The 4 weeks of superb retrospective concerts at Le Triton back in May and June of 2005 would have been an extraordinary event regardless of the ambitious project associated with them. To bring these 4 DVD's out is just more than we could have possibly hoped for. Witnessing the old and the new dovetailing on stage was an emotional experience for us all and I couldn't quite believe that Klaus Blasquiz, Jannick Top and Benoît Widemann would actually, really truly really really turn up on the evening! Would it really happen? Jannnik Top playing on MDK after all these years?? OK, perhaps it was a mellower JT but then so was Christian and Klaus' beard was a bit shorter so nothing can ever be exactly the same. Of the Guest appearances (For me) Klaus stole the show.
Two quotes of the four weeks that I remember so well:
As the opening, plodding introduction to MDK started to unfold Kavus Torabi (then, soon to be Guitarist with Guapo) couldn't restrain himself .... "It's like all your Birthday's and Christmases all rolled into one!" How true!
Overheard a Scottish Magma fan who hadn't really kept up with the life and times of Christian Vander but was over for week three of the shows said ... "I couldn't get over to see Mekanik last week but I'm really hoping that they play 'Konta Chorus' tonight" ... And all these years I thought it was pronounced "Their 4th LP"
Mythes et légendes Vol 1
MALARIA (6:09)
STOAH (10:29)
« ISS » LANSEI DOIA (11:09)
AURAE (13:37)
KOBAIA (14:02)
THEUSZ HAMTAAHK 1er Mouvement (35:17)
SOWILOI (9:10)
KMX B12 (9:55)
Klaus Blasquiz : chant, percussions
Stella Vander : chant, clavier
Rémi Dumoulin : saxophones
Yannick Soccal : saxophones, flûte
Fabrice Theuillon : saxophones
James MacGaw : guitare
Emmanuel Borghi : piano, Fender Rhodes
Philippe Bussonnet : basse
Christian Vander : batterie, chant
Mythes et légendes Vol 2
WURDAH ITAH (48:58)
MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH (42:52)
SUITE POUR VIOLONCELLE (2:19)
QUADRIVIUM (3:55)
DE FUTURA (21:08)
Stella Vander : chant, percussions
Antoine Paganotti : chant
Himiko Paganotti : chant
Isabelle Feuillebois : chant
James MacGaw : guitare
Emmanuel Borghi : Fender, claviers
Frédéric d'Oelsnitz : Fender, claviers
Philippe Bussonnet : basse, basse piccolo
Jannick Top : basse
Christian Vander : batterie
Mythes et légendes Vol 3
KÖHNTARKÖSZ (a.k.a Konta Chorus) (32:29)
LIHNS (6:52)
EMËHNTËHT-RÊ part 1 (3:17)
RINDOH (3:27)
EMËHNTËHT-RÊ part 2 (3:00)
HHAÏ (16:44)
ZOMBIES (8:22)
NONO (7:00)
THE LAST SEVEN MINUTES (11:13)
Stella Vander : chant, percussions
Antoine Paganotti : chant
Himiko Paganotti : chant
Isabelle Feuillebois : chant, percussions
James MacGaw : guitare
Emmanuel Borghi : Fender, claviers
Benoît Widemann : Fender, claviers
Philippe Bussonnet : basse
Christian Vander : batterie, chant
Mythes et légendes Vol 4
ZESS (32:37)
IN A DREAM (2:14)
THE NIGHT WE DIED (3:46)
OTIS (9:00)
K.A. (50:00)
OM ZANKAH
KOBAÏA (9:53)
Stella Vander : chant, percussions
Antoine Paganotti : chant, drums
Himiko Paganotti : chant
Isabelle Feuillebois : chant, percussions
Aymeric Avice, trumpet
Hugues Mayot, saxophone
James MacGaw : guitar
Emmanuel Borghi : Fender, claviers
Frederic d’Oelsnitz : Fender, keyboard
Philippe Bussonnet : basse
Christian Vander : batterie, chant
KOBAÏA : featuring Klaus Blasquiz, Jannick Top, Rémi Dumoulin, Fabrice Theuillon,
Yannick Soccal
Zao were Formed by two members of the original Magma cast and if ever a band deserved the tag "Zeuhl" it would have to be Yochk'o Seffer's and Francois "Faton" Cahen's creation. Musical "differences dictated that they leave planet Kobaïa and continue their musical journey down the path they had started to lay at on the first two Magma albums. It was a more jazz orientated journey that would end up nearer to Fusion than Zeuhl but their first album "Z=7L" and the following "Osiris" were hailed as Zeuhl masterpieces and if you've never heard "Isis" from their second album then have a listen and it's evident how much Cahen was influencing the early Magma years.
In 2003 Musea issued a CD entitled Zao "Live" recorded 5th December 1976 at L'Ouest de la Grosne. Whilst it was great to see this historical document unearthed, it didn't really pull up any trees and was to some degree disregarded as a "Zeuhl" find and rightly or wrongly relegated to the "Fusion" end of the bin. One important piece of the "Zeuhl" jigsaw was missing, Vocals.
To some degree the loss of Mauricia Platon was the end of an era in itself but Joel Dugrenot and Yochk'o Seffer loosened up their tonsils and tightened up thier underpants and kept the flag flying on Osiris. By their third and fourth albums "Shekina" and "Kawana" the vocals had become the sole domain of Seffer, but as he was mainly interested in blowing things that, vocally, was that! By the time Zao "Live" was recorded in 1976 Seffer wasn't even blowing things! Well at least not with Zao and so it came to pass that Zao wasn't really Zao anymore.
This is where I come in. Or rather don't come in at all. I saw the 2007 released "Zao in Tokyo" CD and assumed that it was another Live fusion affair. Oops! how wrong and how stupid of me. Zao had reformed in 2004 and had done the equivalent of Magma's return to MDK. The big news was that they had the one additional ingredient added that would raise the bar to "Zeuhl" level. Cynthia Saint-Ville and while it would be very difficult for anyone to completely copy the vocal pyrotechnics of Mauricia Platon, Saint-Ville does enough of a job to make "Zao in Tokyo" an essential purchase. The sound quality is excellent and the tracks are harvested from thier first four albums. "Free Folk" starts the ball rolling and shows what the Kawana album could have been like had Zao continued with a Female Vocalist. The musicianship is superb and all tracks contain some blistering solos. At the end of the CD the cheering Japanese crowd are promised a return visit. This CD is a welcome return to the Zao of old and is a must buy for Zeuhl fans.
1. Free Folk (9.50)
2. Atart (7.50)
3. Chardaz (12.05)
4. Natura (9.53)
5. Sadie (3.14)
6. Ronarch (5.38)
7. Isis (10.30)
8. Zohar (14.06)
You can purchase this CD from Musea
Records
You can watch Zao at Le Triton 2007 clip 1
You can watch Zao at Le Triton 2007 clip 2
You can watch Zao in Osaka clip
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