The Godmother of Goth

Anna Varney Cantodea... Shit. Where to begin? She was born in 1952. She was also born male, but obviously Ms. Cantodea has other thoughts on that subject. She was raised in Frankfurt, Germany and as a young child she had a premonition inside a train station. Anna Varney claims that she saw her future self, "an ageless creature (of undefinable gender), all dressed in black, with a beautiful, kind of pennate black mohawk. "

Now, she's about 63 years old, and she heads a Gothic super band(members come and go as Cantodea sees fit) entitled Sopor Aeturnus & The Ensemble of Shadows. They do some cool stuff, like setting Edgar Allen Poe's writings to music and sometimes they use awesome spooky symphony sounds... but it's really not for everybody... Like really, really not for everybody.

I'm sure most of you won't make it through this video, and I don't blame you, but Anna Varney Cantodea is a beautiful soul and she deserves to be treated as such. Thus, I do have a few things for you to consider.

1. Cantodea is latin for "I sing, Godess."
2. Sopor Aeturnus is latin for "eternal sleep".
2. She once said that she "never performs in front of human beings."
3. Although it is very hard to believe, Anna Varney is mostly joking. Her videos and music are meant to scare off people who can't stomach abnormalities. I truly think that she knows exactly how ridiculous she's being, and if it repulses people, that makes her laugh.

For example, some of her videos have a titlecard which reads, "naturally fabulous, but shows NO sign of humor." Pick one of these videos and try not to be freaked out or thoroughly humored. I bet you'll experience both.


Anna Varney Cantodea

Sopor Aeturnus

The latest from The Ensemble of Shadows