Officials – Magma

KARTËHL

13 May 2024

2020/2021. More than 18 months without being able to perform. This space time, this forced break, was used to conceive a new album, a collective album such as we had not made for a long time. Following the creation of a new lineup in 2020, we once again solicited compositions from musicians. Christian Vander had never made the deliberate choice to be the only composer in Magma, however no musician among the dozens who participated in this adventure had proposed a new piece in decades. After “ZËSS”, which suggested a rather dark future, this bright and resolutely optimistic new album is the result of a collective work, an “Operation Kartëhl”

In addition to the 6 new pieces of music, the album includes 2 bonus tracks: Demos from Christian Vander’s personal collection, recorded at home

Hakëhn Deïs 7:12 (Christian Vander)

Do Rïn Ïlï üss 4:38 (Hervé Aknin)

Irena Balladina 5:11 (Christian Vander)

Walömëhndêm 7:36 (Thierry Eliez)

Wiï Mëlëhn Tü 8:54 (Simon Goubert)

Dëhndë 6:55 (Christian Vander) *

Bonus

Hakëhn Deïs 6:11 (Christian Vander)

Enregistré en 1978 – Christian Vander : Piano, chant – René Garber : chant

Dëhndë 6:38 (Christian Vander) *

Enregistré en 1978 – Piano, chant : René Garber

*All proceeds from the copyrights will go to Fondation Initiative Autisme

RETROSPEKTIW I – II – III + BONUS

12 May 2024

3 CD DIGIPACK, REMASTERED –

The first 10 years of Magma were celebrated with the music written by Christian Vander on three memorable evenings in June 1980 at the Olympia theatre in Paris.

This retrospective, reuniting most of the musicians who had performed in the group, was issued as two albums, Retrospektïẁ 1/2 (Double) and Retrospektïẁ 3 (Single). Issued first, Retrospektïẁ 3 comprises 3 titles, Retrovision, a long piece in the style of the album Attahk, in which the vocalists Stella Vander, Guy Khalifa and Maria Popkiewicz turn in a blazing performance over a driving rhythm section, followed by a supercharged version of Hhai, in which the trio Lockwood/Paganotti/Widemann works miracles. And finally La Dawotsin, where, in a more muted register, Christian Vander’s voice triumphs through its mastery and profound sensibility.

A bonus of more tan 15mn is included in this revised edition, the first studio recording from January 1980 of the song Retrovision, a pre-production mockup for a studio album. Ultimately Retrovision will never exist as a studio version.

Recorded, like Retrospektïẁ 3, during the soirees at Olympia in June 1980, Retrospektïẁ 1/2 is an absolutely fundamental album in which Theusz Hamtaahk, the first movement of the trilogy of the same name, is presented for the first time. The second and third movements, Wurdah Itah and Mekanik Destruktiw Komandoh, were of course already well known. Although played in concert since 1974, Christian Vander had waited for years before recording it for posterity as he wanted every note to be as beautiful, magical, essential and definitive as possible. It is with the same respect for his music that he releases here the most successful version of Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh, considered outstanding on account of two incredible improvisations from Bernard Paganotti and Didier Lockwood. Klaus Blasquiz, who did not perform on Retrospektïẁ 3, is the lead vocalist on this version.
There’s no doubt about it, Magma have left a legacy of music that defies any of the standard and convenient classifications of rock, operating instead in a realm of their own creation.

ZËSS, le jour du néant

11 May 2024

“Zëss”—the name itself is sharp as a blade, slender as a cut, sudden like a darting meteor, fast as it is acute. While the inspiration that permeates Zëss comes from time immemorial, a first draft emerged in 1977. After being gradually completed, the piece debuted in concert in the spring of 1979. It became a staple of Magma’s repertoire until it was set aside in 1983.

