Lisa Gerrard: “I see music as the story of the soul and of the heart”

Throughout their almost 40 years’ long journey, much loved Australian-British Dead Can Dance have defied and transcended any classification, leaving their distinct mark on the universe of music.

In conversation with Dead Can Dance’s legendary singer, Lisa Gerrard, ahead of the band’s concerts in Thessaloniki and Athens (July 1^st and 3^rd).

Good afternoon!

How are you?

I’m fine. I would like to thank you for all the enjoyment that you have offered to me all these years through your music.

That is very sweet!

How do you perceive and approach music? As a ritual, a ritualistic practice?

No, I don’t see it as a ritualistic practice, but as the story of the soul and of the heart, you know. It’s the journey of the human being.

I chose to express myself through song form, as others do through writing or painting. We can’t express ourselves only through language. There are many ways in which we can interact.

For me, the soul message comes from singing.

Since you mentioned singing, yours is not a conventional one, but an amalgam of chanting, howling and laryngismus. Is this fact representative of the way that you perceive the making of music?

When I make music, it’s pretty much the same thing. Singing, I feel, comes automatically, straight from the heart, whereas music more as a product of planning.

Singing is a reaction, not a plan. It’s also a way of telling a story which is understood through sound, as opposed to practical language.

Does the very same fact that you employ these different approaches to the practice of singing bring to the surface or is connected with the irrational side of the human being?

It brings up something very emotional, which has more to do with the inner world of the human being, the human who exists before we are aware of systems.

So, because we are trained from a very early age to respond to systems, sometimes we create a block to the understanding and the expression of our organic self.

That’s why art is very important, it liberates us from the systems that we are taught to live by and allows us to get in touch with the nature of what we are.

Is this related to the constant use of instruments largely forgotten, neglected, underestimated or, very simply, not widely used by artists within the so-called “Western” world”?

The instruments that we use are used all over the world, we don’t do something unique. We’re not restricted to conventional Western instruments. Many sources of music explore these different instruments now, I think.

The problem is that it is very difficult to find instrument players. There may be the barrier of language. Moreover, the people who work outside the Western context do not distance themselves from their own formula.

Most of the music that me make comes from the sound of the instrument, it tell us how to provide space to that work. We don’t control sound, we are very much manipulated by it. 

Lisa Gerrard & Brendan Perry (Photo credit Vaughan Stedman & Stephanie Füssenich)

Is the sound that you have created over the years a product of personal influences from your childhood and teenage years in Australia?

Exactly!

I grew up in a Greek and Turkish area in Melbourne, so this fact definitely influences my work- plus that I am of Irish background.

Western music was something that I got familiar with later on. When I became a teenager, I began to appreciate the more popular music. Where I lived and at home, however, there was no such music.

Besides the depths of the human soul, do you also enjoy exploring languages, in general?

No, for me it never was an academic exercise, but an “explosion” of excitement which, in a sense, is ecstatic. The sound is already inside us, we’re born with it, not with a sound we are taught to speak.

I ask this because there is something deeply primeval, unsettling or unfamiliar in your sound- whether someone understands what you sing or not.

In spirit, I feel the opposite, because it is intimate and offers comfort to or brings people in touch with their feelings without telling them what to feel. It “unlocks” the emotional center of the other person.

It makes them think of themselves, not of me.

How do you approach the writing of lyrics?

Each piece of music has a unique sound and a unique language. Sometimes the words come from one piece and go to another. They’re not restricted to one. Different pieces provoke different abstract languages.

Your lyrics often seem to brim with religious, spiritual or philosophical references.

Nothing of these. It’s a purely emotional language that is soulful.

Still, do you have philosophical or religious concerns as a person?

I believe that what I do is expressive, relating to the language of the natural man and the natural woman. Spiritual is something different.

Last November, your most recent work as Dead Can Dance, Dionysus, came out.

This work is pretty much a concept of Brendan Perry, he wanted to create it very much, like a “forest” of sounds, a kind of landscape of forest fantasy. He didn’t want any singing to be included. I supported his concept.

In any case, Dionysus sounds very uplifting, like a kind of a celebration. That’s how I experienced it.

Celebration. It’s a good word.

How do you relate to audiences during concerts and afterwards?

I wouldn’t go to the stage if it wasn’t for creating something with the audience. I feel that it partakes in the story of the music at that moment. With the presence of the audience the experience is very much communal.

Do you experience different reactions depending on the audiences or do you mostly find similarities in the way that your music is perceived and received?

It doesn’t necessarily happen in different countries, but also in the theatre. Sometimes the room is very important. When we play in very large theatres, it’s more difficult to connect with the energy of the people.

When you play in smaller spaces, however, it’s more intimate and you can connect more easily. So, it’s different. It doesn’t have to do with countries, but with the room, I think.

You are giving two concerts in Greece. At Theatro Dasous in Thessaloniki and at Herodes Atticus Theatre in Athens.

It’s always nice playing in Greece, because the Greek people are very expressive. They don’t hide their emotions, so you always feel safe in this environment.

You’re much loved here, as far as I know.

I love Greece, I love playing there. It’s something very special.

You don’t come that often in recent years, though.

I work a lot with Zbiegniew Preisner, the Polish composer who lives in Rodos, so I spend a lot of time in Greece working with him.

One last question. How do you manage to preserve this precious voice of yours?

I do nothing to preserve it. Nothing! (Laugh)

I warmly thank Alice Atkinson of Air Edel for her valuable assistance in the realization of the interview.

More information on Dead Can Dance and Lisa Gerrard, respectively, may be found in their official websites (here and here).

Dead Can Dance appear live on Monday July 1st at Θέατρο Δάσους in Thessaloniki and on Wednesday July 3^rd at Ωδείο Ηρώδου Αττικού in Athens, within the context of Athens and Epidaurus Festival..