Mute U.S.
2003
La Serpenta Canta (Live)
About This Album
Blues is a scary form of music. The authentic blues relies on the turmoil of strong, often shameful emotions. Bluesmen like John Lee Hooker and Screamin' Jay Hawkins could sing in a very scary voice that sent shivers down your spine. So can Diamanda Galás. In fact, she's the scariest of them all. Then again, she's not a blues singer. Or isn't she? Her fantastic vocal range and powerful lungs are certainly more opera than roots, but her gothic looks and her topics of choice (despair and redemption) put her much closer to the Blues (with a capital B) than one could suspect at first. And when she dives into "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down" or Hooker's "Burning Hell," she is one of the greatest blueswomen who ever lived. But what she does to the blues is unique, and makes La Serpenta Canta a unique album. Recorded live, mostly in 2001-2002, it features the dark dame alone at the piano (her soundman Blaise Dupuy occasionally adds effects in her piano or microphone). She reinvents from top to bottom a cross section of songs about people hurting. It's not all blues; there's some country in there, some jazz, even a bit of Motown (the Supremes' "My World Is Empty Without You," the strength of which is unbelievable).
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 2,3 and 5)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 2,4 and 5)

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