the invisible session: echoes of africa

After several years of silence, Schema Records co-founder Luciano Cantone in collaboration with Gianluca Petrella and a new group of musicians, present The Invisible Session's second album Echoes of Africa on the newborn Space Echo label. This new chapter is borne out of Afrobeat, Africa '70s records and Tony Allen's drumming; furthermore, other influences come into play, with melodies centered on Eastern pentatonic scales, as well as funk, Afrobeat, psychedelia, modal and Ethio jazz, plus forays into pop and cinematica. Ancestral melodies intersect and weave, encouraging escape and deeper feelings. Conceptually, Echoes of Africa deals with pacifism, human rights, anti-racism, nature and ecological themes. The impeccable rhythmic execution of the Ethiopian drummer and percussionist Abdissa "Manba" Assefa, the musical and spiritual contribution of the Gambian kora player Aruna "Jalimansa" Kuyateh, as well as the Afro-American Joyce Elaine Yuille, were an inspiration during the recording for other musicians who took part in it, giving rise to a unique emotion and sense of landscape. With the influence of greats such as the vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke and an educational study of Ethiopian music, the composition "Journey To The East" was born, with a melody built on the major Bati Lydian scale -- a pentatonic scale with particular intervals whose influence comes from the Middle East. Ethiopia is also present in "Entoto" and "Breathe the Rhythm" -- two new works written by trombonist and multi-instrumentalist Gianluca Petrella. "Hearing The Call" was conceived and written in 2018 from the inspiration of the poem present in "Children" by Haki R. Madhubuti on the Medasi album called Nation. Mystical effects and percussion attract and hypnotize the listener, while the performance of the poem, written and interpreted by the young African American/Finnish artist Benjamin "Bentality" Paavilainen, floats with relaxed naturalness. The Invisible Session dealt with themes of climate change with "To The Powerful" from the self-titled debut album released on Schema Records in 2006. This track was a prayer of sorts with an Afro-jazz hypnotic groove, addressed to the leaders of the world to preserve Mother Earth, reinforcing the need to keep the right balance of the elements. The new songs "Ideas Can Make the World" and "People All Around The World Can Make It", with their strong Afrobeat/funk personality, are intoxicants, choral aphorisms, reminiscent of American funk bands of the '70s.