On 29 August, American singer and composer Diamanda Galás (born 1955 in San Diego) celebrates her 70th birthday. The New York-based ‘Callas of the avant-garde’ often performed in Berlin since the 1980s – her genre-crossing concerts were documented primarily by Petra Gall (on display in ‘‘Burning Down the Patriarchy’).
The AIDS crisis of the mid-80s had a big impact on her work: in 1986, her brother Philip died of an AIDS-related illness, and Galás got involved with ACT UP New York. Between 1986 and 1988, she recorded the three studio albums of her trilogy ‘Masque of the Red Death’ about ‘People with AIDS’ (PWA).
The third studio album of this ‘AIDS trilogy’, ‘You Must be Certain of the Devil’, was recorded in 1987 at Berlin’s renowned Hansa Tonstudio and released in 1988. To mark her birthday, we’ve chosen the cover of this album from our music collection. It is our current find.
At Schwules Museum, we previously honoured her role as a musician and AIDS activist in the exhibition ‘arcHIV. a search for traces’ (2021-22).
Image: Diamanda Galás, You must be certain of the devil, LP cover (1988)
Artist: Emily Anderson
SMU, music collection