{{distinguish|Space music|Kosmische Musik}} {{Short description|Music genre}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Zeuhl | stylistic_origins = {{Hlist|Jazz fusion<ref name="Wagner2010"/>|symphonic rock<ref name="Wagner2010"/>|neoclassical<ref name="Wagner2010"/>}} | cultural_origins = Late 1960s - early 1970s France | other_names = Celestial music }}
'''Zeuhl''' (pronounced [zœl]; {{lit|celestial}}) is a music genre that is a hybrid of jazz fusion, symphonic rock and neoclassical music, established in 1969 by the French band Magma.<ref name="Wagner2010">{{cite book|author=Jeff Wagner|title=Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZwZcZ2X5ToC&pg=PA242|year=2010|publisher=Bazillion Points Books|isbn=978-0-9796163-3-4|page=242}}</ref> The term comes from Kobaïan,<ref name=Stump>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2324/?pageno=3 |title=Different Drummer: Magma – interview with Christian Vander, page 3 |work=The Wire |author=Paul Stump |date=July 1995 |access-date=2009-10-16 |archive-date=2011-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604202033/http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2324/?pageno=3 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the fictional language created by Magma's Christian Vander and Klaus Blasquiz for Magma, in which ''Zeuhl Ẁortz'' means approximately {{gloss|celestial force}}.<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/6250004/Magma-interview-for-Celestial-Mass.html |title=Magma interview for Celestial Mass |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |first=Peter |last=Culshaw |date=1 October 2009 |access-date=2009-10-16}}</ref><ref name=Stump />
== Characteristics == The musical roots of zeuhl go back to pioneers of the free jazz movement such as John Coltrane and folkloristic echoes and influences from Carl Orff's work.
Zeuhl is determined by several characteristic elements. Especially important are dominant rhythm fractions, usually in the form of a pumping bass guitar and sometimes sluggish or flexibly playing drum kits. Slow repetitive structures that serve to build a hypnotic atmosphere are just as prominent as solo passages of high technical finesse. Vocals are often widely present and can consist of polyphonic choral movements, such as Carl Orff's ''Carmina Burana'', or soloistically performed passages with shrill intonation. Zeuhl bands also often have solo guitarists or pianists that usually have a more than accompanying function, especially to emphasize the repetitive patterns.
Dominique Leone, writing for ''Pitchfork'', says the style is "about what you'd expect an alien rock opera to sound like: massed, chanted choral motifs, martial, repetitive percussion, sudden bursts of explosive improv and just as unexpected lapses into eerie, minimalist trance-rock." Christian Vander has said that it means celestial<ref name=Stump /> and that "Zeuhl music means vibratory music"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bigtakeover.com/interviews/immersing-oneself-in-magma-a-christian-vander-interview|title=Immersing oneself in Magma: a Christian Vander interview|first=Allan|last=MacInnis|date=30 March 2015|work=The Big Takeover|access-date=17 May 2018}}</ref> and that zeuhl is "''L'esprit au travers de la matière"'' (The spirit through matter). "That is Zeuhl. Zeuhl is also the sound which you can feel vibrating in your belly. Pronounce the word Zeuhl very slowly, and stress the letter ''z'' at the beginning, and you will feel your body vibrating."<ref name=marching>{{cite magazine|url=http://robert.guillerault.free.fr/magma/textes/2000/progress.htm|title=Marching to the beat of a very different drummer|author=John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg |date=Winter–Spring 2000|work=Progression |issue=34|access-date=17 May 2018}}</ref>
== Reception == Originally applied solely to the music of Magma, the term "zeuhl" was eventually used to describe the similar music produced by French bands beginning in the 1970s.<ref name=Anderton-p417>{{cite journal |last=Anderston |first=Chris|title=A many-headed beast: progressive rock as European meta-genre |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=417–435 |jstor=40926943|doi=10.1017/S0261143010000450|journal=Popular Music|volume=29|issue=10|date=2010|s2cid=145065519 }}</ref> In addition to Magma, bands who are associated with the term include: Happy Family,<ref name=quietus>{{cite web|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/24011-wonderous-stories-prog-book-jerry-ewing-extract-interview|title=Ye Gods: The Twenty Greatest Prog Rock Record Sleeves|work=The Quietus|date=11 February 2018 |access-date=2018-05-17}}</ref> Kōenji Hyakkei,<ref>{{cite web|title=Koenji-Hyakkei: NIVRAYM Album Review|work=Pitchfork|first=Dominique|last=Leone|date=11 March 2002|access-date=2018-05-17|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4504-nivraym/}}</ref> and Ruins<ref>{{cite web|title=Japanese noise-rock|first=Leonard|last=Pirce|date=14 January 2010|url=https://www.avclub.com/japanese-noise-rock-1798218808|website=The A.V. Club|access-date=2018-05-17}}</ref> from Japan, and French band Zao.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rockthebestmusic.com/2015/04/imprescindibles-prog-cos.html|title=Los Imprescindibles del Progresivo, Parte III: Cos - Viva Boma|date=14 April 2015|author=Laurent Berger|publisher=Rock the Best Music|language=es|access-date=2018-05-17}}</ref>
=== Some major representatives ===
'''French bands:''' * Art Zoyd * Dün * Eider Stellaire * Eskaton * Magma * Shub-Niggurath * Unit Wail * Weidorje * Zao
'''Japanese bands:''' * Alice Schach & the Magic Orchestra * Bondage Fruit * Daimonji * Happy Family * Kōenji Hyakkei * Lost in the Fog * Ruins * Tokyo Babel
'''Other bands:''' (partly only distantly stylistically related to the Zeuhl) * Guapo (United Kingdom) * Univers Zero (Belgium) * Present (Belgium) * J.A. Seazer (Japan) * Universal Totem Orchestra (Italy) * Corima (United States) * Papangu (Brazil) * Kultivator (Sweden) * Dai Kaht (Finland) * Zamla Mammaz Manna (Sweden), especially their third album, {{ill|Familjesprickor|sv}}
==Literature== * {{cite journal | last = Holm-Hudson | first = Kevin | author-link = | title = Apocalyptic Otherness: Black Music and Extraterrestrial Identity in the Music of Magma | journal = Popular Music and Society | volume = 26 | issue = 4 | pages = 481–495 | publisher = Routledge | location = Abingdon | date = 2003 | language = en | url = https://doi.org/10.1080/0300776032000144931 | issn = 0300-7766 | doi = 10.1080/0300776032000144931 | s2cid = 194078761 | access-date = 11 July 2023| url-access = subscription }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.progarchives.com/subgenre.asp?style=11 Zeuhl - A Progressive Rock Sub-genre] on Prog Archives * [https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/zeuhl-list There is No Prog, Only Zeuhl: A Guide to One of Rock’s Most Imaginative Subgenres] on Bandcamp.com * Peter Thelen (1 November 1995): ''[http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/the-zeuhl-school-the-extended-family-of-magma-3.html The Zeuhl School — The Extended Family of Magma]'' on Exposé Online
{{Rock}} {{Progressive music}}
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Category:Zeuhl Category:Progressive rock Category:French styles of music Zeuhl