The music itself seems born out of the night in order to transfigure it. The first chords ring out in the dim dawn, then rise and cast their great shadows against the day. Already their orb suggests the oval shape of an ancient stadium set in the cosmic darkness. It is an immense celestial arena, an agora where all the voices of the universe resonate. Everyone has assembled for a last celebration, a gathering of the innumerable into a single point where everything comes together for the Day of Oblivion.

Zëss had long been plagued by its incompleteness and its recording was deferred for years. Four decades after its first draft, the work has finally been recorded in an orchestral version that gives it both its true dreamlike dimension and its transcending power. For Zëss is above all the visionary reflection of an immemorial dream haunting the most obscure part of our souls.

Zëss treads a line between a vital overflowing and the edges of the unlivable. It is an incandescent and heady oratorio where consciousness questions its other side in a measureless journey. Zëss indicates the ultimate reversal out of which bursts a beyond of music that only music can reach. Magma’s whole story condensed…

Köhnzert Zünd

12 February 2016

12 CD BOX-SET + 80 PAGES BOOKLET – Free shipping – 12 CDs –35 musicians – 500 minutes of Music !

You have to see Magma live at least once in your life !

For Magma, live performance is essential. Live performance allows – and forgives – no mistakes. You give your all, all at once. You are on a tight-rope, with no safety net… t is too late for thought. The body, the hands and the instinct speak first; the fruit of reflection. This planned spontaneity, these raw sounds, this savage energy at concerts make live performance a wonderful experience.

Köhnzert Zünd puts together is a sumptuous box set, all the band’s official live shows, recorded between 1975 and 2000. On top of which are two extra records made of excerpts from shows given between 2005 and 2011, as well as two unreleased records of the unforgettable 2009 concert given at the Alhambra in Paris.

MAGMA LIVE KÖHNTARK – 1975 – remastered :
KOHNTARKOSZ PART 1 & 2 ËMËHNTËHTT-Ré (announcement)
MAGMA LIVE HHAÏ – 1975 – remastered:
HHAÏ – KOBAH – LIHNS – DA ZEUHL WORTZ MËKANÏK – MËKANÏK ZAÏN
RETROSPEKTIW 1 – 1980 – remastered: THEUSZ HAMTAAHK
RETROSPEKTIW 2 – 1980 – remastered: MËKANÏK DËSTRUKTÏW KÖMMANDÖH
RETROSPEKTIW 3 – 1980 – remastered: RETROVISION – HHAÏ – LA DAWOTSÏN
TRIANON THEUSZ HAMTAAHK – 2000 – remixed: THEUSZ HAMTAAHK
TRIANON WURDAH ITAH – 2000 – remixed: WURDAH ITAH
TRIANON MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH – 2000 – remixed: MËKANÏK DËSTRUKTÏW KÖMMANDÖH
TRITON ZELEKT ZUND 1 – 2005 – version audio remastered:
STOAH-DE FUTURA-THE LAST SEVEN MINUTES-NONO- OTIS- KOBAÏA
TRITON ZELEKT ZUND 2 – 2011 – version audio remastered:
RIAH SAHILTAAHK-DONDAÏ-SLAG TANZ-MAAHNT
ALHAMBRA 1 – 2009 – fully unpublished concert: ËMËHNTËHTT-RÉ I-II-III-IV- FUNEHRARIUM KAHNT
ALHAMBRA 2 – 2009 – fully unpublished concert: FELICITÉ THOSZ – SËHNTËHNDËH (gospel)
Only multitracks recording.

Slag Tanz

12 February 2016

Finally, music to set the cat among the pigeons… Magma are the dynamite that will explode the conventions of a music scene that is becoming rather too self-satisfied with its own beauty… Magma are unlike anything that has gone before…

So people were saying in 1970.

In 2015, nearly half a century later, this is truer than ever and the new mini-album Slag Tanz (pronounced schlag tanz ), this veritable symphony of jazz metal that has erupted from nowhere, radiates with all Magma s singular intensity!

