Zodiac (russian: link=no, Зодиак, lv, link=no, Zodiaks) was a Lativian

space disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

music band that existed in the 1980s in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, then a part of

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The band was extremely popular in the Soviet Union and has been credited by critics as the Soviet answer to the French band

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

who were popular at the time.

Biography

Zodiac was formed by Jānis Lūsēns, then studying composition at the Latvian State Conservatory in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

(now

Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music ( lv, Jāzepa Vītola Latvijas Mūzikas akadēmija), formerly the Riga Conservatory, is a higher education establishment of music at 1 Barona Street, Riga, Latvia. The junior institute is the Emīls Dār ...

). The other four members of the group were also students of various faculties of the same conservatory. Zodiac's first

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

''Disco Alliance'' (russian: link=no, Диско альянс, lv, link=no, Disko alianse) was released in 1980 on the monopolist

Melodiya Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...

label, during the band members' studentship. The album was produced by Aleksandrs Grīva, the father of band member Zane Grīva. The music featured a lot of then-unusual synthesized sounds and effects together with more conventional

euro disco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is the variety of European forms of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the late 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco ...

elements. The second album ''Music in the Universe'' (russian: link=no, Музыка во Вселенной) released two years later was much inspired by a meeting with cosmonauts in the

Star City, Moscow Star City (russian: Звёздный городо́к, ''Zvyozdny gorodok''The name "Zvyozdny gorodok" literally means "starry townlet".) is a common name of an area in Zvyozdny gorodok, Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been ...

and their tales about space flights. The music of the second album was much more rock-influenced than the first. During that time the band also performed the music of Viktor Vlasov for the films ''Женские радости и печали'' (''Woman's Joys and Sorrows'', 1982) and ''Экипаж машины боевой'' (''The Tank Crew'', 1983), the soundtracks for both films were released on a

''Music from the Films'' (russian: Музыка из кинофильмов) in 1985. The music of the group was also used in the

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the cosmonaut artist

Alexei Leonov Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov. (30 May 1934 – 11 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during th ...

''Звёздная палитра'' (''Star Palette'', 1982). The album ''In memoriam'' was composed and produced by Jānis Lūsēns alone and released in 1989. The album was dedicated to the ancient and modern cultural and natural heritage of Latvia. The sounding of the album turned from disco to light techno/synthpop while gaining a lot of classical music influences as well as the influence of

Jean Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

works. The last album ''Clouds'' was released in 1991 by RiTonis (former

). It contains a hit song of the early 1990s in Latvia "My favourite flowers". ''Disco Alliance'' and ''Music in the Universe'' were released together on compact disc by Mikrofona Ieraksti (which represents

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

). In the early 2000s, the Russian electronic duo PPK recorded a remix of Zodiac's composition "Zodiac" from the ''Disco Alliance'' album. This remix, titled "Reload", entered the charts in a number of territories.

Discography

All the albums are equally known under their Russian and English titles and had both spellings on their original covers. * ''Disco Alliance'' (1980) # Zodiac # Pacific # Provincial Disco # Polo # Mirage # Rock on the Ice # Alliance * ''Music in the Universe'' (1982) # The Mysterious Galaxy # Laser Illumination # Silver Dream # Photo Finish # The Other Side of Heaven # In the Light of Saturn # Flight Over El Dorado * ''Music from the films'' (''Музыка из kинофильмов'', ''Muzyka iz kinofilmov'') (1985) (Russian only) * ''In memoriam'' (1989) (Russian only) # In Memoriam / V Kurzeme (In

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

) # Ostrov Moritsala (Moricsala Island) # V Muzeye Pod Otkrytym Nebom (In the Open Air Museum) # Rundalskiy Dvorets (

Rundāle Palace Rundāle Palace ( lv, Rundāles pils; german: Schloss Ruhental, formerly Ruhenthal or Ruhendahl) is one of the two major baroque palaces built for the Dukes of Courland in what is now Latvia, the other being Jelgava Palace. The palace was built i ...

) # Doma Staroy Rigi (Houses of Old Riga) # Pastorale (bergerette) # Na Gore Zilayskalns (On the Mount Zilaiskalns) * ''Mākoņi (Clouds)'' (1991)Zodiaks — Mākoņi = Clouds
(

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

) (Latvian only) # Pakrēšļa puķes (Twilight Flowers) # Staburags un saules meitiņa (Staburags and the Daughter of the Sun) # Veltījums (Dedication) # Daugava (Daugava River) # Manas mīļākās puķes(My Favourite Flowers) # Mākoņi (Clouds) # Es tevis meklēju (Searching for You) # Rotaļa (A Game) # Bohēmieša dziesma (Bohemian's Song)

Line-up

Since the group rarely performed live every new album had a new line-up except the producer Jānis Lūsēns. ''Disco Alliance'': *

Jānis Lūsēns Zodiac (russian: link=no, Зодиак, lv, link=no, Zodiaks) was a Lativian space disco music band that existed in the 1980s in Latvia, then a part of Soviet Union. The band was extremely popular in the Soviet Union and has been credited by crit ...

–

ARP Omni The ARP Omni was a polyphonic analog synthesizer manufactured by ARP Instruments, Inc. Overview The Omni featured preset, electronically generated Orchestral ensemble String voices including polyphonic Violin and Viola sounds as well as mono ...

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "perf ...

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Zane Grīva –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

s * Andris Sīlis –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Ainārs Ašmanis –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Andris Reinis –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s * Aleksander Grīva –

''Music in the Universe'': *

–

, Yamaha SK-50D,

* Aivars Gudrais –

on tracks 2–4, 6 * Dzintars Sāgens –

on tracks 1, 5, 7 * Ivars Piļka –

* Andris Reinis –

s * Aleksander Grīva –

The line-up on ''Music from the Films'' is unknown, the original CD cover has only the following info: * Viktor Vlasov –

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

* Aleksander Grīva – producing,

sound engineering An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

''In memoriam'': *

–

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Zigfrīds Muktupāvels Zigfrīds is a Latvian masculine given name derived from the Germanic given name Siegfried. People bearing the name Zigfrīds include: *Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics (, Durbe – 22 August 1925, near Tukums) was a Latvia ...

–

s, DDD-1,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

* Dzintars Sāgens –

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

* Guntis Zvirgzdiņš –

Maija Lūsēna Mezdeh ( fa, مزده, also Romanized as Mazdeh; also known as Maija and Mazdābād) is a village in Tarq Rud Rural District, in the Central District of Natanz County, Isfahan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of ...

–

s on track 4 * Normunds Šnē –

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

on track 3 * Aivars Gudrais –

on track 5 * Ivars Piļka –

''Clouds'': *

–

s *

–

s, programming,

* Aivars Gudrais –

* Gatis Gaujenieks –

* Ivars Piļka –

* P. Joksts – cover design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zodiac Latvian electronic music groups Eurodisco groups Latvian rock music groups Soviet rock music groups