Sopor Aeternus And The Ensemble Of Shadows - Biography
This band's profile is 'invisible', meaning that it's much less prominent on the site - either because it's incomplete, or maybe doesn't entirely fit MS format.
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1995-
Biography
Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows is a musical project founded by and consisting solely of the German musician, Anna-Varney Cantodea. It was formed some time in 1989.
Despite years of good (though not well-known) media attention, not much is known about Anna-Varney Cantodea.
She tends not to talk about her own personal life; a life which seems to have been filled with great grief and depression. From what little is known, Anna-Varney could be described as being transgender (she has, in the past, referred to herself as "two-spirited", a "warrior of the neutral zone" or simply a "transsexual." Cantodea prefers to be known as a "she", instead of a "he", and states that she does not seek to surgically alter her body due to reasons of, as she refers to it, "spiritual conflict." In 1997 she took the name Anna-Varney Cantodea to reflect her "femininity" (before that time she simply referred to herself as "Varney"). Her decision to alter this pseudonym was based on several factors: "Anna" was a typically feminine name, the already established 'Varney' stemmed from the horror story, "Varney the Vampire, or The Feast Of Blood", and Cantodea had been a form of the Latin word for "female singer".
Though her official date of birth has never been released to the public, it is speculated by a small number of fans that Anna was born some time in the 1950s , due to a heading seen on the booklet cover of her recent 2007 release, Les Fleurs du Mal. Upon this can be seen the phrase: "SOPOR: Sedating the heart since 1952."
She has said in several interviews that she spent nearly three decades in extreme states of depression, despair and loneliness. These emotions were cited as being brought on by being frequently beaten by her parents and peers in school, and by becoming somewhat suicidal at the age of twelve, along with many other experiences of severe depression throughout her life. One such instance could be the childhood trauma that Anna had undergone by having an out-of-body experience whilst under sedation due to a surgical operation she was receiving at the age of six. All of these events led up to and resulted in her discovery of the "Ensemble Of Shadows": otherworldly presences and/or voices who stirred her musical senses and guided her to share the works in her mind with the public. She does not speak much on the subject of the Ensemble, though she does state that they (denoting that they are, in fact, 'spirits')give her her musical inspiration in dreams. Hence, the word Sopor is a very important term in Anna-Varney's creations, as the word itself refers to "sleep" in Latin.
Anna-Varney seems to be voluntarily isolated, as she has spoken of fear, disgust, or sadness when in the presence of most individuals (aside from her few acquaintances, friends, interviewers, and those who help with her musical production), though she does state that she is less isolated now than she used to be. In any case, she does not perform live, "in front of people."
Anna-Varney's renaissance and baroque-influenced music is emotional and often considered extremely melancholic, using a number of different of brass instruments, woodwinds (in particular, flutes), string quartets, violins, pipe organs, bells, and guitars. In some instances, synthesizers and drum machines or real percussion is used. Anna-Varney has clearly stated that she creates her music about herself, solely for herself. Various themes include death, suicide, unrequited love, karmatic pain, loneliness and sadness, astrological references, dreams, mythological figures, and sometimes the undead (the latter usually appearing in her earliest albums and in several rereleases). More recent themes include occultism and sexuality.
A very important recurring theme is Cantodea's apparent Transsexualism and the idea of becoming or being a woman, including removal of the typically male genitalia in favour of attaining the female variant (in later album artwork, Anna-Varney is usually shown nude with a vagina which has been edited in with photo-manipulation techniques). As well, much of Anna's earlier works deals with mysticism and spirituality (more specifically a sort of spiritual failure). There are also several musical themes that reappear in her works; the most notable example is the song, "Birth - Fiendish Figuration," which has appeared in at least four forms on separate releases. Other songs contain similar melodic lines or lyrics from an earlier release.
When asked about the specific genre of her music, Anna-Varney says that she does not follow a specific style of music and that she simply creates "music for dead children (and otherwise wounded souls), that is all." Despite this statement, many fans consider Sopor a Darkwave project, and one in the most unique of forms.
