Carmina, an unknown zeuhl band - Pt. 2

00:00 Hamra (early version)

15:19 Track 2

55:02 Track 3

1:14:19 Track 4

Olivier BROCHART: keyboards, vocals.

Michel DEUNEUVE: vibraphone, keyboards, percussion, vocals.

Benoit LALLEMANT: vocals, percussion.

Michel RADEL: bass.

Manuel DENIZET: drums.

For those who haven't seen it or don't remember the post, here's a brief introduction to the band with all the available information about them:

Let me introduce you to Carmina, a Zeuhl band from Chaumont, France, known for singing in Latin. There's very little information about this band, and I wanted to recommend it here because it's not in the Zeuhl section, nor has it ever been mentioned on the forum (yes, it's that obscure). The scant information available about this band can be found on the Kohntarkosz Blog. The band opened for Magma a couple of times in 1976, although apparently, their musical direction differed slightly in 1977.

Not very much is known about this band. Very few recordings exist. The drummer, Manuel Denizet, later went on to play with John Greaves of Henry Cow fame. And, according to Canterbury expert Aymeric Leroy, Gisselman was supposed to join National Health. And, from the Ork Alarm article, "Phillippe Gisselman to join Yochk'o Seffer's Neffesh Music. Gisselman then joined Serge Bringolf's Strave and worked with Seffer on John Greaves album 'Accident' in 1982."

This is the concert I shared that time, from May 24, 1977, when they opened for Nico. Here is what seems to be the final version of Hamra.

I wanted to bring this band to your attention so at least some of you can get to know them, as they're unknown even on Progarchives. I thought about putting them in the "Unsigned Bands" section since they don't have official releases, but they're not an active band.

If anyone has information about this band, can contact any member of it, knows someone who might know something about them, or was a member of it, it would be great if you could comment. And if someone can get in touch with the people at Soleil Zeuhl to see if they know anything, that would be great.

I've heard, so far, over 20 minutes of the thing ... the only comment I have is, how it is "slower" than Magma in terms of evolving the themes and continuing. That part is rather nice, actually, and while I would not suggest that sometimes Magma is too fast, they do know, and show it, what they are doing and why and how. I had the thought (I had the thought!!!) that this band was taking it slow, so they could make sure that their material made it as far as they could take it ... 

I can't say this is good or bad. I kinda think of it as a slight copy of Magma, but there are subtle differences that make it stand out as well ... 

I will continue to listen, and will redo this blurb if needed. It's nice stuff, but I have to admit that it did not slpa me awake like Magma did when I first heard it. Maybe I was already well sided with the "style" and the "idea", but I am not sure that this is as strong or valuable as Magma has been with their work.

I wonder if we became enticed by Magma's use of their own language for what they do, which, of course, means that you and I do not really know what is going on, even if Christian Bander gives us a hint or two in the liner notes, or other ways. For me, this is a serious issue for a lot of the zeuhl bands out there, and somehow, formal lyrics do not seem to work as well, probably because we have already heard the original, and everything else is not as strong.