Za Bakdaz: The Unfinished Opera

• Track Listing

Klaus Nomi left behind recordings, photos and a few videos - but if you had never been in the same room as him, you will never know. A performer of startling vocal ability and even more striking visage, Klaus Nomi had no peer - and due to his untimely departure, the world will never know how he might have applied those talents. When he left Earth on August 6th, 1983, Klaus Nomi took with him the resolution to his Magnum Opus - a work always assumed would be titled ZA BAKDAZ or "Nomi Homeland". While it may not have been finished exactly how he might have done it; the result is in equal parts a collaboration, a tribute, an historical artifact and a mystery. The parts are sung in several languages - English, German, French, Italian - and interestingly, his own personal "Nomi Language", which we like to call "the Glossolalia". for that reason the liberetto could be open to interpretation. In this incomplete state we are left with a musical Rorschach - possibly not what Nomi fans would expect but definitley something they will enjoy - still true to both his classical opera roots and his fascination with all things experimental and futuristic. There will never be another artist like Klaus Nomi, and ZA BAKDAZ is a well-welcomed addition to his tragically too slim catalog. A must have!

Credits