Since the early days of March 2018 the video made by Giuseppe Trusso Sfrazzetto for the “Bomb” song - written by the songwriter Giovanni del Grillo - is going viral on Youtube. This video was officially presented at the Theatre “Alba” in Rome on 9th March 2018 and it is still presented in other parts of Italy by its maker. The meeting with the video maker and producer provided much food for thoughts about the current issue of bombing in densely populated areas; L’Osservatorio has been engaged on this issue for years and it recently released the informative video “War in town” regarding civilians’ bombing.
Needless to say that this work was not born at the hands of a single man, but it is the result of a collaboration with the singer-songwriter Giovanni del Grillo and their shared experience, described by Giuseppe Trusso as follow: “Me and Giovanni are old friends and I’ve oftenly used his music and songs in my videos. We are very close and we share the same view regarding the necessity to denounce the atrocities of bombing on defenceless civilians. We shared many experiences, both personally and professionally. Probably the most unforgettable one dates back to more than a year ago, an event that brought to life ‘the Bomb’ song and its video: a volunteering experience with asylum seekers fleeing from conflicts”.
L’Osservatorio – born with the specific objective to bring voice to unheard civilian victims of war – is a centre for listening and confrontation for everyone who wants to report the atrocities committed by the belligerents on civilians and their goods. For this reason, Giuseppe willingly accepted to share his experience with us. Giuseppe and Giovanni’s travel and the video realised for the song represent a mouthpiece for those who are forced to flee from war zones. In particolar, even if Europe was already aware of civilians’ flow fleeing from war areas to seek refuge in the continent, what happened between the summer 2015 and the spring 2016 marked a dramatic change in the route of war victims that across the Balkans leads to Germany. On this route Giovanni and Giuseppe decided to undertake their journey, that Giuseppe describe so:
“I’m talking about a travel undertook between the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, in an European context already afflicted by the migrant emergency. The idea was to retrace back the European side of the route traversed by refugees fleeing from war zones, especially Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan, across Greece and Serbia. We wanted to work with organisations independent from the government and the NGOs.
We started our journey from Rome in the end of 2016 towards Belgrade, where we stayed for a little more than a week. The conditions of asylum seekers were dramatic in Belgrade. Around 3 thousands refugees, most of whom youths, were living in three big hovel, which had to be demolished, in the middle of the city centre nearby the rail station. Thanks to the Internet social net we got in touch with volunteers of Hot Food Idomeni, with them we managed to prepare and distribute an hot meal a day for the refugees. We also cooperated with Refugee Aid Serbia for the distribution of clothes and blankets in an almost stealthy way. From Belgrade we moved to Salonicco for few days and then to Athens, where we stayed for around 20 days. In the Greek capital city we decided to work in completely different contexts. We showed up at the Hotel City Plaza, a place run by refugees, Greek activists and volunteers from all over the world. I started to work in the kitchen and Giovanni chose to dedicate his time to the shifts in the reorganisation of the depot and for the distribution of clothes and toys coming from the donations. We also presented ourselves at the Salvation Army and, together with their volunteers, we used to bring hot tea, food and medicines to the refugees living on the street on Wednesday and Saturday evening”.
As always highlighted by L’Osservatorio, establishing a direct contact with the tragic and unspeakable situation of civilians fleeing from wars causes great distress in the witness’ heart. The song and its video arose from this impact and they took shape during the way back from this travel. “Giovanni wrote The Bomb during the spring of the same year, while I was busy to process almost 200 gigabyte of videos, video-interviews and various suggestions collected during the travel, which ought to be part of “The path of Salim” (provisional title); a reportage of our experience. Unfortunately, we’ve never seen its realisation because thieves burled my house and they stole the stored material for the reportage. Better thieves than a bomb, right? Obviously. Nothing is worse than a bomb falling from the sky which blows away not only your things and projects but also your family and loved ones.”
