We shall not keep silent
A fire shall devour before us...
And burn up our enemies round about"

Consecration follows the Epistle. During the Consecration (performed in the forward section of stage right) the stage is bathed in red light. As Diamanda chants "Hoc est signum corpus meum" (This is my body) and "Hoc est signum sangre meum" (This is my blood) and a chorus of taped voices echo the consecration she covers herself with ceremonial blood while bells ring. The consecration portrays the transformation of the person with AIDS into the Christ, the sacrificial victim of judgemental clerics seeking salvation.

The offertory of this mass is a cry of desolation in the midst of unjust affliction. "Lamentationes" is a cry in which the New Testament treatment of Christ reflects many hospital scenes:

"My flesh and my skin hath be made old:
he hath broken my bones...
He hath filled me with bitterness,
He hath made me drunken with wormwood"

The offertory continues in "Sono l'Antichristo" from "The Divine Punishment" a work which spits venom and bile in the eyes of the God of the false accuser. It is work such as this that some have mistaken as "Satanist." It should be clear upon even cursory study of her work that what she is raging against is not a loving compassionate deity. It is against the meanspirited, malevolent God of the unjust judges that she rails. In this work she claims all of the epithets which could hurled and turns them back on the accuser:

"I am the sign
I am the plague
I am the Antichrist"

Thus she calls upon those who have been disempowered by accusation to turn back the power of that accusation.

"Invocation of the Dead", the piece which follows, should be seen as the essence of the Requiem spirit of this mass. Ms. Galas sings this piece hauntingly and beautifully. It must be noted that though she has been known in the past for the frightening and effective use of her range, this work will establish her as one of (if not the) premiere voices of our age.

Although no Communion is offered in this mass, the piece "Cris D'Aveugle: Blind Man's Cry" should be seen as a spiritual communion in which the audience is brought into the experience of the suffering of the dying:

"The hammer pounds my wooden head...
My golgotha is not over...
Doves of Death Be thirsty for my body"

Following the "Communion" are two pieces which can be seen as recessionals, "Artemis" and "Let My People Go." Both demand that we define our own destinies. Diamanda sings on "Artemis" from "Saint of the Pit":

"White roses, fall! you offend our gods,
Fall, white phantoms, from your burning heaven;
-The saint of the pit is stronger in my eyes!"

Diamanda has sometimes been identified with the "Enemy" as the devil is sometimes called (the word Satan originally meant accuser.) In the spirit of Milton, Diamanda seem to believe that it is better to rule in Hell that to serve in Heaven.

The voice of the oppressed is found throughout the Masque of the Red Death Plague Mass. It calls for respite in "Let My People Go" from "You Must Be Certain of the Devil":

"O Lord Jesus, here's the news from those below:
The eight legs of the devil will not let my people go."

Father Conrado Balweg (a priest and guerrilla of the Philippine New People's Army) has said liberation from oppression is "the essence of the Mass." The Masque of the Red Death is an exorcism of a false and unjust spirits, a cry for liberation from meaningless death, and a prayer for power over our enemies. In this piece Diamanda Galas shows that she has grown beyond performing in small venues. This work is about the impact of one of the central moral issues of our time. It is only appropriate that "Masque of the Red Death" should be performed in Cathedrals, or similar venues. I hope San Francisco is fortunate enough to see such a performance.