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By: Bryan Moylan
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IN TODAY’S WORLD of film tech nology, even little known performers can
be captured forever on compilations of film, video and sound recordings. Ironically,
such cinematic technology is a boon and a bust for the late gay performance
artist Klaus Nomi.
Without camcorders and hand-held movie cameras, there would be little footage
of Nomi’s early career. But it was technology that forced Nomi to announce
before his performances in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that the
voice the audience was about to hear was real, and not created by an electronic
device.
Nomi’s eerie falsetto belted out opera songs with studio-manufactured
sounds that made his act seem entirely otherworldly. Combined with his outlandish
costumes and makeup, early audiences couldn’t believe the sounds originated
from a human.
MORE THAN TWO decades later, few people remember Nomi, the subject of a new
documentary titled “The Nomi Song,” which opens for a limited run
in Atlanta June 3.
Trained as an opera singer in his native Germany, Klaus Sperber found a home
in New York’s East Village in the late ‘70s. Raised on Maria Callas
and rock ‘n’ roll and living in the New Wave world of Blondie, the
Talking Heads and the B-52s, Nomi combined those influences into a unique onstage
persona.
Singing classical arias dressed as an alien or an androgynous android, Nomi
first made an impression at an avant-garde vaudeville show. Soon a rock band
was writing original songs for him to sing in his unique high voice, and art
directors created costumes and sets to amplify his futuristic persona.
After a gig backing up David Bowie on “Saturday Night Live” with
drag queen and frequent collaborator Joey Arias, Nomi got even more attention.
He eventually signed a record contract that made him a star in France and Germany,
but shortly after his success, he became one of the early casualties of AIDS
and died in 1983.
NOMI IS THE perfect subject for a documentary: a complete original who is mostly
forgotten. The early footage of his act is pretty grainy and badly-shot, but
director Andrew Horn jazzes it up in unusual ways including splices with footage
from old sci-fi movies to make the film appear like something Nomi himself might
have conceived.
As Nomi’s career improves, so does the material Horn has to work with.
He uses the Bowie “SNL” performance, an interview on a German talk
show, and other high-quality images to give the audience a real sense of the
experience at live shows.
Interviews with friends and band mates reveal the personalities of the man
and the character he created. The one notable person missing is Arias (currently
living and performing in Las Vegas), who is often discussed but never interviewed
in the film.
Especially touching are interviews about the end of Nomi’s life. In
the early days of AIDS with little information or education about the disease,
many say in the film that they were afraid to visit his hospital room or embrace
him when he was ill.
Winner of the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 2004 Berlin film festival
Berlinale, “The Nomi Song” is a stylish and entertaining introduction
to an intriguing personality. The film deserves praise for preserving the life
and times of people like the wonderfully offbeat Nomi.
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