A Fiïèh

(Seventh A IX)

Well, the sudden release at the end of May of this, the new OFFERING studio album took us by surprise. I expect by the the you read this that many of you will have bought it already. It is not quite the album I had expected, but overall I think it is the most successful of the three Offering albums to date. My principal reason for that initial reaction is that it contains the most Zeuhl music that Vander has released in the last twelve years, with a general feel of a MAGMA album. That's not to say that the arrangements are like the classic Magma sound, like 'Offerings I - IV' the overall tone is a more acoustic and subdued musical form. We will have further reviews in future issues, but could not hold back this issue any longer, so these are my initial reactions:

The disc starts with a strange piece I cannot recall hearing Offering perform before: 'Hymne Kobaïen', which is a solo improvisation by Christian Vander on an electronic keyboard. It is based in part on the French national anthem 'La Marsellaise'. This sounds like a piece left over from the 'Les voyages de Christophe Colomb' album, which itself is reminiscent of Carl Orff's Greek period. And fits in with the album in a similar manner to the intro tapes that Offering use in concert.

'Cosmos' comes next, and for me this is the real beginning, as with the stage shows. The title track 'A Fiïèh' is just overwhelming. Stella Vander recorded this couplet with the core members of Offering in December last year. Then the Voix de Magma band (without the keyboard players) perform 'La Marche Celeste' - this version does not feature the electronic ending that was played in concert and is generally tighter and more controlled than the live versions.Another oddball piece: 'Magnifi' seems to be sung/spoken (sprechstimme) in German mainly by Vander double tracking himself with minimal keyboard accompaniment and two choirs.

'Purificatem (Accord of the instruments)' is a short instrumental statement leading into a live (in the Uni?erïa Zekt studio) recording from a late night session on 26-02-93; 'Purificatem' itself is a 26 minute epic of vocal and piano gymnastics by Christian, with keyboards by Pierre-Michel Sivadier, sax by Alex Ferrand, Philippe Dardelle's fluid double bass and percussionists Ogun and Marc Delouya.

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