Officials

The soundtrack for Yvan LAGRANGE’s film TRISTAN Y ISEULT, WURDAH ITAH was recorded in April 1974, just one month before the sessions which produced KOHNTARKOSZ. It forms the second movement of THEUSZ HAMTAAHK, an epic work in three movements of which MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH, recorded a year earlier by MAGMA, forms the final part. Performed by the core players in MAGMA at that time – Christian VANDER (piano, drums, vocals), Jannick TOP (bass), Klaus BLASQUIZ (vocals, percussion) and Stella VANDER (vocals) – WURDAH ITAH is music stripped down to its bare essence. Although a total contrast to the splendour and orchestral power of M.D.K., it nevertheless has just as great rhythmic power and surprising vocal lyricism, unquestionably marked by the claws of MAGMA.

MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH is considered by many to be the ultimate MAGMA masterwork. Recorded in 1973 at the Manor Studios in Oxford by a completely new line-up, the sole sur../VIVOrs from the previous incarnation of MAGMA were Klaus BLASQUIZ and, of course, Christian VANDER himself. A long piece in 7 movements, M.D.K. had an extended gestation period before reaching its final, definitive form. The previous band had recorded a short version – dominated by the brass section – which was released on a 45 rpm single. The progression from this simple version to what is heard on the album is astounding. The entire credit for this achievement is down to Christian VANDER, who by this time had taken the artistic destiny of MAGMA fully into his own hands. Although the performance of the band was an order of magnitude more powerful than before – notably with the arrival of Jannick Top on bass, whose playing complemented Christian VANDER’s music so perfectly – then perhaps the most striking characteristic of M.D.K. was the epic sound produced by the vocal team. Driven by a colossal, giant-stepping rhythm section and dynamically reinforced by a female backing group – with Stella VANDER appearing for the first time – the voices of Klaus and Christian come to haunt our souls through these magnificent songs which seem to emerge from our collective memory, conferring MAGMA’s music with a timeless and universal character.

MAGMA returned to the studio in 1971 to record its second album, 1001° CENTIGRADE. By this time the guitarist Claude Engel had quit the group and the brass section was re-invigorated by the arrival of Jeff SEFFER on sax and Louis TOESCA on trumpet. All the factors contributing to the originality and grandeur of KOBAIA remained in place, reaching a more profound form in this second opus. If the two pieces composed by Teddy LASRY and Francois CAHEN allowed a more jazz-oriented tendency to filter through, it is in RIAH SAHILTAAHK where we hear the ideas presented on the first album developed with the greatest power. At over 20 minutes, this Christian VANDER composition is astounding, as much by its richness and incredible variety of themes as by the perfectly-disciplined rhythmic force; moreover, it showcases the fullness and diversity of the brass section, although its role became progressively less important as time went on. RIAH SAHILTAAHK anticipates the forthcoming masterpieces such as MEKANIK, KOHNTARKOSZ and THEUSZ HAMTAAHK.

At the end of the 1960s – a time when the French seemed to be willing tolerate the total domination of their music by Anglo-Saxon influences – Christian VANDER founded MAGMA. In doing so he declared his intention to create a different type of music, with an essentially European identity. The first, double, album by MAGMA, KOBAIA (1970) realises this objective and indeed, surpasses all expectations. A cry of revolt and hatred against this Earth – which suffocates humanity and yet absolutely governs its activity – the music of MAGMA synthesises a wide range of influences

STRAVINSKY, BARTOK, COLTRANE, BACH, jazz, rock, rhythm and blues…. and the result is a totally new musical language, disconcerting at first hearing, and yet which soon reveals an unsuspected magnificence. Although the line-up is classic, the revolutionary character of this album results from the originality of the rhythm section, which is totally relentless, the tidal-wave brass section, used in a completely new way, and the extraordinary singing, using an invented language, which tells us that from here on out, nothing will be as it was before