Aktuala

Finally repressed on CD, milestone reissue! This reissue is enriched by a booklet with rare and unreleased pictures, plus the bonustrack "Flauti" by Walter maioli... Following the same path as Third Ear Band in England, Embryo or Gruppe Between (and even Limbus 4, Kalacakra and Popol Vuh), Aktuala tried to mix together the western musical tradition with african and asian instruments, rhythms, cultures and avant-garde forms, creating a pioneering new form of music that went beyond anything heard before.
During the early 1970s, most aspiring jazzers on the Continent were chasing the voodoo down, or running the noonward race. The (largely) Italian group Aktuala pursued a fusion of a different sort. Aside from Oregon, Aktuala was one of the first bands to craft a coherent, gimmick-free hybrid of improvisational jazz sensibilities with a pan-cultural approach to ethnic music. Led by multi-instrumentalist / composer Walter Maioli, the band (circa 1974) also included percussionist Trilok Gurtu (who went on to play with John McLaughlin, Oregon and Jan Garbarek, to name a few), saxophonist Daniele Cavallanti, guitarist Attilo Zanchi (both now well-established members of the Italian free jazz scene, w/numerous recordings on the Spla(s)ch label), saxophonist Otto Corrado, guitarist Antonio Cerantola, and harpist Marjon Klok. A violinist (Maurizio Dones) and a cellist (Marino Vismara, from Nadma) guest on one track each. La Terra, the group's second LP, contains four extended instrumental tracks that combine Indian percussion, strains of American jazz and blues, and Mediterranean and North African ethnic musics. From the opening lethargic yet colourful rhythms to the ending cataclysmic, almost symphonic, stints of the closer, this album's got everything a grown person could ever want out of a mystical sounding percussion lead adventure in music.

"this eponymous LP is the first one of this series, made by an 'open musical collective' from milan, a fixed nucleus with many different contributes from guest musicians. As the Third Ear Band have always been inserted in the international prog panorama, the same happened with Aktuala, who were real music pioneers able to blend world, ethnic, jazz and avant-garde music. "Aktuala" was not accidentally released in 1973 on Bla Bla Records, the same record label who had Camisasca, Battiato and Osage Tribe in its roster. Nothing like that had ever been heard in Italy before, and Aktuala were the first ones importing and deeply studying sounds and instruments coming from Asia and Africa." label press