LISA GERRARD

Lisa Gerrard was born on 12 April 1961 in Melbourne and grew up in the suburb of Prahran with her Irish immigrant parents. Speaking about her upbringing she has said that she grew up with "Mediterranean music blaring out of the houses" and that this influenced her music, particularly on later Dead Can Dance albums and in her solo and collaborative works. Gerrard's first foray into forming bands and creative music-making was the highly experimental Little Band scene. She fronted post-punk group Microfilm that released the single ''Centrefold / Window'' in 1980. It was at one of these little band events that she first met Dead Can Dance co-founder Brendan Perry. Perry recalls, "It never occurred to me that we would one day collaborate musically together because at the time I thought her music was too avant garde. I particularly remember one song that she sang about finding a man in the park and asking her mother if she could bring him home to keep in her wardrobe as she attacked this chinese dulcimer with two bamboo sticks".

Dead Can Dance originally formed as a quartet in 1981 in Melbourne, but in 1982 moved to London with members Gerrard, Brendan Perry and bass player Paul Erikson. Shortly after coming to England, Erikson flew back to Australia, leaving the band as a duo. Dead Can Dance recorded eight albums on the 4AD Records recording label beginning with the self-titled 'Dead Can Dance' LP in 1984. The song "Nierika" became part of the opening titles for Mexican television station TV Azteca's soap opera "La Chacala". The band split in 1998 but reunited in 2005 for a world tour. In 2012, the band announced a new world tour to coincide with the release of their new album, 'Anastasis'.

In 1995, Gerrard recorded and released her first solo album, 'The Mirror Pool'. After the release of this album, she continued to work with Dead Can Dance, releasing the album, 'Spiritchaser', in 1996. Following this, in 1998 she recorded 'Duality' in collaboration with Pieter Bourke. This album would mark the beginning of an extensive collaboration for a number of film scores, including The Insider and Ali. Gerrard began a new collaboration with Patrick Cassidy in 2004 with the release of 'Immortal Memory'. Again, this collaboration was furthered in film work, including Salem's Lot.

The following year in 2005, Gerrard contributed to the Ashes and Snow Soundtrack. For the songs "Womb" and "Wisdom", she and Patrick Cassidy wrote and performed together. Her collaboration with Cassidy extended to include work with conductor Julie Rogers on the songs "Devota" and "Vespers". In 2006, Sanctuary, a documentary about the life and work of Gerrard, was recorded and released in September. It is the work of producer and director Clive Collier and features extensive interviews with Gerrard and various people who have collaborated with her in the past, including Michael Mann, Russell Crowe, Hans Zimmer and Niki Caro. The documentary was released on DVD by Milan Entertainment on 24 April 2007.

Also in 2006, Gerrard released her second solo album, 'The Silver Tree'. This album was markedly different from her previous work and was also her first album released outside of 4AD Records. The album was first released on iTunes, with a wider physical release planned at a future date. The album was nominated for the Australian Music Prize for 2006. In 2007 a retrospective album 'The Best of Lisa Gerrard', a compilation of fifteen songs, was released covering her career in Dead Can Dance, solo work, and film work.

A world tour was undertaken in 2007 beginning in April in Melbourne, Australia. This tour marked the first time Lisa Gerrard had toured in Australia, with a performance in three cities. The tour was followed by performances in Europe and North America. More performances took place in Europe and Russia from 30 October to 22 November 2007. In November 2007, Gerrard collaborated with German electronic musician Klaus Schulze on the double-album 'Farscape'. The album was released 27 July 2008 and was followed by a European tour.

In 2009, Gerrard completed work on the documentary by Australian adventurer Tim Cope called On the Trail of Genghis Khan and contributed her voice to the soundtrack, which began airing in 2010, of the Japanese NHK taiga drama Ryōmaden, a story based on the life of Sakamoto Ryoma. Also in 2009, Gerrard created her own record label, Gerrard Records, which, aside from being a conduit for the release of Gerrard's future works, will also act to promote and support unrecognised artists of all genres. In September 2009, Gerrard and Klaus Schulze performed another tour in six European cities – Warsaw, Berlin, Amsterdam, Essen, Paris, and Brussels. This tour coincided with the release of 'Come Quietly', a joint project between Gerrard and Schulze that was released during the tour.

Gerrard released her third solo album, 'The Black Opal', in October 2009. The album included collaboration with Michael Edwards, Patrick Cassidy, Pieter Bourke and James Orrand was the first release to come from Gerrard Records. In 2010, Gerrard released a new album with fellow composer Marcello De Francisci titled 'Departum' from Gerrard Records which was followed by the release of three new singles; "Coming Home" – as featured in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, "Entry" and "Come This Way". Gerrard also collaborated with Prash Mistry from "Engine Earz Experiment" on a track titled "Spirit Guide" which will appear on his upcoming album in 2011.

On 1 December 2010, Gerrard capped off a busy 2010 with the release of a new soundtrack album with Cye Wood titled The Trail of Genghis Khan which contains music from the Gerrard and Wood score to the documentary TV series by Australian adventurer Tim Cope. In July 2014, Gerrard released a new solo album entitled 'Twilight Kingdom' through her own record label, Gerrard Records.

In 2014, Gerrard collaborated with British composer, songwriter and producer, Chicane. Her vocals feature in the album 'The Sum of Its Part's featuring in songs "38 Weeks" and "Orleans". The album was released in 25 January 2015 by Modena Records. Gerrard's vocals are heavily featured in the video game Armello launched on 1 September 2015, titled 'Wyld's Call', produced by Michael Allen. Her vocals feature towards a Celtic theme of the soundtracks.

On 14 March 2018, Gerrard performed a concert at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia with Genesis Orchestra, conducted by Yordan Kamdzhalov, entitled Symphony of Sorrowful Songs by Henryk Górecki. During the concert, she also sang her own songs from both her solo career and those of Dead Can Dance. Kamdzhalov said of the event, "for me personally, this is more than a dream come true. I cannot think of a better combination than Gerrard-Gorecki-Kamdzhalov in Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs". 

In 2018, she appeared on 'BooCheeMish', a collaborative album with the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, with whom she co-wrote some of the songs. Gerrard emphasized that she—and her collaborators—had strived not to impair the women's essential sound, she said "we're walking toward them, not the other way around"—adding, "if anybody is changed by this, it's me'. The album, that combines the choir's folkloric harmonies and a multitude of instruments, was arranged and produced by Petar Dundakov. Also in 2018, Gerrard teamed with solo percussionist David Kuckhermann to compose and record an album, 'Hiraeth', released on 6 August 2018.

Hiraeth was nominated in the Best New Age Album category during the 61st Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center, held on 10 February 2019. Gerrard toured as a special guest with the eighteen choir members of the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, performing fifteen select dates across Europe from 12 March to 20 October 2019. In 2019, she collaborated again with Yordan Kamdzhalov and Genesis Orchestra, for a reworked and rearranged recording of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, captured in Sofia at the Bulgarian National Radio Studio, which was released on 17 January 2020

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Gerrard