In 1978, keyboardist Patrick Gauthier and bassist Bernard Paganotti decided to leave Magma and found their own band, Weidorje. Weidorje means “celestial wheel”. This word appears in Magma’s album “Üdü Wüdü” in the form of a short track composed by Paganotti and Blasquiz.In addition to a guitarist and a drummer, they also recruited a second keyboardist and two horn players to join them in this magnificent project. Their music is quite Zeuhl, featuring throbbing bass, electric piano, and that classic “Zeuhl beat.” However, unlike Magma, the music is not ominous and the vocals are of secondary (perhaps even tertiary) importance. In Weidorje’s selftitled sole album, Paganotti’s all-powerful bass is by far the dominant instrument. He kicks the distortion one level higher than anyone ever dared to in Magma and puts on one hell of an impressive performance. He drives, pounds, and relentlessly assaults your eardrums. The other musicians are in top form as well, though the drummer seems a bit bland, particularly in comparison to Paganotti’s old rhythm-section partner, Christian Vander.The compositions themselves are quite good. The music tends to be more upbeat than (post-1001) Magma, and vocals are used only occasionally. The pieces are, as with most music from the French Zeuhl scene, focused on repeated riffs, grooves, and chord progressions with varying melodies. The music is strictly based on what sounds good; there’s no complexity-for-the-sake-of-it to be found here.In addition to the three tracks from the original LP, this edition features two live bonus tracks of the band performing original compositions which did not make this album. These pieces are actually quite close to the lofty standard set by the songs on the LP. The sound quality is somewhat rough, but the pieces themselves more than make up for it. Line-up / Musicians Bernard Paganotti/bass,vocals Patrick Gauthier/keyboards Michel Ettori/guitar Kirt Rust/drums Alain Guillard/saxophone Yvon Guillard/trumpet,vocals Jean-Phillipe Goude/keyboards Discography Weidorje 1978
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