Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by self-taught drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. The style of progressive rock that Vander developed with Magma is termed "Zeuhl" and has been applied to other bands in France operating in the same period, and to some recent Japanese bands.
Vander created a fictional 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, "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." In the course of their first album, the band tells the story of a group of people fleeing a doomed Earth to settle on the planet Kobaïa. Subsequently, conflict arises when the Kobaïans - descendants of the original colonists - encounter other Earth refugees. Later albums tell different stories set in more ancient times; however, the Kobaïan language remains an integral part of the music.
In 1986, the French label Seventh Records was founded to republish Magma's and Vander's work. Over the years, Seventh has also released albums by related artists such as Stella Vander, Patrick Gauthier, and Collectif Mu.
History
Early years (1967–1972)
In early 1967, drummer Christian Vander played in the Wurdalaks and Cruciferius Lobonz, two rhythm and blues bands. With these groups, he wrote his first compositions, "Nogma" and "Atumba". The death of John Coltrane saddened Vander, who left the groups and traveled to Italy. He returned to France in 1969 and met saxophonist René Garber and bassist and conductor Laurent Thibault. Together with singer Lucien Zabuski and organist Francis Moze, they created the group Univeria Zekt Magma Composedra Arguezdra, shortened to Magma.
After their first tour, Magma experienced significant lineup turnover. Vocalist Lucien Zabuski was replaced with Klaus Blasquiz, and pianist Eddie Rabin, double bassist Jacky Vidal, and guitarist Claude Engel also joined the group. The group worked on material for three months in a house in the Chevreuse Valley. Eddie Rabin was replaced by François Cahen on keyboards, and Laurent Thibault abandoned bass to devote himself to production. Francis Moze became the new bassist. The band also expanded with a brass section, consisting of Teddy Lasry on saxophone and clarinet, Richard Raux on saxophone and flute, and Paco Charlery on trumpet. The group's first album, Kobaïa, was released in the spring of 1970 by Philips Records. The group caused a sensation but audience reactions were mixed.
After the album was released, Claude Engel, Richard Raux, and Paco Charlery left the group. Jeff Seffer replaced Raux on saxophone, and Louis Toesca replaced Charlery on trumpet. Their second album, 1001° Centigrades, was released in April 1971. The album won the band more exposure, including a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
In January 1972, Magma released the album The Unnamables under the alias Univeria Zekt. Intended as an introduction to Magma's sound, the album featured less contributions from Vander and was detached from storylines featured in earlier albums. It would sell only 1,500 copies. This incarnation of the band would tour relentlessly throughout 1972, recording their last original song in September 1972 for Jean Yanne's 1973 film Moi y'en a vouloir des sous, which remains unreleased. Many musicians would leave the band towards the end of the year, including François Cahen, Louis Toesca, Jeff Seffer, and Francis Moze.
Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh, to Üdü Wüdü (1973–1977) In 1973, Vander formed a new lineup of the band, adding Stella Vander as a second vocalist, Claude Olmos on guitar, Jannick Top replacing Francis Moze on bass, René Garber on saxophone and clarinet, and Jean-Luc Manderlier on keyboards, among others. This new version of the band would release their most famous work Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh, which would later become their most acclaimed album, and gave them international fame, including a spot at the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival, their first American performance.
A lineup of Vander, Blasquiz, Jean-Pierre Lembert and René Garber would perform a demo of their piece "Ẁurdah Ïtah" on January 3, 1972. This recording was bootlegged and used as the soundtrack for Yvan Lagrange's 1972 film Tristan et Iseult without Magma's knowledge or permission. In 1974, after learning of Lagrange's film, Vander would approach him with an ultimatum to finance a re-recording or face legal action, to which Lagrange agreed, and under Vander's name, the band begrudgingly released Ẁurdah Ïtah under the name of Tristan et Iseult; the album has been re-released in its intended format as Magma's fourth studio album since 1989.
Magma were already in the midst of preparation for their next album, Köhntarkösz, which was recorded less than a month later and released in September of that year. It was successful among fans, but not received as well among the public as Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh. The band would then go on a long, year-and-a-half long tour of France, and after another member shakeup (Bernard Paganotti replacing Jannick Top on bass, Didier Lockwood added as a violinist, Jean-Pol Asseline and Benoît Widemann replacing Gérard Bikialo on keyboards, and Gabriel Federow replacing Claude Olmos on guitar), released their first live album, Live / Hhaï, in December 1975, recorded at the Taverne de l'Olympia in Paris.
