It is not uncommon while traversing the incredibly handy “OiNKPlus” tool on my torrent interface that I may see a genre tag that strikes me as weird and highly unfamiliar. Generally, I try to be open-minded and give everything a chance, but sometimes I just can't get past the absurdity of “depressive funeral metal” or something equally bizarre. Nevertheless, occasionally, I'll come upon something that I never even knew existed, and it will open up very interesting musical doors for me when I investigate further. This was the case when I encountered “Zeuhl”, a genre name whose oddness is surpassed only by the music of the genre itself.

I could only imagine that 99% of the people who are reading this are saying “What the fuck is Zeuhl? Is it a food? An animal? How do you even pronounce it?” To shed some light on the situation, I came across Zeuhl when I was in one of those complete and total music saturation phases where I felt inclined to listen to just about anything and everything I could find within a genre. At this specific point, that genre was progressive rock, and I was using all that built up ratio credit to leech my hungry ears content. I got some of the great classic prog rock acts - Camel, Henry Cow, Van Der Graaf Generator, Yes, and many, many more. But one particular band completely stumped me when I stumbled upon it accidentally through a similar artist search.

That band was Magma. Magma, for those of you who are unfamiliar, was a 1970's French progressive rock group fronted by drummer Christian Vander. But, of course, leave it to a French band to be unsatisfied by the status quo and put a completely ridiculous spin on an otherwise fairly consistent-sounding genre. Founded in 1972, Magma is one of the most bizarre musical endeavors that I have ever encountered.
      Picture this - in 1971, John McLaughlin and The Mahavishnu Orchestra splintered everyone's aural cavities by playing ultra-fast jams in 7/4, 9/8, and basically any other odd time signature under the sun. Their style was undoubtedly one of the main tenets of the genre now known as jazz-fusion; a hybridized genre that utilized the rock influence of synthesizers, electric guitars, and of course Jimi Hendrix combined with improvised jams with plenty of call-and-response jazz influence to go around. Vander absolutely loved the concept of jazz-fusion, but he was also highly fond of the idea that Pink Floyd and others popularized known as a “concept album”, a staple of the progressive rock genre. A concept album is generally regarded as an album that utilizes songs to tell a story - each track may flow linearly in time into the next one, narrating (either instrumentally or vocally) some form of journey often fraught with mood changes, tempo changes, extended solo sections, and songs that may well reach the double-digits in duration. Famous concept albums you may have heard of include “De-Loused in the Comatorium” by The Mars Volta, “The Wall” by Pink Floyd, and basically any album to date by Coheed and Cambria.

Vander could have settled for simply writing a concept album with jazz-fusion tendencies and called it a day. But his innovative spirit clearly kicked in, and he decided that his idea for a concept album was going to require something much more drastic. Vander single-handedly constructed his own language. The language, known today as “Kobaian”, can be found on every single Magma album ever released, and if you look on the internet, you can even find a Kobaian dictionary that will translate the otherwise nonsensical gibberish into actual words.
      I know what you're thinking - what a fucking dork! Who would spend the time to do something as obnoxious and absurd as creating their own language that nobody but them could actually understand? Well, clearly Vander would. His debut album, "Kobaïa", details a rather bizarre tale of refugee humans after a great war destroys their home planet, ultimately finding the planet Kobaia to be their new home where they live peacefully and harmoniously while speaking this bizarre language Vander has constructed. Every subsequent album after Kobaïa is done in much the same fashion, detailing, in complete gibberish, accounts of great adventures by Kobaian citizens engaged in war, peace, love, and more.
      As if it weren't enough that Vander chose to write his lyrics in another language, he also chose to have many of them sung by female operatic-style vocalists. So, to paint the whole picture, the Magma experience is nothing short of absurd. It's a culturally amorphous and mind-boggling hodge-podge of funky jazz-fusion grooves, improvised solos, rapid mood changes, and “Madame Butterfly” style vocals to top it all off.

Believe it or not, there were other people who actually enjoyed this enough to copy Vander's idea. Magma began a small progression of events that would somehow ultimately carve out a little corner of music for those who felt that Vander's idea was revolutionary. Thus began “Zeuhl” - a little-known and quite bizarre sub-genre of progressive rock.
      Zeuhl is not the only genre in which a constructed language has been utilized. For example, Sigur Ros and Enya have also, in modern times, utilized the idea of fictional languages as well. Though undoubtedly both are far more popular than Zeuhl bands, it does attest to the more mainstream feasibility of constructed languages. Perhaps Vander's idea wasn't that insane!
      Zeuhl, according to most generally accepted (ha ha) Kobaian translations, means “Celestial Music”. I suppose one could almost call Vander's choice of terminology pretentious as he effectively coined his own music “the music of Heaven”. Nevertheless, Vander was not alone in thinking his idea was damn cool, and his like-minded followers certainly wanted to expand upon the idea.

I suppose it would only be logical to explain why, exactly, anyone would want to listen to this shit. I mean, you can't even understand what they're saying! Fortunately, many Zeuhl musicians were (and are) highly-proficient and formally trained jazz and rock instrumentalists. For instance, Christian Vander is not just a crazy thinker; he is a decidedly crazy drummer as well. Even modern drummers who don't even listen to Zeuhl or have any reflection of Zeuhl sound in their music tend to agree that Vander is an absolute beast on the kit. For example, one of Vander's biggest fans is Zach Hill, best known for his work in formerly instrumental math rock and experimental band Hella, who cites Vander as his favorite drummer of all time. The operatic vocals, though difficult to enjoy at first because of their seemingly out-of-place nature with the generally groovy and funky instrumentals, are actually meant to serve simply as another instrument.
      This is why many bands replicated Vander's idea. Few bands actually used the actual Kobaian language of Magma, but many utilized completely nonsensical lyrics to give the listener the illusion of words while making the vocal line important for purely instrumental value. This is evident in a band like Koenjihyakkei and Ruins, two of the very few modern Zeuhl groups, where the lyrics have been confirmed to have absolutely no meaning whatsoever. However, you don't really need to know what they're saying because they express the mood of the song through their vocal intonations and volume. After a while, when it grows on you, you almost find yourself attempting to sing along which, believe me, is a futile effort. Zeuhl bands like Koenjihyakkei and Ruins also tend to use unorthodox chord progressions and odd time signatures as well which only adds more substance. They also tend to be good song writers as well, and though the songs may not follow standard verse-chorus structures, they generally take you on a very enjoyable journey of different sounds, emotions, and musical ideas.

I love Zeuhl. It is, in my honest opinion, one of the coolest and most innovative genres of the 20th century, and I am by no means ashamed of the fact that I listen to music sung in a made up language. Though it is generally a little hard to explain why I would possibly enjoy this stuff to someone who listens to mainstream music, Zeuhl is most definitely a good choice for someone who enjoys jazz-fusion or progressive rock. And even if you aren't really into either genre, you may enjoy it just for the sole purpose of seeing how far people push that blurry line between total genius and utter absurdity.

Here are some of my personal favorite Zeuhl recommendations for those of you crazy enough to have a gander.
Magma - Kobaia
Magma - Attahk
Zao - Z=7L
Zao - Kawana
Koenjihyakkei - Nivraym
Koenjihyakkei - Angherr Shisspa
Potemkine - Triton
Potemkine - Nicholas II
Eskaton - 4 Visions
Dun - Eros
Eider Stellaire - Eider Stellaire I

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