Magma (band)

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Magma was a French progressive rock band founded in 1969 by classically-trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. Over the course of several albums, Vander sought to tell the story of a group of people fleeing a doomed Earth to settle on the planet Kobaia. Later, conflict arises when the Kobaians � descendants of the original colonists � encounter other Earth refugees. The most novel aspect of Magma's albums was that Vander actually invented a constructed language, Kobaian, in which all the lyrics were sung.

Considered by many to be musically adventurous and imaginative, Magma made extensive use of the choral format, their album Mekan�k Destrukt�w Kommand�h being particularly reminiscent of the classical composer Carl Orff. Later work by Magma was highly influenced by jazz saxophone player John Coltrane.

So many musicians played with Magma over the years, who then went on to form their own solo projects and/or spinoff acts, that the term Zeuhl was created to refer to these bands and the French jazz fusion/symphonic rock scene that grew around them. Beyond Christian Vander, the drummer/composer, the most well-known of the original Magma lineup was probably Jannick Top, the bassist/co-composer (who has gone on to produce albums for Celine Dion).

While original Magma vinyl fetches top dollar, Christian Vander and Jannick Top together keep Magma's back catalog in print on CD.

Note that there was also a short-lived Polish pop band in the early 1980s called Magma, who recorded only one album and some singles.

Discography

Excludes numerous latter-day compilations. The compilation "Spiritual" is pirated material lifted from other albums. Magma sees no profit from this recording and it contains no new material.

Studio Albums

1970 Koba�a
1971 1001� Centigrades
1972 The Unnamables (as Univeria Zekt)
1973 Mekan�k Kommand�h (not officially released until 1989)
1973 Mekan�k Destrukt�w Kommand�h
1974 Wurdah �tah
1974 K�hntark�sz
1976 �d� W�d�
1978 Attahk
1984 Merci

Other Material

1975 Live/Hha�
1977 In�dits
1981 Retrospektiw (Parts I+II)
1981 Retrospektiw (Part III)
1986 Mythes Et Legendes Vol. I (compilation)
1992 Les Voix de Magma (live)
1994 Akt IV (Theatre Du Taur Concert, 1975)
1995 Akt V (Concert Bobino, 1981)
1996 Akt VIII (Bruxelles - Theatre 140, 1971)
1998 Flo� �ssi/�ktah (EP)
1998 Simples

Discographic notes

Magma's Theusz Hamtaahk trilogy is composed of three parts : Theusz Hamtaahk (itself split between the three Retrospektiw albums), Wurdah �tah, and Mekan�k Destrukt�w Kommand�h.

Univeria Zekt was recorded as The Unnamables and is widely considered to be an easier listen than most of Magma's recordings.

Wurdah �tah may technically be a Christian Vander solo project, in that it was composed entirely by him, bore his name during its original release as the soundtrack for the film Tristan et Iseult, and did not feature all of Magma's then-current musicians. It did bear the Magma logo, however, and Vander has referenced it as a Magma album.

After Hha�, the focus shifted away from the spiritual/epic poem aspects of their music. While Attahk and �d� W�d� do have some songs written in Kobaian, it was never revealed how these fit into the earlier story structure Magma had built.

Le Voix and Flo� �ssi/�ktah were performed by Vander with a completely new lineup.

Simples is a bizarre piece, in that it consists of several earlier Magma prog-rock epics edited down to a length that the band had originally hoped would garner them radio airtime during the 1970s. To listeners familiar with Magma's sound, this may make for a fairly incongruous, overly-radio-friendly listen.