Sopor ?ternus & the Ensemble of Shadows的艺人档案
小简介
风格：Gothic （哥特）/ Classical Opera and Vocal（古典歌剧和人声）
国籍：德国
“比黑暗更加黑暗。你必须一只脚踩在墓穴中，另一只脚踏在疯人院里， 才能聆听那样的音乐。”
—— 摘自 Gloria
Sopor Aeternus，德语，意为永恒沉睡或死亡沉睡，又指那些徘徊在地狱大门外，没接引收留的孤魂野鬼。他们的肉身早已腐烂，灵魂却没有归宿，只能在无人的夜晚游荡在墓地，唱那些哀伤的歌。他们被称为阴影演出者（the Ensemble of Shedows）。
与其说Sopor Aeternus是一支乐队，不如将其看作一个来 自德国的神秘的哲学家团体。核心Anna-Varney(原名Varney)，一个有易性倾向 的思想家，他的音乐里包涵的那种对黑暗的向往、抑郁且扭曲的思想意识，那 “比黑暗更加黑暗”的歌词和旋律， 有着异乎寻常的魔力。
自92年Holger离开之后，这支二人乐队实际上只剩下Varney一个人。所以 可以说，Varney就是Sopor Aeternus的灵魂。出道十余年的Sopor Aeternus至 今已经是德国中世纪乐派的重要成员，除了那些阴暗、诡秘的悲剧作品之外， 长期隐居、不以真面目示人的Anna-Varney一直是人们注意的焦点。虽然我们 可以通过音乐来了解他，但是他的过去，以及他的内心世界一直是个迷，也正 是这个原因使得Sopor Aeternus与众不同的音乐和音乐内涵总是笼罩着一层神秘的面纱。
经常有一些新闻记者、乐评人通过传真采访Varney，希望得知如此令人惊 异的音乐作品，其灵感究竟从何而来。Varney的回答总是像谜一般高深莫测。 但从只言片语我们可以感到Varney有着非常痛苦的过去，他的经历一定非同常 人。20多年来，Varney一直受到严重的精神症状和恶劣情绪的折磨。作为一个 男子，他却渴望成为女人--这种想法一直困扰着他。后来他易名为Anna，也是这个原因。一些Sopor Aeternus的音乐作品，例如96年的MCD“Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh”(我就是我)，也明显的表现了Varney的易性情结。Varney有着一段痛苦的童年经历，他曾把他的母亲称为“提供食物、衣服和打骂的女人”。这些 经历使得Varney成为一个异常敏感的孩子，他几乎封闭了他自己，因为他那脆 弱的内心受到了太多创伤。我们可以想象造就Varney痛苦灵魂的种种经历，但是Varney自己对此讳莫如深，他只把那解释为“七个地狱的剧场”(The Theater of Seven Hells)。如此看来，在Sopor Aeternus表露出的对黑暗的病态向往 甚至对死亡的迷恋是不足为怪的。Varney没有作秀，所有的对阴暗世界的歌颂，都出自他的灵魂深处。(95年的专辑“Todeswunsch - Sous le Soleil de Saturne”深切显露出了 Varney对死亡的向往。Todeswunsch，意为“厌世”。)
Varney并不孤单，他有一个精神上的朋友--The Ensemble of Shadows， 一个虚幻的伴侣。他和他的影子朋友一起创作音乐，甚至表示：他并没有创作， 而只是接收影子们的作品而已。他说：“音乐遍及整个宇宙。”他几乎是用音 乐来生活，而他仅仅肉体是存在于现实世界而已，大部分时间，他在自己的虚 幻空间里和音乐以及影子朋友们一起生活。
Anna-Varney一直持他自己的一套唯心主义哲学观点。他相信宇宙中的万物 都是相联系的，包括虚幻和真实。他认为：人生于世目的就是寻找自身和万物 的联系；人们认为只是可以看到和感知的事物才是“真实”，Varney告诉人们： 只有精神世界才是“真实”，才是“永恒”--所有的人都应该从梦中醒来。 Sopor Aeternus意为“永恒的睡眠”，就是象征着“充满痛苦的令人憎恶的现实 世界”。看穿生死，从那永恒的睡眠中醒来，这一直是Varney的音乐和诗歌的 主题。
从某种意义上讲，Anna-Varney进行音乐创作也是一种“自救”，音乐作为 一种逃避现实、逃避痛苦的工具，已经成为Anna-Varney生命的一部分。Anna-Varney 曾把音乐创作称为“自我暴露”(introverted exhibitionism)，的确，Anna-Varney 只有在音乐里才用隐晦的语言诉说内心的感受，讲述痛苦的往事。而这些歌词通常很难被听众理解，也是这个原因，使得Sopor只是从表面上被大众接受，而音乐到底讲的是什么以及音乐后面的悲剧故事则鲜为人知。他在一次采访中说： “我没有解释歌词含义的习惯--甚至我根本不想解释。虽然我希望我可以通过音乐来让人们勇于面对真正的自我，或者更深地了解自己的内心，通过这些暗示让他们明白真实的世界，或者释放被压抑的精神世界。然而那不可能，因为人们总是自以为是，他们永远无法摆脱在他们脑中根深蒂固的传统思想。”
1989 marks the founding of that deepest of dark bands, Sopor Aeternus (Eternal Sleep, or Sleep of Death). It began when the two musicians known as Varney and Holger met in a Frankfurt, Germany goth club. With no money to buy instruments, they had to compose their music completely in their heads. Nevertheless, they released a triad of lyrically intense yet technically flawed demo cassettes (Es Reiten Die Toten so Schnell, Rufus, and 'Till Time and Times Are Done) in 1992. After