Christian Vander - Tristan et Yseult

here's a live bit from magma playing in nyc @ le poisson rouge in 2015

a Magma album disguised as a christian vander solo album

Magma is a diverse french ‘zeuhl’ prog band singing in an ‘invented’ language, 

Christian Vander being the main pillar in the band, the band write songs in a percussively and rhythmically engaging ritualistic kind of blurring the lines between prog and modal jazz and even chamber music (as far some orchestration) 

this album is a great way to get into the band magma because it really showcases their style in a more little more easy to digest way, it reveals the band’s true zeuhl aura.

this is a magma album entitled  -  "wurdah ïtah", despite the fact that it's issued as a Christian Vander solo album; 

if you are also familiar with magma’s mythology; this album is about how in the saga of the kobaïan people, ẁurdah ïtah tells the events before mëkanïk dëstruktïẁ kömmandöh, and while my knowledge of kobaïan is not strong enough to give me an idea of what is going on, my guess is that lots of things are happening in a pretty short time - much of the music is hectic, urging forward, extremely dynamic, the title of song 7, "ẁaïnsaht!!!" actually describes the whole album pretty well. at the same time, it's nowhere near as dark and grim as its follow-up, indicating perhaps some kind of hope for the kobaïans.

other than a bit of a quiet mix - there are incredible melodies on this album with impeccable drumming and skilled piano playing 

this album has a long and exceptionally fascinating story. in 1972, Vander and his band, magma, made some practice tapes. some movie producer no one has ever known about got hold of the tapes and utilized them as the soundtrack for his cutting-edge film adjustment of Tristan and Isolde with heaps of ponies. Vander by one way or another got some answers concerning this (who knows how, since no one has seen cover up nor hair of the motion picture since) and separated a guarantee from the movie producer that he would be permitted to record an official soundtrack on the movie producer's dime in return for him not suing. 

indeed, the financial plan for the collection, decently well enlighten, turned out to concern a dime, since it's a greatly stripped down and negligible magma collection, done by a group of four with simply piano, bass, drums, and three vocalists. given that magma was (and is) best known for their exaggerated, exceptionally ranting music, this impromptu game plan wouldn't appear to exhibit the best side of magma's music. be that as it may, what turned out was no not exactly vander's own nebraska. all things considered, aside from the part about it being the center piece of a three-collection idea cycle sung in a totally made-up dialect, however other than that, no doubt, practically equivalent to nebraska. instead of the meager instrumentation uncovering vander's shortcomings as a musician,

the charm of this album may hit you abruptly!