ZAO

SHEKINA (FGBG 4067.AR)

ZAO - the cream of the Magma school have had their third album reissued on CD. Their first two albums are even better than this one, but we will have to wait a little longer for those. ZAO were formed soon after Yochk'o Seffer and Francois Cahen broke away from Magma in the autumn of 1972. They rapidly developed their own new style of Zeuhl jazz with their 1973 album, 'Z = 7L' which featured the soaring vocals of Mauricia Platon and the intricate fender piano of 'Faton' Cahen. However, the next recording was the stunning 'Osiris' album that still has a magical intensity and is enhanced by the exotic percussive talents of 'Ty Bourn' (who was playing with Faton's trio last time I saw them). The second album was so perfect that it would be impossible to expect the band to match its beauty, but they came close in 1975.

The next album, 'Shekina', was recorded early in July with a female string quartet (the QUATOUR MARGAND) adding an inspired neo-classical element to the unique blend of Zeuhl, Rock and Jazz. But Joel Dugrenot had left the band by this time to join CLEARLIGHT, and I feel that Gerard Prevost's bass guitar lacks some of the emotion that oozes from Joel's bass work on the first two releases. However, that aside, 'Shekina' is a masterpiece. An album that most groups who later followed Magma's and ZAO's lead could never match for sheer inventiveness and musical integrity.

Unfortunately I have always been less enthralled with ZAO's last two records 'Kawana' and 'Typhareth'. 'Kawana' is o.k. but not up to the same challenging standards of their early releases, even though Didier Lockwood had joined the group at that point (1976). Didier's violin playing was most impressive on his own 'Surya' album but lacked some of its sparkling originality when he was not the lead instrumentalist. Seffer was still inspired on sax, but Cahen had less influence on the more commercial sound of 'Kawana'. Personally I find the most satisfying piece on the reissue of 'Kawana' is the long, previously unreleased track from 1973, 'Salut Robert!', which also happens to be a Cahen composition.

But in comparison 'Typhareth' (which means 'Beauty') was almost dull, lacking all the mystique and ingeniousness of the original band. Indeed by the time this final album was made in 1977, Seffer had left the band to concentrate on his new line-up NEFFESH MUSIC who were to produce a couple of more intellectually stimulating albums in 'Ima' and 'Delire'. Without Seffer, the penultimate incarnation of ZAO were a pale imitation and nothing on that album matches the spirit of François Cahen's future solo career. Much later, on the 6th June 1986 in fact, ZAO reformed for a one-off gig at the Rex Club in Paris. This was to celebrate the reissue of 'Z = 7L' by Madrigal on vinyl. Yochk'o Seffer's daughter Debora joined the group on violin for this reformation in a combined concert with Seffer's group of that period, SEPTUOR.

So, getting back to the present release... 'Shekina' (Like all the ZAO albums, this takes it's title from the 13th century Kabbalah, this title is loosely translated as 'In the presence of God'). Musea are doing a wonderful job of repackaging these classics and often adding extra unreleased material and / or a very informative booklet. The text of which is usually in both French and English. These booklets are probably the first time anything has been written in English about some of these groups for many, many years. The booklet in this case uses four photos by Michel Adda of the band from the days when Afghan coats and cheesecloth were all the rage. In this episode Alain Juliac eloquently details the history of ZAO from October 1974 to late 1976. The story continues in the booklet included with the Musea release of 'Kawana' (translation: 'Pure Intention') and the early days will be covered in forthcoming releases of 'Z = 7L' and Osiris'. Speaking of which, I have never seen the originals of these on vinyl except for when I gobbled them up in Cheapo Cheapo's in London way back in 1975, so presumably everyone who bought them in the seventies still treasures them as much as I do.

'Shekina' opens with the intriguing 'Joy!' written by Faton and runs through various shades of the ZAO musical palette culminating in the magnificent opus 'Bakus'. This combination of Cahen's classical background and Seffer's Hungarian roots and the hard work put in by the string quartet to interpret Seffer's jazz arrangements leads to an awesome experience of spiritual intensity. There is little in the way of jazz-rock / fusion to match the first three ZAO albums and no one in the field exceeds their originality. What made the combination of Seffer and Cahen so great was their absolute determination to integrate diverse influences and yet create a personal, original, European music. The influence of Vander was only the start of a Cabbalistic journey to another musical universe entirely. Join the voyage now. Contact Musea.

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