Rïah Sahïltaahk

12 February 2016

The original version of RÏAH SAHÏLTAAHK was recorded in 1971 and appears on the album 1001°C. At the time, Christian Vander, the composer, wasn’t satisfied with the arrangement written by the band.This new version is completely revamped and adapted to the current ensemble and its lyrical voices, it is truer to the spirit of MAGMA’s music and its unique sound!

RÏAH SAHÏLTAAHK is the name of the Kobaïan who left after all the others, despite their disapproval. He thought he was better than anyone else and he was sure he could convert Kobaïa’s enemies to the Kobaïan spirit. But he failed and left alone for Kobaïa. On the symbolic stop-over planet, Malaria, he has to face the raging elements he thinks he can dominate. With his ship almost sunk, he ends up begging them… to no avail.

He will disappear. Drowned, swept away by the frenzied elements.

After the noise… silence.

Félicité Thösz

12 February 2016

Having emerged unscathed from STAR WARS, don’t just sit there waiting for the end of the world.Take a leap into the MAGMA Universe and grab their new studio album which is not to be missed under any circumstances: a trip which will lead you from Japan to the Urals via Central Asia with a detour to pay homage to Tamla Motown. Already aired in concert under the title Felicite Thosz and well-attended by legions of the band’s fans, the piece is dominated by the celestial voice of Stella Vander and is a formidable mix of all the sonic colours which has made this cult band absolutely uncategorizable!

Ëmëhntëhtt-Rê

12 February 2016

At the doors of immortality, dreams the Great Servant of Ptah, God of creation drifting infinitely within his own mind, as he tries to awaken Him.

In its message, as in its genesis and its making, Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré is an intimate epic, an occult stride forward, a quest for the sublime. Initiated in 1975, its composition beholds its whole fulfillment after more than three decades. It is the testimony of an unwaveringly timeless inspiration, of which the expectant present asserts itself beyond history. Connecting wide and contrasted scenes, it sets its coherence within its very dynamics, playing with chiaroscuro , between choral splendor, operatic jubilation and hurricane of spirits beyond graves. As much a seraphic liturgy as it is a telluric opera, Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré comes as the final closure to a second trilogy, following upon that of Theusz Hamtaahk, in Christian Vander’s corpus. This is a music reaching out from a time before man time. Born at the heart of nebulas, fed on mineral glow, and riding crypts capped with a cosmic vault. Bruno Heuzé Translation : Mary-Noelle Dana

Live in Tokyo 2005

12 February 2016

Double CD – AVAILABLE IN FRANCE ONLY ON SEVENTH RECORDS MAIL ORDER PAGE

This album, which is only released in Japan and which will not be released in any other version, documents two different shows from their 2005 Japanese tour. The first disc is the complete Kontarkosz Anteria (K.A.) which is by the long lived and fantastic lineup of Magma that existed during the 00s (Christian Vander, Stella Vander, James Mac Gaw, Emmanuel Borghi, Frederic D’Oelsnitz, Philippe Bussonnet, Isabelle Feuillebois, Antoine Paganotti, Himiko Paganotti) and has since broken up with a mostly new line-up taking their place. A great piece and a great performance. The second disc is potentially even more interesting, as it presents Les Voix de Magma performing Theusz Hamtaahk, Wurdah Itah and M.D.K

Coffret Studio Zünd

12 February 2016

A must for MAGMA fanatics, fans and freaks everywhere. An opportunity not to be missed. For the first time ever, the full set of 9 incredible studio albums – from Kobaia to K.A – in deluxe digipack form. Each volume has its own 32 to 48 page booklets, containing photos and previously unpublished documents re-telling the story of MAGMA in 9 detailed chapters. Also includes a bonus double CD of archive documents: the first demo recorded by the band in 1970, the original sound track from the film 24 heures seulement recorded that same year by the line-up playing on the first album, a demo version of MDK with just rhythm section and a vocal guide track , and a version of Eliphas Levi with drums.