that, Holger left the band and the newly formed label Apocalyptic Visions developed an interest in Varney's music. In 1994, a debut CD with the extensive title Ich Tote Mich Jedesmal Aufs Neue, Doch Bin Ich Unsterblich Und Erstehe Wieder Auf In Einer Vision des Untergangs, or Ich Tote Mich... for short, was released as a limited edition. Songs like "Tanz der Grausamkeit" and "Do You Know My Name" were quickly discovered and became underground cult hits, taking the album into two re-releases.
Continuing as the sole human performer in Sopor Aeternus, Varney also credits the Ensemble of Shadows for her inspirations. These are spirits, beings who she says she receives the musical compositions from. She also works through depression with the aid of her music, as can be heard on the demos, produced at a time when she was gravely ill and at risk of losing her eyesight. She describes her subsequent works as "introverted exhibitionism." They are also expressions of extreme, intense pain.
Varney's second album, Todeswunsch Sous le Soleil de Saturne ("Deathwish Under the Sun of Saturn") a 1995 release, was a curious combination. While musically it seems perhaps a bit gentler and less depressive, its lyrics were so painfully evocative that she said she found herself weeping while recording some of the songs. The theme? "Suicide, sweet suicide."
The Ensemble of Shadows dissuaded Varney from committing suicide, and in 1997, as she dealt with issues of her transexuality, she expanded her name to Anna-Varney. She has expressed in interviews the feeling that her album Inexperienced Spiral Traveller, from 1997, is her "worst" release, despite its sales success. Voyager the Jugglers of Jusa followed in 1998. The song "Feralia Genitalia Arrival of the Jugglers" shows a gender operation theme. Yet perhaps the most unusual song is a cover version of Kraftwerk's "Das Modell" which she translates into Latin and plays on a baroque harpsichord.
1999 brought the release of Dead Lover's Sarabande (Face One). It is steeped in the pain of inevitable loss and death. Dedicated "to 1334," it commemorates the suicide of former Christian Death member Rozz Williams on April 1, 1998. Anna-Varney and he had developed a friendship through letter writing and had thought about a collaboration, which sadly, was never to be. As is characteristic of her deliberately mysterious approach, she steadfastly declines to explain the lyrics of this slow, grieving, dark production. Then, in March 2000, came the companion volume, Dead Lover's Sarabande (Face Two), with more of Anna-Varney's catacomb deep, stygian intensity.
