It all started almost by chance, between a corridor of the Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino and a conversation in a bar. A message, an exchange on WhatsApp between fellow musicians. In a few hours, an idea has transformed into a national movement that unites artists and citizens under a single slogan: “Music against silence”.
The aim is to oppose with the force of art the silence that – according to the organizers – surrounds the genocide of the Palestinian people and tonight at 6:30 pm at the Parco della Musica there will be a concert to shout dissent to the world.
In this mobilization, music becomes an instrument of civil resistance and a symbol of solidarity. Professionals and amateurs, orchestras and soloists, choir members and percussionists, are uniting from all over Italy to play together against indifference.
The repertoire will be free but full of meaning: from Palestinian folk songs to excerpts from Mozart's Requiem - a tribute to the victims -, up to "Bella Ciao", a hymn to resistance. Each square will be able to choose how to decline participation, but the message will be the same: break the silence, denounce the inaction of the institutions, demand rights and dignity.
Although the initiative claims to be non-partisan, the political dimension is not lacking, in the deepest sense of the term: that which concerns the polis, civil conscience, the courage to take a stand.
Florence is the city where the initiative started. It is from here that the project exploded, gathering support at a rapid pace. The first event was last Saturday in Piazza Santa Maria Novella and on the same day demonstrations will also be held in Palermo, Turin and Cagliari, and then spread to Genoa, Bologna, Rome, Milan and other cities: from Naples to Bolzano, from Sassari to Trento.
In the Sardinian capital , the organization is entrusted to Eleonora Grasso, while the central committee in Florence includes names such as Alice Parente, Clarice Curradi, Mattia Petrilli, Antonia Fino, Andrea Tiddi and Jorg Winkler.
