Rome, Berlin, Bologna, Seville and Ghent: these are the cities involved in our new project of integration through music, on the sound routes. 'The sound routes' project, which started at the end of 2016, is based on the desire to have a say on the European situation around the so-called 'refugee crisis', starting with an analysis of the conflicting feelings that have generated a widespread feeling of insecurity and intolerance on the one hand, and an active solidarity movement on the other.
We believe in freedom of movement, as well as in the fact that migrants, refugees, asylum seekers are first and foremost people with rights, often denied. And that they come to Europe with a rich and diverse set of skills.
Among them, many are artistsə or musiciansə. We got to know them and would like to get to know others, trying to foster not only their integration, but also and above all a confrontation with music and culture enthusiasts in our territories, building equal and listening-centred relationships.
This gave rise to the idea of creating a partnership with realities similar to our own, which we hope will make possible a real interaction of social actors, be they European artists, audiences attentive to musical novelties and experimentation, migrants and refugees living in Europe for some time or who have just arrived, and civil society organisations working in the field of music and reception.
The project will take place in Rome with Un Ponte Per, in Bologna with the popular music school 'Ivan Illich, Bologna in music', in Seville with the association Marmaduke, in Berlin with Werkstatt del Kulturen and in Ghent, Belgium, with Vzw De Vergunning.
Three activities are planned:
- House Concerts: an experimental form, but already known in Italy, of organising acoustic concerts by musicians of different levels - in this case migrants and refugees - in private homes. A system that valorises an alternative use of everyday space and the potential of informality in integration.
- Jam sessions: designed as further moments of exchange on the musical terrain and interaction between migrant and local artistsə, but in more formal venues open to a more classical audience.
- Musical co-production: the creation of an ad hoc musical group with two launch events. In Bologna, as part of the Bologna Jazz festival, and in Berlin.
This will be accompanied by the creation of a web platform that will function both as the project website and as a space for promoting the musical productions of local and migrant artistsə involved.
A documentary will then be made that will narrate this journey, with the aim of recording the cultural and emotional exchange that takes place through music, focusing on the stories of those who have arrived in Europe.
Finally, a guide will explain how to hold and organise house concerts, how to evaluate the results, and the possibility of counting this unprecedented form of cultural exchange and appreciation and sharing of differences as best practice.
