Dáromur Báwmaw

Dáromur Báwmaw (pron. DAR-o-mer BAU-mau) (b. 1337 BE) was a Ránlan songwright (singer-songwriter) from the planet Zeinnéfa (later R'Aej). She became one of the most internationally famous Ránlan songwriters, to some extent in her own time but most notably long after her death. Though it is common for Ránlans to be known publicly by their surnames, Dáromur is traditionally known by her first, a mark of the personalized impact of her music.

Biography
Dáromur was born on the island of Oldways, the first island colonized on the planet Zeinnéfa. Both her parents were librarians and skilled musicians. An only child, she was raised in a stimulating environment of intellectual and sensory learning. She trained as a singer and musician from a young age and began writing her own works as an adolescent.

In her youth, she was a shy performer, but by her mid-twenties she had developed a particular performative flair and her music came to be widely celebrated on Zeinnéfa. On other Ránlan worlds, it had a more mixed reception: some viewed her as appealingly avant garde, others as undisciplined and simplistic.

When she was 30, Dáromur met Leng Ázoram, a fellow musician, while touring his home island of Cypress. Leng was already an intense admirer of Dáromur's work, and the two soon became life-sharers (domestic partners). Dáromur moved to Cypress to be closer to Leng and more centrally located for her career development. Dáromur and Leng had one child, a daughter, Váwnu, born 1303 BE.

When the planet Zeinnéfa was ceded to the Ash'torians (then "Aejdarians") in 1299 BE, Dáromur and Leng became politically divided. She favored a cautious and patient approach to Ash'torian colonization of Ránlan islands; Leng favored a stronger defense of Ránlan rights against too much incursion. In the conflict with the Ash'torians that erupted the year following the Cession, both Leng and their daughter, Váwnu, were killed. Dáromur, however, spoke for peace between the two peoples and was instrumental in calming Ránlan anger.

In the years following the Cession, Dáromur remained for some time on Zeinnéfa, now officially "Rahaej" (later R'Aej), but later she relocated to Ránlax. She continued to compose music throughout her life but remains best known for her works before and shortly after the Cession.

Significance of Dáromur's Music
Dáromur's music typified a theory of discourse developed on Ránlan Zeinnéfa of argumentation through metaphor, as opposed to the more traditional argumentation through reason rigorously practiced in Ránlax. Such an utterance conveys an argument (a message) but holistically, though poetry and sensory experience, in a way that cannot be analytically reduced and is always subject to multiple interpretations. Her music is considered by some the epitome of this form.

In the later Jana Era, Dáromur was a favorite singer of Singer Vreis Teveri and her husband, the writer Denshok Kishtal, who wrote a novelization of Leng Ázoram's and Dáromur's lives. This novel was considered incendiary on the planet Dwóva, where the two lived, and he was exiled from the planet. Vreis used Dáromur's music to train Singers.

Excerpt from "Pretend," reportedly directed to Leng Ázoram
''What kind of fool paints a wall with a knife? Is that the last work of art of your life? Who is it painting the rainstorm? Just rain, Once again, splashing like blood scarlet paint.''