Music is being used as tool to fight the exploitation of migrants in Italian fields with the Orchestra dei Braccianti. The project by the Terra! association involves musicians, farmers and migrants from different countries.
''Fighting 'caporalato' with music'' is the aim of the Orchestra dei Braccianti, a project of the Terra! association that brings together musicians, farmers and migrants from different countries that all have links with the world of agriculture.
'Caporalato' is a form of labor under middlemen and farmers who take advantage of migrants' often vulnerable situation. The orchestra has 18 members so far from Italy, France, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Libya, Tunisia, India and the US. However, it plans to grow by involving ''Italian and foreign musicians, especially those in extreme vulnerability and isolation in informal settlements,'' Terra! said.
An orchestra to give voice to victims of 'caporalato'
In the week of the 61st anniversary of the death of Italian union leader Giuseppe Di Vittorio, the Orchestra dei Braccianti will officially be presented to the public on November 9 at the Teatro Mercadante in Cerignola, with two free performances: at 10:30 a.m. for middle and high schoolers and at 8:30 p.m. ''With the Orchestra dei Braccianti,'' the Terra! association said, ''we want to give a voice to those suffering the social impact of an unfair system, to those living in ghettoes, and to those fighting for the rights of those working the land.''
Migrants as protagonists of the orchestra
Joshua Ojomon, a 25-year-old Nigerian who sings and plays the keyboard in the orchestra, began to sing and write songs from a very young age. He arrived in Italy in 2017 after crossing Libya, and said that ''life has not been easy for me. I have white skin and I thought I was different. Here I want to study and set up a music school.For now I am picking grapes and melons. We are trying to put our lives in order.''
Ndongo, a Gambian who sings and plays the drums, arrived in 2016. ''They welcomed me in the asylum-seeker reception centre of Borgo Mezzanone,'' he said, ''but once that period was over, I moved into the nearby ghetto.'' In his native country he used to play traditional music with his friends, a passion shared by other members of his family. ''My mother was a musician and has always been my inspiration, even now that she isn't here any longer. Music outlives everything.''