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Making music from migrants’ boats - 28th February 2024

Many migrants have lost their lives at sea. Now, their small wooden boats are being made into musical instruments, in a special project – Metamorphosis. Prisoners in Milan's Opera prison are being trained by expert Enrico Allorto.

Enrico Allorto: "However, when they arrive here they don't, they don't know anything about musical instruments. That's why I've taught them everything here. And this is another reason to be proud, to see that as well as getting unsuitable wood to work, people, without training, can also end up becoming artists, let's say."

According to the UN, 27,870 migrants have drowned since 2014. They were making the difficult journey from Africa in the hope of a better life.

Items which belonged to the migrants can still be found on the boats. They encourage Andrea – a prisoner – to see his own life differently, as his own problems appear easier to solve.

Andrea: "I keep in mind that we receive the boats with everything inside except the people. And when these pieces of reality arrive, which are so important and at times overwhelming, it's normal to reflect on them. And many times you realise that your problems, your miseries, can be much more solvable in relation to how difficult others' are."

The boat project developed around 10 years ago and involves making stringed instruments, like violins and cellos. They've formed the 'Orchestra of the Sea', which gave its first concert at Milan's La Scala.

Producing the instruments carries on the boats' journey, explains prisoner Claudio. The memory of the migrants is kept alive and the prisoners are helped to learn key skills.

Claudio: "The boats will play, then, at the Scala, they will become musical instruments and rosaries. They'll enter people's homes to bear witness, then, to the migrant problem. While we, however, are reborn because we learn a trade, which is important in prison."

Together with another prisoner, Claudio attended the opening performance at La Scala.

Concert goers can see the stringed instruments with their unusual colours. The project's a 'metamorphosis' from the boats' past, but also of the prisoners' future.