About Aksak Maboul

Aksak Maboul were an Avant-prog band from Belgium, founded in 1977 by Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis who were active in the Rock in Opposition movement. They made two studio albums, Onze danses pour combattre la migraine (1977) and Un Peu de L'Ame des Bandits (1980). Aksak Maboul were one of the last of the original RIO bands. In early 1979, Hollander invited Chris Cutler and Fred Frith of the recently defunct group Henry Cow to join Aksak Maboul on their next record. They rehearsed together, performed some concerts and then went to Sunrise Studio in Kirchberg, Switzerland to record their second album, Un Peu de L'Ame des Bandits (French for "A Little of the Bandit Spirit"). This was released in 1980 on Crammed, a new independent record label Hollander had created to release the album. The last recorded work by Aksak Maboul appeared on a 1984 compilation album, Made to Measure Vol. 1, where the original duo of Hollander and Kenis contributed seven tracks of new material composed for a play by Michel Gheude based on the life of Vladimir Mayakovsky. The music here has been described as "minimalist rock" and is very different from their two studio albums.