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Magma, a group founded in 1969 by Laurent THIBAULT and Christian VANDER. The first one moved aside to devote himself to record production. The second, then 21 years old, a musician gifted with outstanding genius. An insane and totally original musical adventure. Difficult beginnings in spite of records of a great quality and being exhausted by being constantly on the road during the seventies which inaugurated the MJC. Incessant changes of members of the group (nearly 150) but at the same time it was the birth of a myth.
An unclassifiable music –the origin of a style : Zeuhl Musik- with amazing force, alternating moments of rare violence with moments of pure beauty. All songs sung in an invented language, Kobaïen, to stimulate the power of the lyrics and to move away from earthly references. The vocal sound is always of extreme importance to MAGMA, crystalline choruses with curses screamed in a hard language, sometimes disturbing wich gave Magma the beginning of a sulphurous reputation, combined with the scene of the demonic energy of the drummer contrasting with the static aspect of the other musicians and their dark sombre appearance. Magma’s music synthesizes most various influences : BARTOK, STRAVINSKY, WAGNER, Carl ORFF (Carmina Burana) and John COLTRANE (spiritual father of C. VANDER), the music of Central Europe, rock’n’roll and opera. Music composing of beautiful uncluttered melodies played on the piano, a dazzling electronic flights of metal and machines relentlessly keeping the audience clued to their seats. Music on a magnificent scale, some pieces of almost an hour long, huge lyrical frescos, moving towards fever pitch, sometimes repetitive and trancelike. The mixture of drum’n’bass in 1975/76 (De Futura) the drum and bass duo was always of primary importance in this music. Fusion music, rave music and gothic music, Magma was always in the forerunning, with a wide following of all ages. Many famous artists made their musical debut with Magma, to name just a few : the guitarist Claude ENGEL, the bass player Jannick TOP and the violinist Didier LOCKWOOD who joined MAGMA at the age of 17 which started the beginning of his international career. In parallel, MAGMA has also experienced a chaotic career due to not making concessions to their intellectual approach, incessant changes of members of the group and the nervousness of music companies to be involved with a totally unknown genre of music, masterpieces partially recorded, some not recorded were lost in this messy period between 1970 and 1985. Gradually worn out by the constant changes in the line-up, MAGMA went into a period of lethargy for about 10 years and stopped their musical adventure with acoustic and jazz. Finally in 1996, gently, the time was right for Magma to wake up, put their act together and hit the road.
In
2000, MAGMA celebrated thirty years of existence and uses this anniversary
to begin to finally record integrally and in order all their writings
before they are lost including previously unpublished pieces. This site is aimed at sharing with you the passion of a fan from the first moment, with the chance to follow the saga of MAGMA since its debut, more than 35 years of Zeuhl Muzik.... Jacques Guiton |
