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In the booklet, among drawings of columns, Kobaïan pictograms, and the band's logo, we read: “The music of Magma is like a mirror, where everyone can see a reflection of who he is”.
The music within the album certainly does not contradict this statement: you hear a scream and then a delirium of instruments creating a great racket for the first minute and a half, and then the vocalizations of Köhntark (part one) begin. Then the choruses repeat obsessively between the phrasing of the violin, played by the monstrous and magnificent Didier Lockwood, and the guitar of Gabriel Federow weaves a magical tapestry together with the keyboards of Jean-Pol Asseline, which closes the first half. But above all, he stands out, Christian Vander, the drummer, the leader, the genius. He is the one who invents a language from scratch with grammar and syntax, halfway between the Bergamo dialect and some barbaric language from Northern Europe, perhaps having realized that French is not the ideal language for singing, and that English would be too conformist for the bizarre, very original, and unique style of Magma.
"Hhaï" is the great live celebration of Magma, who have produced one strange and beautiful album after another. We are in 1975, and between the 1st and 5th of June in Paris, this important manifesto of Zeuhl (celestial, in Kobaïan), the prog genre created by Vander, is recorded. "Köhntark (part two)" resumes with the keyboard almost tiptoeing, and then Bernard Pagnotti, with his bass, immediately stands out for the complex melodic lines of his instrument, especially when he speeds up the piece, where you can hear heavy jazz influences. The two vocalists, Stella Vander and Klaus Blasquiz, are heard again with the intertwining of choral parts, starting "Ëmëhntëht-rê", in which the band's rhythm section takes center stage, creating hypnotic and repetitive rhythms.
The second disc (Zünd 2, in Kobaïan) begins with the title-track, "Hhaï", halfway between singing and recitation, with an operatic voice and the usual electric piano, leading into the free jazz / prog of the guitar and violin, and for the first time in the album, we hear the audience applauding. This album is so well recorded that it doesn't even seem like a live performance, and the audience is so absorbed and focused on the challenging listening experience that they remain silent for almost the entire concert. Then comes "Kobah", dubbed the anthem of Magma during the presentation, played like the studio version, fantastic. "Lïhns" is a nice slow piece, with the usual strange choruses. "Da Zeuhl Ŵ ortz Mekanïk" is, in my opinion, the most successful piece live because Vander's drums perform the usual miracles and the melodic part is very appreciable. This colossal live monument ends with another long suite: "mëkanї k zaї n", with its 19 and odd minutes, in which the genius and flair of the French band is brutally exalted. Dramatic tones, deep and sometimes unsettling atmospheres, leave one stunned. And then the speed of the piece is overwhelming and thrilling.
After finishing listening to Zünd 2, in fact, you are exhausted, yet satisfied to have purchased this sublime album. Other artists have tried to do Zeuhl, such as Zao and Dün, but none will equal the great Magma. Because they invented a genre, they made France great in the world of progressive rock, giving it at least a small space, and they played so well live, those magical nights in Paris in 1975. And even though you understand absolutely nothing of the singing, "Hhaï" is a more than worthy testimony of the incandescent flow of Magma that envelops you when you listen to it.
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