Dead Can Dance

Describing the music of Dead Can Dance is extremely difficult. It is definitely ecletic, sometimes entwined with brooding darkness or nostalgia. It can lift up the spirits or very well support the darkest of moods.

Dead Can Dance is a band of two members: Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. It was formed in 1981 in Melbourne, Australia, however shortly thereafter they moved to London. They disbanded in 1998, but reunited for a world tour in 2005.

Dead Can Dance photo: Lisa Gerrard, Brendan Perry

Official website: DeadCanDance.com
Related Music: Siouxsie & the Banshees (very roughly comparable..)

"The album artwork (of their self titled first album), a ritual mask from New Guinea, provides a visual intrepretation of the meaning of the name Dead Can Dance. The mask, though once a living part of a tree is dead; nevertheless it has, through the artistry of its maker, been imbued with a life force of its own. To understand why we chose the name, think of the transformation of inanimacy to animacy. Think of the processes concerning life from death and death into life. So many people missed the inherent symbolism, and assumed that we must be morbid gothic types, a mistake we deplored and deplore."

Source: Wikipedia.org

Left: Cantara (Live)

Here are a couple of Dead Can Dance mp3s:

Cantara (Within the Realm of a Dying Sun)
Host of Seraphim (The Serpent's Egg)

The purpose of the mp3 samples is for you to hear how beautiful and otherwordly Dead Can Dance are. If you like their music, please buy their CDs!

Dead Can Dance at a concert in Munich 2005.

Ego Dialogues

Dead Can Dance