Blind migrants in an Italian reception center have made an album that can be read in Braille as part of the Musical Sense project.
A music CD made by blind migrants tells of migration experiences and attempts to transmit courage to follow one's dreams. The CD is printed in Braille and is part of the Musical Sense project. The aim: to produce and promote the first ever music CD for the blind. The initiative is sponsored by Salam and Joe Black Production in collaboration with a reception center for refugees and asylum seekers (Sprar) in Martina Franca, a town in the Italian province Taranto.
Two blind musicians in the spotlight
The protagonists of the Musical Sense project are Nathaniel, a 27-year-old Christian from Liberia, and Ahmad, a 42-year-old Muslim refugee and drummer from Aleppo: two guests of the Martina Franca center that share a passion for music and songs as well as a history of suffering. The album will be printed in Braille and distributed in shops throughout Italy and the rest of the world by Amazon. A digital version will be available through iTunes, Simfy Africa, Spotify and others streaming services.
CD to instill courage
The project was set in motion after the success seen by the musical and cultural experience of Salam Music Stage, which gave four asylum seekers the chance to make their own album and perform at the Taranto Rock Festival, in a bid to raise their visibility and follow a training course adapted to their needs and passions. ''The idea sprung from the desire to offer, for the first time in Italy, the production and distribution of a single in Braille,'' noted the promoters of the project.
The initiative is similar to what ''has recently been tried in the US through Rihanna, and which sparked a great deal of interest and praise from the public''. The project aims to ''give the two beneficiaries of the project the possibility for artistic expression through the making of a music CD and to tell about themselves''.
The story in Braille included in the album will encourage others not to lose hope for a better life and be a source of encouragement, the project promoters hope.