In 1976, Top would be sought by Vander to rejoin the band as a co-leader; he would accept and split recording duties for Üdü Ẁüdü. He would continue with the band until the end of the year, due to wanting to move on from the band. Most musicians who had worked with Vander from 1972 left the band throughout the same time - the band would briefly disband before reforming in spring 1977. Jean DeAntoni would replace Gabriel Federow on guitar, Guy Delacroix replacing Bernard Paganotti on bass, and Clement Bailly was hired as a second drummer.
Attahk, Merci, and changing sound (1978–1984) In 1978, Magma released the album Attahk. Vying for more commercial success, the album included elements of soul, rhythm & blues, and funk music.
Celebrating 10 years as a band, in 1980, Magma performed three nights at L'Olympia in Paris, with guest appearances from many of the group's past musicians. These were recorded and released as Retrospektïẁ (Parts I+II) and Retrospektïẁ (Part III).
In early 1980, the band had attempted to record a new studio album, but failed. In 1981, Magma would play a number of shows around France, including a three-week residency at Paris's Bobino in 1981, which was recorded and filmed, and later released as Concert Bobino 1981; this concert would feature some discarded material, including "Retrovision", which Vander has gone at length to say he will never record again.
In 1982, Vander started work on a passion project to celebrate jazz and John Coltrane's life. This would result in Merci. Essentially a Vander solo album, it would take two years of continuous recording sessions before a provisional unmixed version was released in late 1984, with a finalised version released in May 1985.
Transition into Offering (1983–1996) By 1983, Magma had metamorphosised into a more improvised and unstructured style. This new incarnation of the band would become known as Offering, the "improvised side of Magma"; the band did not breakup and the current lineup was kept the same through projects. Offering would continue to perform both new material and old, and when performing live, often the band was still referred to as Magma. An example of this was in 1988, when professional snooker champion Steve Davis would convince Vander to perform three shows at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London as Magma; most material performed was from Offering.
Offering would release three albums, Offering I-II (1986), Offering III-IV (1990), and A Fiïèh (1993). The first and third albums were positively received, while the second received mixed reception. The piece Les cygnes et les corbeaux, regularly played live by the band, was teased as a fourth studio album. This would later be released as a Christian Vander solo album in 2002.
Reformation (1996–present) In 1995, Offering would stop regularly performing. The following year, friend Bernard Ivan asked Vander if he was considering reviving Magma, as he was confident he could get Vander concert dates. Vander agreed, but confessed that he didn't think there would be any remaining interest in the band. Ivan came back to Vander to tell him he fully booked a number of gigs for Magma and Vander, surprised, quickly gathered friends in the music scene and the lineup from Offering to create a new 14-piece Magma.
Vander decided to revive some sections of tracks he had written back in 1972-1973 while working on Köhntarkösz on this new tour. Eventually, these merged into one big composition K.A (Köhntarkösz Anteria), which released in 2004 to acclaim and surprise at their comeback. K.A is conceptually the prequel to Köhntarkösz, which was then followed up by a sequel Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré in 2009, ending a narrative trilogy between the three albums.
In 2012, Magma released Félicité Thösz. Two years later the band released Rïah Sahïltaahk, a complete re-recording of the side-long suite from 1971's 1001° Centigrades, which Vander never felt satisfied with the arrangement of. This was followed by Šlaǧ Tanƶ in 2015.
In 2019, the band released Zëss, a live piece performed since the late 1970s that was never recorded in studio. This version featured the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the first Magma album to feature an orchestra.
On 30 September 2022 Magma released their fifteenth album Kartëhl. The album is a collective work of the band members. The copyright proceeds of the track Dëhndë were donated to a charity for people with autism.
By end of 2025, bassist Jimmy Top, son of Jannick Top, left the band and was replaced by Charles Lucas.
In late May 2026, the band announced a new 2026-2027 tour titled the Zeuhl Kommandöh Tour, revealing a new stripped down lineup with six members.
Kobaïan
Kobaïan is a lyrical language created by Christian Vander for Magma. It is the language of Kobaïa, a fictional planet invented by Vander and the setting for a musical "space opera" sung in Kobaïan by Magma on fifteen concept albums.
Development French drummer and composer Christian Vander formed Magma in late 1969 after the death of American jazz musician and composer John Coltrane. Vander said the saxophonist was his single greatest inspiration and he believed “music had to start over” after Coltrane’s death. Magma's first album, Magma (later reissued as Kobaïa), told a story of refugees fleeing a future Earth and settling on a fictional planet called Kobaïa. The lyrics were all in Kobaïan (except the title track, sung mostly in English), a language Vander constructed for the album, some sung by soloists and others by "massive quasi-operatic choruses". Over the next three decades, Magma have made fifteen albums that continues the mythology of Kobaïa, all sung in Kobaïan.