Wapassou - Salammbo and Ludwig - Un Roi Pour l'Eternite (1977-78/1994)

Wapassou is one of those hard to classify prog group, not really on the rock side of prog, but it would be a shame not to include it, the same way Art Zoyd or Univers Zero are in the archives. Their music is a mix of classical with meditative (almost hippie) moments and spacey ethereal music. Their line-up is just about as unconventional as there is no drums and bass guitar, concentrating between violin, electric guitars and organs. Sounds intriguing? Well it is.

Their first album is still a rough draft of their music to come, but by 76, they were really settled down with their unique sounds somehow between Popol Vuh, Catharsis, Univers Zero and Opus Avantra. Messe En ré Mineur is a double album, and was quite an artistic success. Understandably so, Wapassou repeated the formula for their next two albums with the same kind of success, those three albums apparently forming a trilogy (which have been re-issued by Musea). They had quite a bit of gigs for a period of three years, which left them quite exhausted by the end of the decade.

The group went on to record one other album on a different label then folded as the decade unfolded into the next one.