Aksak Maboul -

Aksak Maboul (or Aqsak Maboul) was an avant-garde Belgian group that made the 1977–79 albums Onze Danses pour Combattre la Migraine and Un Peu de l’âme des Bandits. Musician Marc Hollander headed the project with revolving door UK/Continental talent, including members of Placebo, Cos, and Henry Cow.

Members: Marc Hollander (clarinet, drum machine, percussion, alto saxophone, xylophone, mandolin, flute, darabukka, Farfisa, keyboards), Vincent Kenis (accordion, guitar, bass, Fender Rhodes, percussion), Chris Joris (percussion, keyboards, saxophone), Marc Moulin (keyboards, 1977), Frank Wuyts (keyboards, piano, synthesizer, devices, recorder, percussion), Denis Van Hecke (electric cello, vocals, guitar), Catherine Jauniaux (vocals), Michel Berckmans (bassoon, oboe), Fred Frith (bass, guitar, violin, viola), Chris Cutler (percussion, drums, radio)

Background

Aksak Maboul (Arabic for “I’m cruel to you, Mabel”) was formed in 1977 by multi-instrumentalists Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis, fresh off their involvement with Cos.

Hollander came from a varied musical background with a reverence for works in jazz (Eric Dolphy – Out to Lunch), electronic (François Bayle – Jeîta Ou Murmure des Eaux), minimalism (Terry Riley – A Rainbow In Curved Air), modern classical (Igor Stravinsky – L’Histoire du Soldat), and avant-rock (Frank Zappa – Uncle Meat).

He viewed Pink Floyd‘s 1967 debut album Pipe at the Gates of Dawn (particularly the epic instrumental “Interstellar Overdrive”) as the nexus of modern jazz (John Coltrane), Eastern music (Ravi Shankar), and the psychedelic rock innovations of The Byrds (“Eight Miles High”) and the Yardbirds (“Happenings Ten Years Time Ago”). His most recent inspiration was the 1975 Slapp Happy/Henry Cow album Desperate Straights, which Hollander viewed as a synthesis of Zappa, 20th century classical, and the cabaret songs of Bert Brecht and Kurt Weill.^>

In 1976, Hollander deputized keyboardist Charles Loos on Viva Boma, the second album by Cos, which hired Kenis for the cover art (credited as Vincent Van Vogt). Concurrently, Hollander played in a 24-piece ensemble that staged four performances of Riley’s 1964 composition In C, rendered in hybrid rock/classical/electronic form.

Onze Danses pour Combattre la Migraine

Aksak Maboul released their first album, Onze Danses pour Combattre la Migraine (Eleven Dances to Fight Migraine), in 1977 on Kamikaze, the short-lived indie label of Viva Boma producer Marc Moulin.

Marc Hollander (whose name appears before Aksak Maboul on most issues) plays mandolin and various keyboards (organ, piano, Fender Rhodes), woodwinds (saxophone, clarinet, flute), and percussion (darbuka, dumbeg, xylophone, rhythm box, cymbals). Vincent Kenis plays accordion, piano, bass, guitar, and slide.

Onze Danses features four auxiliary instrumentalists and four guest vocalists, including avant-garde singer Catherine Jauniaux, who debuts on “Mastoul Alakefak.”

The album presents seventeen concise pieces that fuse European folk idioms, avant-jazz phrasing, minimalism, and early electronic textures. It alternates between miniature instrumentals and ensemble performances with voice, mixing acoustic chamber instrumentation and primitive drum programming. The material reflects Marc Hollander’s collage-based compositional method, where Farfisa organ and clarinet frame whimsical, often cinematic sketches that blend humor, abstraction, and a fascination with non-Western modes.

Several pieces play like thematic suites or short-form experiments. The first side moves from short mechanical vignettes (“Mercredi Matin,” “Saure Gurke”) to chamber-folk hybrids with voice and accordion (“Milano Per Caso,” “Chanter Est Sain”) and percussive dance figures (“Son of L’Idiot,” “Cuic Steppe”). Side two contrasts electronic satire and jazz quotation—the group reshapes Duke Ellington’s “The Mooche” into an ironic mini-study—and closes with the expansive “Mastoul Alakefak,” whose deep keyboard layers and saxophone lines evoke modal trance, before the brief coda “Comme On A Dit.”

