Christian Vander (musician)

Last updated

Christian Vander
MAGMA @ Roadburn Festival 2017 02.jpg
Vander at the 2017 Roadburn Festival
Background information
Born (1948-02-21) 21 February 1948 (age 75)
Nogent-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, France
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • composer
Instrument(s)
  • Drums
  • vocals
  • piano

Christian Vander (born 21 February 1948) is a French drummer, composer, singer and founder of the progressive rock band Magma.

Contents

Career

Vander is known for his extended compositions, drumming, and shrill falsetto improvisational/scat singing. His music fuses jazz, rock, classical and operatic influences, and draws on the work of musicians as diverse as John Coltrane and Carl Orff. [1]

Family

Christian Vander is the adopted child of famous French jazz piano player Maurice Vander (who was a long time sideman of singer Claude Nougaro). Most of Vander and Magma's recorded work is still available through Vander's own record label, Seventh Records.

He was married to singer Stella Vander who released many EPs herself in the 1960s and has performed vocal duties for Magma since 1972. [1] They divorced in the 1980s, with speculations that this occurred in the hiatus years. Christian and Stella have a daughter, Julie, who has appeared on several Magma and Offering releases. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magma (band)</span> French progressive rock band

Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by self-taught drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. In the course of their first album, the band tells the story of a group of people fleeing a doomed Earth to settle on the planet Kobaïa. Later, conflict arises when the Kobaïans—descendants of the original colonists—encounter other Earth refugees. The style of progressive rock that Vander developed with Magma is termed Zeuhl, and has been applied to other bands in France operating in the same period, and to some recent Japanese bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock in Opposition</span> Former musical movement

Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiated by English avant-rock group Henry Cow in March 1978 when they invited four mainland European groups to come to London and perform in a festival called "Rock in Opposition".

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<i>Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh</i> 1973 studio album by Magma

Mekanïk Destruktïẁ Kommandöh, also abbreviated as MDK, is the third studio album by French rock band Magma, released on 6 May 1973. The album marks a shift away from the jazz style of the band's first two albums, encompassing progressive rock, contemporary classical, avant-garde music, funk and gospel in its musical style. Magma's original recording of the composition that makes up the album was refused by the record company at the time, but was eventually released as Mekanïk Kommandöh in 1989.

<i>Köhntarkösz</i> 1974 studio album by Magma

Köhntarkösz is the fifth studio album by French rock band Magma, released on 10 September 1974.

<i>Attahk</i> 1978 studio album by Magma

Attahk is the seventh studio album by French rock band Magma, released on 5 March 1978. Its sound marks a noticeable shift from the sound of the band's previous albums, predominantly consisting of funk and jazz fusion music that incorporates elements of rhythm and blues, gospel, and pop music.

<i>Live/Hhaï</i> 1975 live album by Magma

Live/Hhaï is the first live album and fifth album in total by French rock group Magma. It was recorded in Paris between the 1st and 5 June 1975 at the Taverne de l'Olympia, and was first released in 1975.

<i>Üdü Ẁüdü</i> 1976 studio album by Magma

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<i>Retrospektïẁ (Parts I+II)</i> 1981 live album by Magma

Retrospektïẁ is a live album by French rock band Magma. Released in 1981, it documents live recordings from a series of Magma reunion shows in Paris on 9, 10 and 11 June 1980. It was originally released on RCA, and has been re-released on Seventh Records.

<i>Retrospektïẁ (Part III)</i> 1981 live album by Magma

Retrospektïẁ is a live album by French rock band Magma. It was released in 1981, following Retrospektïẁ from the same year. It was originally released on RCA, and has since been reissued on Seventh Records.

<i>Merci</i> (Magma album) 1985 studio album by Magma

Merci is the eighth studio album by French rock band Magma, released May 4, 1985.

<i>Les Voix De Magma</i> 1992 live album by Magma

Les Voix de Magma is a live album by French rock band Magma, featuring vocal-heavy, largely acoustic reworkings of well-known pieces by Magma and Christian Vander's Offering. It was released in 1992 on Akt Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stella Vander</span> French singer and musician (born 1950)

Stella Vander is a French singer and musician.

<i>Ẁurdah Ïtah</i> 1974 studio album by Magma

Ẁurdah Ïtah is the fourth studio album by French rock band Magma. The album was originally released on 15 June 1974 under the name Tristan et Iseult as a Christian Vander solo studio film soundtrack. The soundtrack was for Yvan Lagrange's 1972 avant-garde and incredibly obscure film Tristan et Iseult.

<i>Theusz Hamtaahk</i> 2001 live album by Magma

Theusz Hamtaahk is a live album by the French rock band Magma, released in 2001. The album was recorded in 2000 over the course of two days during Magma's 30th anniversary shows at the Trianon theater, Paris, France and released both as a 3 audio CD box with a 16-page color booklet and libretti containing all the lyrics, and as a DVD. It is the first record to contain all three movements of the trilogy Theusz Hamtaahk:

Michel Graillier was a French jazz pianist.

<i>Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition</i> 2012 documentary film

Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition is a 2012 feature-length documentary film about the Rock in Opposition movement of the late 1970s, the music genre it spawned, and the influence it has on experimental groups across the world. The film was written and directed by Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder, and was released in the United States by Zeitgeist Media. It premiered in Washington, D.C. on September 28, 2012. The film was generally well received by critics, with a reviewer at AllMusic saying that it "covers all the points an aficionado could possibly want".

<i>Zëss</i> 2019 studio album by Magma

Zëss is the fourteenth studio album by the French rock band Magma, which was released on 14 June 2019 on Christian Vander's Seventh Records.

<i>Félicité Thösz</i> 2012 studio album by Magma

Félicité Thösz is the eleventh studio album by French rock band Magma, released on 3 July 2012.

<i>Rïah Sahïltaahk</i> 2014 studio album by Magma

Rïah Sahïltaahk is the twelfth studio album by French rock band Magma, released on 15 September 2014.

References

  1. 1 2 "Speaking In Tongues: Magma Interviewed By Musicians". The Quietus , 9 October 2019. Retrieved 30 May 201
  2. Julie Vander discography at Discogs