Zodiac (, ) was a Latvian

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 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

band active in the

Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation and annexation of Latvia began between J ...

between 1980 and 1992. The band was extremely popular in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and has been credited by critics as the Soviet answer to the French band

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

who were popular at the time.

Biography

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

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

(now

Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (), formerly the Riga Conservatory, is a higher music conservatory in Riga, Latvia. The junior institute is the Emīls Dārziņš Music School. History The Latvian Conservatory of Music was founded in ...

). 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 a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

''Disco Alliance'' (, ) was released in 1980 on the monopolist

Melodiya Melodiya () is a Russian 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 of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya" in accordance wi ...

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 a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco compositions featur ...

elements. The second album ''Music in the Universe'' () released two years later was much inspired by a meeting with cosmonauts in the Star City, Moscow 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'' () in 1985. The music of the group was also used in the

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about the cosmonaut artist

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

''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, accompan ...

's ambient 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 (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

in the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

). 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. In 2016, the band appeared on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

show on Russian Channel One, performing "Pacific".

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 кинофильмов'', ''Muzyka iz kinofilmov'') (1985) (Russian only) * ''In Memoriam'' (1989) (Russian only) # In Memoriam / V Kurzeme (In

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

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

Rundāle Palace Rundāle Palace (; ) 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 in two periods, from 1736 until 1740 and from 1764 until 1768. It is situated ...

) # 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. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

) (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 –

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 mon ...

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

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 ...

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 stat ...

* Zane Grīva –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

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 producti ...

s * Andris Sīlis –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Ainārs Ašmanis –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* 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 ...

s * Aleksander Grīva –

''Music in the Universe'': * Jānis Lūsēns –

, 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 ...

* Aleksander Grīva – producing, sound engineering ''In Memoriam'': * Jānis Lūsēns –

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

* Zigfrīds Muktupāvels –

s, DDD-1,

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

* Dzintars Sāgens –

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

* Guntis Zvirgzdiņš –

* Maija Lūsēna –

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 type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

on track 3 * Aivars Gudrais –

on track 5 * Ivars Piļka – sound engineering ''Clouds'': * Jānis Lūsēns –

* Maija Lūsēna –

s * Zigfrīds Muktupāvels –

s, programming,

* Aivars Gudrais –

* Gatis Gaujenieks – sound engineering * Ivars Piļka – sound engineering * P. Joksts – cover design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zodiac Latvian electronic music groups Eurodisco groups Latvian rock music groups Soviet rock music groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Russian-language musical groups from Latvia