Although the band consist solely of Anna-Varney Cantondea, it was actually created by her, and an elusive individual known only as "Holger". The two had met at that time (1989), in a goth club called 'Negativ', which is located in Frankfurt, Germany. Shortly after their first creation "Blut der schwarzen Rose," Holger left Sopor.
Despite years of good (though not well-known) media attention, not much is known about Anna-Varney Cantodea.
She tends not to talk about her own personal life; a life which seems to have been filled with great grief and depression. From what little is known, Anna-Varney could be described as being transgender (she has, in the past, referred to herself as "two-spirited", a "warrior of the neutral zone" or simply a "transsexual." Cantodea prefers to be known as a "she", instead of a "he", and states that she does not seek to surgically alter her body due to reasons of, as she refers to it, "spiritual conflict." In 1997 she took the name Anna-Varney Cantodea to reflect her "femininity" (before that time she simply referred to herself as "Varney"). Her decision to alter this pseudonym was based on several factors: "Anna" was a typically feminine name, the already established 'Varney' stemmed from the horror story, "Varney the Vampire, or The Feast Of Blood", and Cantodea had been a form of the Latin word for "female singer".
Though her official date of birth has never been released to the public, it is speculated by a small number of fans that Anna was born some time in the 1950s , due to a heading seen on the booklet cover of her recent 2007 release, Les Fleurs du Mal. Upon this can be seen the phrase: "SOPOR: Sedating the heart since 1952."
She has said in several interviews that she spent nearly three decades in extreme states of depression, despair and loneliness. These emotions were cited as being brought on by being frequently beaten by her parents and peers in school, and by becoming somewhat suicidal at the age of twelve, along with many other experiences of severe depression throughout her life. One such instance could be the childhood trauma that Anna had undergone by having an out-of-body experience whilst under sedation due to a surgical operation she was receiving at the age of six. All of these events led up to and resulted in her discovery of the "Ensemble Of Shadows": otherworldly presences and/or voices who stirred her musical senses and guided her to share the works in her mind with the public. She does not speak much on the subject of the Ensemble, though she does state that they (denoting that they are, in fact, 'spirits')give her her musical inspiration in dreams. Hence, the word Sopor is a very important term in Anna-Varney's creations, as the word itself refers to "sleep" in Latin.
Anna-Varney seems to be voluntarily isolated, as she has spoken of fear, disgust, or sadness when in the presence of most individuals (aside from her few acquaintances, friends, interviewers, and those who help with her musical production), though she does state that she is less isolated now than she used to be. In any case, she does not perform live, "in front of people."
Anna-Varney's renaissance and baroque-influenced music is emotional and often considered extremely melancholic, using a number of different of brass instruments, woodwinds (in particular, flutes), string quartets, violins, pipe organs, bells, and guitars. In some instances, synthesizers and drum machines or real percussion is used. Anna-Varney has clearly stated that she creates her music about herself, solely for herself. Various themes include death, suicide, unrequited love, karmatic pain, loneliness and sadness, astrological references, dreams, mythological figures, and sometimes the undead (the latter usually appearing in her earliest albums and in several rereleases). More recent themes include occultism and sexuality.
A very important recurring theme is Cantodea's apparent Transsexualism and the idea of becoming or being a woman, including removal of the typically male genitalia in favour of attaining the female variant (in later album artwork, Anna-Varney is usually shown nude with a vagina which has been edited in with photo-manipulation techniques). As well, much of Anna's earlier works deals with mysticism and spirituality (more specifically a sort of spiritual failure). There are also several musical themes that reappear in her works; the most notable example is the song, "Birth - Fiendish Figuration," which has appeared in at least four forms on separate releases. Other songs contain similar melodic lines or lyrics from an earlier release.
When asked about the specific genre of her music, Anna-Varney says that she does not follow a specific style of music and that she simply creates "music for dead children (and otherwise wounded souls), that is all." Despite this statement, many fans consider Sopor a Darkwave project, and one in the most unique of forms.
Although the band consist solely of Anna-Varney Cantondea, it was actually created by her, and an elusive individual known only as "Holger". The two had met at that time (1989), in a goth club called 'Negativ', which is located in Frankfurt, Germany. Shortly after their first creation "Blut der schwarzen Rose," Holger left Sopor.