Diamanda Galas - Litanies of Satan
Diamanda is an icon of will against nature. Her voice… her possession, embodies a fortitude so thick you can barely imagine her body existing alongside anything truly corporeal. Her voice is a thing in itself; at one moment working limpidly in exorcism, the next it bites back in defiance against refuse. Listening to her as a teenager studying opera, I cannot explain to you the freedom I felt. Hearing this spinto voice pushed and pulled beyond it's limits, turning in on itself, rebelling and yet playing by the rules… it was in dusted headphones did I find a companion in knowing the potential of the human voice. All it can express and implode, I was there with her.