Naples – A year of work, two events a week, words written behind bars and transformed into music. Tonight, in the Cortile delle Carrozze of the Royal Palace , the curtain rises on "Portami là fuori," the concert featuring young inmates from the Nisida and Airola Juvenile Detention Centers, participating in a rap workshop that changed their lives.
This is reported by gnewsonline.it, the official portal of the Ministry of Justice: the performance is part of the Campania Teatro Festival program and represents a symbolic and powerful moment. For the first time, these guys will perform in such a prestigious place, bringing on stage unreleased songs, written and recorded during the courses organized by the association “Crisi come Opportunità” (Cco).
On stage, next to them, there will be four artists and trainers who accompanied them along this path: Oyoshe, Shada San, Federico di Napoli and Lucariello – alias of Luca Caiazzo, creator of the initiative and soul of the project of the permanent cultural outposts in juvenile institutions.
“We built the evening so that the professionals couldn’t be distinguished from the kids. For us, they are all artists,” Lucariello explains. “We don’t want to make prison a spectacle, but rather talk about talent, possibility, change.”
It all started in 2008, with “Cappotto di legno”, the anti-Camorra song written with Ezio Bosso. Since then, Lucariello has brought his vision to Italian IPMs: rap workshops, theater courses, creative writing, short film production. Today, these outposts involve seven juvenile institutes, with the support of the Ministry of Justice.
“The kids were thirsty for something real, for a presence,” Lucariello continues. “With Giulia Minoli, founder of Cco, we gave life to these courses. And today they are ready to tell their stories, with the strength of their words and the dignity of their music.”
The rehearsals ended this morning inside the institutes, in the afternoon the transfer to Palazzo Reale. On stage also two well-known faces of the series 'Mare Fuori', Giovanna Sannino and Gaetano Migliaccio, hosts of the evening.
“Tonight the audience will see the real 'Mare Fuori': what happens every day in IPM”, says Giulia Minoli. Among the songs on the setlist, “Song' 'e cchiù” – “I am more than this” – stands out, a declaration of identity, a cry of revenge, a way of saying: “I am not only what I have been”.
A stage, a microphone, a possibility. Tonight Naples will listen to the voice of those who dream of a future outside of prison, but inside music.
I read the article and I find it interesting how these kids are able to express themselves through music. It is important to give them a chance to change, even if there are significant challenges along the way.