Magma´s ideology controversy. Read this!

And all in all: Personal views of CV don't interest me really. I was rather concerned about alleged political bias of Magma music and it was clearly stated by Stella Vander that they are apolitical.

Seeing that this "old" thread had been revived, I just will have people to learn this: in 2012, Vander gave an interview to the French extreme-right-wing magazine Réfléchir & Agir. Here are some links to read this interview:
http://kohntarkosz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/here-is-vander-interview-in-r.html

http://kohntarkosz.blogspot.fr/2012/07/english-translation-of-vander-interview.html

http://robert.guillerault.free.fr/magma/textes/2012/agir.htm

The interview in itself is somewhat "flat": CV talks about his music, stuff like that, and he nearly doesn't talk about politics (he just laughs at the "Nazi" insult that he and Magma endure for 40 years).
Still, the fact that he accepted an interview from this magazine is problematic: Réfléchir & Agir had been described as Neo-Fascist, they have published articles from many leaders of the French extreme-right-wing.

So, either CV is a "troll" playing with infamous rumors about his political ideas (and it sounds immature from a 60-year old man, close to the 70-year old), or he truly has some right-wing sympathies or, at least, doesn't have problems with being associated with these ideologies.
I don't know.
I can't say.
I just will listen to Zao...

I am curious, if there were any news in this riddicoulous topic. Some of this accusations makes me laugh but before I throw my 2 cents i would like to know if there were any updates in this Matter :P BTW I noticed that there are two things discussed here. Vander's potential believes and potential message in  Magma's music. Regarding the second one: Stella Vander said so: "Magma music is apolitical, spiritual and humane" I think this pretty closes the topic of any political meaning of Magma's art.

Guldbamsen wrote: ^Mugabe's Unforseeable Feng Shui

I think you mean Dr Robert Moogabe's Unforseeable Feng Shui

I work with facts! I cannot invent a symphonic prog rock gig where I turned up and the crowd were all rocket fit nymphomaniac black amazons!
I was just reporting on the demographic which I have based on the set of symphonic prog gigs I have been to! And if the demographic of an audience isn't cultural then what is it? I am placing musical taste in the magisterium of culture...if it doesn't fit there where does it fit??

M27Barney wrote: You can get called a Nazi when espousing any views of a cultural nature that can been assumed to have racial undertones! It is a cultural fact that Symphonic Progressive music seems to be appreciated most by white , reasonably educated men. I have only ever seen one black man at symphonic gigs! But I have noticed a significant increase of women attending - but whether they are attending as part of a couple (as I have taken my Mrs to several gigs that I HATED!) or because they actually want to be there is an interesting question! Singleton or groups of wimmin are unlikely to appear at Symph prog gigs it would seem! All this seems to be CULTURAL , and not Racial and would make an ideal thesis subject for a sociology degree I'm certain !!!

It is clearly not a cultural fact that most reasonably educated white men can articulate their ideas in a manner befitting the subject matter at hand e.g. Bulgarian polka music should be banned because it is racially exclusive by dint of it's ethnic source? How many symphonic gigs have you attended where the audience were somehow hoodwinked into believing that their anticipated racially pristine Symphonic prog band were to appear but multi cultural Zeuhl specialists Magma showed up instead? Can you name a racist Prog Rock band?

Does anyone really take the frankly risible spiritual and ecological views of a sexagenarian French hippy musician seriously anyway? (10 pages of posts would suggest otherwise and also that I'm being both racist and ageist) Anyone espousing a world view in otherworldly terms is always worthy of caution methinks. Is singing in your own made up language about emigrating to another planet somehow more deserving of the charge of Nazism than immediate help from the mental health profession?  We have been assailed by the delusional/manipulative beliefs of many basket case cult leaders over the years but we can at least console ourselves that most of them never made Prog albums for consideration by this website.

No...Wait up, most of us appear to take the frankly risible spiritual and ecological views of a sexagenarian English hippy musician seriously (Jon Anderson)




Edited by ExittheLemming - May 01 2014 at 18:50

What is the colour of Symphonic Progressive Rock?
I'd say the colour which takes the longest to dry when applied as an emulsion!

Good point.

Paravion wrote: Here is an extract of an interview with Blasquiz and Vander done in 1977. http://www.danbbs.dk/~m-bohn/magma/interview.htm "Quite often you change the members of Magma, is it difficult to make them stay? Vander: It is wrong to say that we shift our members. They leave the group. We would like to keep our musicians, but we cannot avoid the frequent changes. It has something to do with, that many of the musicians have other goals than Klaus and I. The music is the most important. In that moment a new member is being part of the group, he should be prepared to go in the service of the music. We are a group, not an assembly of single individuals. One is supposed to deliver a united effort. This is something the blacks understand. In the USA they understand this feeling. Booker T & the MG’s understood it. They accompanied Otis Redding. They were really in the service of the music. We have the same goal in Magma. Actually Magma plays black music. Black music is devotional music. It is a spiritual music. The white peoples music, is music of the intelligens. Mostly." [own highlighting]

Forgive me for bringing this up again, but, regardless of whether or not the accusations of Vander being a racist/fascist/whatever are true,  I find this whole "black music is spiritual and white music is intellectual" thing to be outdated and silly. Heck, for white, spiritual music, look no further than Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. For black, intellectual music, I think Miles Davis' stuff is just as much intellectual as it is spiritual.


Edited by KingCrInuYasha - April 29 2014 at 13:02