Magma is in a musical category all by themselves though they are easily  included into the progressive rock genre. Magma's music is  ambitions and the band went as far as to  invent their own lyrical and musical language in order to bring their unique vision to life.

Led by classically-trained drummer Christian Vander- the  son of a jazz pianist, Vander initially followed in his father's footsteps, modeling his technique on the work of John Coltrane alumni- Elvin Jones and starting his career with a number of jazz and R&B outfits. In Paris, during 1969,  he was struck by a vision of earth's spiritual and ecological future which so disturbed him that he decided to explore his fears by musical means, assembling Magma with the aid of his wife and vocalist- Stella, singer Klaus Blasquiz,  fusion bassists Francis Moze and Jannick Top.

Magma's first album was an ambitious  double-album debut (`Kobaia'), released in 1970;  Vander's tale-  projected to be told over the course of ten LPs, pitted earth against a rival planet named Kobaia. Vander then created Magma and the 'Zeuhl Wortz' (music of the universal might).

1971's `1001 Centigrade,' and 1973's `Mekanïk Destructïw Kommandoh,' (recorded with a choir), the story -- much of it told in native Kobaian -- unfolded to depict an earth so uninhabitable that its citizens must flee to the nearby planet, where years of conflict culminated in the achievement of cosmic harmony and a reconciliation with the deity- Ptäh.

With little chart success as a result of their original musicality and vision and after a few early tours of the U.S. and Britain,  Magma spent the middle years of the decade almost exclusively in France, where they launched 1974's Kohntarkosz- were the Kobaiaian  story gets a bit more cryptic,  as by this time Magma's music was taking on a more spiritual and purely musical nature.

In 1975, the band released a double live album- `Live/Hhai,' to mixed reviews (as the band was beginning to change their sound)- similar to albums- `Udu Wudu' (1976) and `Attahk' (1977). After the commercial failure of 1976's Udu Wadu, Magma disbanded for a time, only to reconvene a year later under a slightly different direction than before. While drummer Christian Vander had maintained general leadership of the band since the early 70s, his interest in funk, R-n-B, gospel, and pop would come to the fore and would mold the band's sound into something closer to "popular."

After disbanding for several years, Magma held a series of concerts in June of 1980 at the Olympia in Paris.  Though recorded in 1981, the double live album- Retrospektiw I-II  was released in 1994 to good reviews The live release  reunited nearly everybody who appears on Magma's Live/Hhai album of five years before.

In the early 80's,  Magma essentially disbanded, although the group lived on in various forms, as alumni founded a number of loosely-affiliated splinter groups to carry on Vander's work in subsequent years, including Art Zoyd, Univers Zero, Ensemble Nimbus, Happy Family and Ruins.

In 1983, Vander himself resurfaced with the acoustic project-  Offering, but later returned to more grandiose designs with Les Voix de Magma, an attempt to resurrect his early material for a new generation of listeners.

1984 would give the fans Magma's final studio album (to date)-  `MERCI,' which is  sung in French and English, with a couple obligatory tracks in Kobaian. With this last album, it seemed that the  whole seventies concept of Magma is something the band  was trying hard to put behind them.

Within months, Christian Vander's new band- Offering was born, moving further and deeper into the more acoustic Coltrane-inspired Jazz directions. Vander was free to  explore new avenues that were unsuited to the seventies Magma style. Christian's Jazz Trio was also born in this period also, plus numerous solo projects.

Magma has signed to be the closing act at the first day of Nearfest 2003, for fans of their work, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime treat!

Magma Discography

DISCOGRAPHY

MAGMA, (Seventh, 1970)

1001 DEGREES CENTIGRADES (Seventh, 1971)

MEKANIK KOMMANDOH (Seventh, 1973)

MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH (Seventh, 1973)

BRUSSELS '74, (Sprial, released 1994)

WURDAH ITAH (Seventh, 1974)

KOHNTARKOSZ (Seventh, 1974)

LIVE (Seventh, 1975)

THEATRE DU TAUR, TOULOUSE 1975 (AKT, released 1994)

THEUSZ HAMTAAHK (Kisses, recorded 1976, released 1992)

MEKANIK ZEUHL WORTZ (Kisses, recorded 1976, released 1994)

UDU WUDU (Seventh, 1976)

INEDITS (Tapioca, 1977)

ATTAHK (Seventh, 1978)

RETROSPEKTIW III (Seventh, 1981)

RETROSPEKTIW I-II (Seventh, 1981)

CONCERT - BOBINO 1981 (AKT, released 1995)

MERCI (Seventh, 1984)

MYTHES ET LEGENDES VOL. 1 (Seventh, 1985)

LES VOIX DE MAGMA

LES VOIX DE MAGMA (AKT, 1992)

CHRISTIAN VANDER

TO LOVE (Seventh, 1988)

LES VOYAGES DU CHIRSTOPH COLOMB (AKT, 1993)

A TOUS LES ENFANTS (Seventh, 1995)

CHRISTIAN VANDER TRIO

JOUR APRES JOUR (Seventh, 1990)

65! (Seventh, 1994)

OFFERING

OFFERING I-II (Seventh, 1986)

OFFERING III-IV (Seventh, 1990)

A FIIEH (Seventh, 1993)