A1.1 “Mercredi Matin” [Wednesday Morning] (0:22)
A1.2 “(Mit 1) Saure Gurke (Aus 1 Urwald Gelockt)” [Sour Pickle (Lured from the Jungle)] (2:25)
A2 “Animaux Velpeau” [Bandaged Animals] (0:34)
A3.1 “Milano Per Caso” [Milan by Chance] (3:18)
A3.2 “Fausto Coppi Arrive!” (1:08)
A3.3 “Chanter Est Sain” [Singing Is Healthy] (3:09)
A4 “Son of L’Idiot” (3:20)
A5 “DBB (Double Bind Baby)” (3:25)
A6 “Cuic Steppe” (4:20)
A7 “Tous Les Trucs Qu’il Y A Là Dehors” [All the Things Out There] (1:55)

B1.1 “Ciobane” [Shepherds] (0:21)
B1.2 “The Mooche” (1:35) — originated as a 1928 side by Duke Ellington; Aksak Maboul reinterpret it as a fractured organ and drum-program collage with parodic swing inflections.
B1.3 “Vapona, Not Glue” (6:40)
B1.4 “Glympz” (4:49)
B2 “Three Epileptic Folk Dances” (2:16)
B3 “Autre Chose D’Autre” [Something Else of Something Else] (0:45)
B4 “Mastoul Alakefak” (5:00)
B5 “Comme On A Dit” [As We Said] (1:15)

Sessions took place in April-May 1977 at the Villa Hortense, a Hoeilaart mansion used by Les Lundis D’Hortense, the musical collective behind Charles Loos’s concurrent project, Abraxis. Hollander and Kenis co-produced the album with Moulin, who issued Onze Danses as the first of four Kamikaze titles (KAM 1), followed by the Honeymoon Killers (Special Manubre!) and a Fred Van Hove/Cel Overberghe collaborative disc.

Onze Danses appeared in a black-and-white cover with illustrations by Hollander (front: a pen sketch of hillside musical vagabonds) and Kenis (back), whose leg-twist dance doodle (“doin’ the Vapona”) accompanies studio pics, credits, liner notes, and Edwardian bath-and-care illustrations.

Rock In Opposition

In late 1977, Hollander attended a Henry Cow concert and introduced himself backstage, where he handed a copy of Onze Danses to drummer Chris Cutler. Shortly after, Cutler wrote Hollander a letter of praise for the album. They formed a cross-channel alliance based on “outside music” principles and the recognition of innovations beyond the Anglosphere.

Henry Cow organized an event dubbed Rock In Opposition (RIO), a March 12, 1978, concert at the New London Theatre with acts from Belgium (Univers Zero), France (Etron Fou Leloublan), Italy (Stormy Six), and Sweden (Samla Mammas Manna). Months later, the groups established an official RIO charter and inducted Aksak Maboul along with the Art Bears (a Cow spinoff) and Art Zoyd (a French chamber quartet). In 1979, Stormy Six organized a second RIO concert event in Milan.

Meanwhile, Vincent Kenis stepped away from Aksak Maboul. In 1979, Hollander recorded a second album with Cutler and his Cow/Art Bears bandmate, guitarist Fred Frith. In return, Hollander played saxophone and clarinet on Gravity, Frith’s 1980 second solo album.

Un Peu de l’âme des Bandits

Aksak Maboul released its second album, Un Peu de l’âme des Bandits (A Little Bit of the Soul of the Bandits), in January 1980 on Atem/Crammed.

The album marks a shift from the whimsical, studio-assembled format of Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine to a denser, performance-driven work that aligns more squarely with the Rock in Opposition (RIO) aesthetic.

