Magma (band)

Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically trained drummer Christian Vander. Vander invented a constructed language, Kobaïan, in which most lyrics are sung. In a 1977 interview with Vander and long-time Magma vocalist Klaus Blasquiz, Blasquiz said that Kobaïan is a "phonetic language made by elements of the Slavonic and Germanic languages to be able to express some things musically. The language has of course a content, but not word by word". Vander himself has said that, "When I wrote, the sounds [of Kobaïan] came naturally with it – I didn’t intellectualise the process by saying "Ok, now I’m going to write some words in a particular language", it was really sounds that were coming at the same time as the music." Later albums tell different stories set in more ancient times; however, the Kobaïan language remains an integral part of the music.

The band is widely considered to be musically adventurous and imaginative among music critics. Magma makes extensive use of the choral format, particularly reminiscent of the classical composer Carl Orff. Magma's music is also highly influenced by jazz saxophone player John Coltrane. So many of the musicians who have played with Magma have formed their own solo projects and/or spinoff acts that the Kobaïan term Zeuhl has come to refer to the musical style of these bands. (Read more at Wikipedia)



Links to Peel
Although Peel's distaste for so-called "prog rock" was well known, Peel was known to like bands like Soft Machine and Matching Mole, whose music has often been associated with those of Magma. However, Peel has rarely played music by Magma, and has never commented his feelings toward the band, so we can only speculate on this.

Magma recorded one session for Peel's program in 1974, playing only two piece, but clocking in at 57 minutes, making it one of the longest (if not the longest) studio sessions ever recorded.

Sessions
One session. Officially available on BBC - Radio - Londres 1974  CD, Seventh Records ‎– AKT XIII.

1. Recording date: 1974-03-14. First broadcast: 21 March 1974
 * Theusz Hamtaahk / Kohntarkosz

Other Shows Played
(The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive. Please add further information if known.)


 * 04 August 1999: Malaria (2xLP– Kobaïa) Philips