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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 an indigenous Kobaian language, 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 Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh 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 Vaner 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 1980's called Magma, who recorded only one album and some singles.
'Studio Albums
Univeria Zekt was recorded as The Unnamables and is widely considered to be an easier listen than most of Magma's recordings.
Wurdah Ïtah 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 Hhaï, the focus shifted away from the spiritual/epic poem aspects of their music. While Attahk and Üdü Wüdü 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 Floë Ëssi/Ëktah 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.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.
Other MaterialDiscographic Notes:
Magma's Theusz Hamtaahk trilogy is composed of three parts : Theusz Hamtaahk (itself split between the three Retrospektiw albums), Wurdah Ïtah, and Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh.