Founder and keyboardist Marc Hollander fronts a new six-piece lineup with cellist Denis Van Hecke, drummer Chris Cutler (Henry Cow), guitarist–bassist–violinist Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Art Bears), reedist Michel Berckmans (Univers Zero), vocalist Catherine Jauniaux, and pianist Frank Wuyts. The ensemble’s interplay yields an angular blend of chamber instrumentation, tape collage, freeform electronics, and rhythmic irregularity, fusing European modernism with global folk and post-punk textures.

Hollander wrote three pieces and co-composed two others with Wuyts, who also contributed to arrangements with Van Hecke, Berckmans, Frith, Cutler, and Jauniaux. Additional writing includes one Frith original (“Geistige Nacht”) and a traditional adaptation (“I Viaggi Formano La Gioventù”). “Palmiers en Pots” incorporates melodic material by French accordionist André Verchuren.

The opening “A Modern Lesson” deconstructs the Bo Diddley rhythm through layers of woodwind dissonance and spliced percussion beneath Jauniaux’s cut-up vocals. “Palmiers en Pots” follows as a surreal tango assembled from fragments of multiple dance themes. “Geistige Nacht” contrasts free jazz reed figures and cello glissandi with Frith’s elastic bass and feedbacked guitar. “I Viaggi Formano La Gioventù” merges Eastern Mediterranean modalities with goblet drum and wordless soprano lines, while “Inoculating Rabies” compresses punk urgency and chamber counterpoint into less than two minutes.

The 23-minute suite “Cinema,” divided into four parts (“Ba Ce Qu’on Peut Voir Avec un Bon Microscope,” “Alluvions,” “Azinou Crapules,” “Age Route Brra! [Radio Sofia]”), unites these strands in extended episodes of improvisation, percussive dialogue, and serialist formality, evolving from abstraction to tightly scored ensemble passages.

A1. “A Modern Lesson” (4:58) — splices a Bo Diddley motif with tape edits, reed interjections, and choral fragments.
A2. “Palmiers en Pots” [Potted Palms] (3:24) — constructed from tango fragments; co-credited to André Verchuren.
A3. “Geistige Nacht” [Spiritual Night] (5:18) — a Fred Frith composition with shifting time signatures and solo exchanges between reeds and guitar.
A4. “I Viaggi Formano La Gioventù” [Travels Form Youth] (5:09) — a traditional melody reworked with electric cello, goblet drum, and soprano sax.
A5. “Inoculating Rabies” (1:47) — a compressed post-punk interlude with percussive cello and dual clarinets.

B. “Cinema” (22:45)
Ba. “Ba Ce Qu’on Peut Voir Avec un Bon Microscope” [What You Can See With a Good Microscope]
Bb. “Alluvions” [Alluviums]
Bc. “Azinou Crapules” [Azinou Scoundrels]
Bd. “Age Route Brra! (Radio Sofia)” [Age Route Brra! (Radio Sofia)] — multi-part suite combining minimalism, free improvisation, and chamber rock.

Sessions occurred at Sunrise Studio in Kirchberg, Switzerland, with Etienne Conod as recording engineer and co-mixer alongside the band and Frith.

Un Peu de l’âme des Bandits features cover art by Dutch painter Pat Andrea, depicting surrealist human figures in disarray, reflecting the album’s fractured, theatrical soundworld.

Hollander self-released Un Peu de l’âme des Bandits with the label moniker “Crammed,” which didn’t exist at the time. The album gained distribution on Atem, which also handled early titles by Ubivers Zero (1313), Art Zoyd (Génération sans Futur), electronic musician Jean-Baptiste Barriere, the UZ spinoff Present (Triskaidékaphobie), and English post-punks This Heat, a spinoff of Phil Manzanera‘s Quiet Sun.

Postlude

Month after Un Peu de l’âme des Bandits, Hollander launched Crammed Discs as a proper label with albums by post-punks Family Fodder and the Belgian chamber group Julverne.

Hollander joined the Honeymoon Killers for their 1981 second album Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel.

Discography: