"SONGS OF MIGRATION AND LONGING" DRAWS A BIG CROWD

A crowd of 200 people turned out for the “Canti di emigrazione e nostalgia” (“Songs of migration and longing”) event at Casa Italiana on February 5, 2017, among them many AMHS members who were either performers or attendees. The idea for the program came about thanks to Holy Rosary Pastor Father Ezio Marchetto, who personally selected the 16 songs - not an easy task considering he had so many to choose from.

The day was intended to honor the immigrants of the past who left Italy, the land they knew, and came to America in search of a new life. It was a day to remember our parents, grandparents, friends and others who brought with them their faith, culture, language, music, work ethic, and so much more. For sure, there were many immigrant success stories in the room!! Before the musical program began, we enjoyed a delicious lunch of pizza, pasta, meatballs, salad, bread and dessert.

The lunch was a big hit, and it was thanks to the advance planning and hard work of Parish Council members Darlene DiBattista, and Simonetta Baldassari, who were assisted during the event by Parish Council member Bill Leali and his wife Anne Marie During the musical program, before each song was performed, there was a beautiful narration by Silvia Fregni which matched the images projected on a big screen behind the musicians.

Those musicians were Maria Marigliano on keyboards, Sergio Fresco on accordion (both AMHS members) and Oscar Bartoli on guitar. All three also sang, as did Anna Siciliano. They were backed up by the Holy Rosary choir, including AMHS members Carmela Ventresca and Roger McClure. To get the program off to a fast start, Sergio Fresco sang and played “Merica Merica,” on the accordion as images flashed on the screen showing immigrants arriving at Ellis Island during the early 1900s. Next we heard Maria Marigliano sing the famous song of emigration, “Mamma mia, dammi 100 lire,” about a man who asks his mother for money so he can come to America.

The title of this song was used on the beautiful big cakes served for dessert, which spelled out “Mamma mia, dammi cento lire, che in America voglio andar.” Then we heard the haunting “Il Naufragio del Sirio,” which told the sad story of the 1906 shipwreck of the Italian steamship SS Sirio which sank off the coast of Spain resulting in the loss of life of hundreds of immigrants. Among them was the Bishop of Sao Paulo, who was said to have gone down with the ship while blessing the passengers. One of the crowd-pleasers was “Santa Lucia Lontano,” which as sung by Anna Siciliano, drew an enthusiastic round of applause. The song “Miniera” was sung while images on the screen showed scenes of the dangers of migrants working in the mines, as borne out by the Monongahela mining disaster in West Virginia.

As our narrator explained, emigration slowed down in the 1930s as the Fascists did not like the image of Italians having to go abroad to find a better life. The song “La Porti un Bacione a Firenze” was sung in the Florentine dialect by Oscar Bartoli while playing his guitar. Eventually, migration changed from South to North in Italy, from the countryside to the cities. We heard the emotional song “Amara Terra Mia,” by Domenico Modugno (of “Volare” fame).

This poignant song tells of the pain of leaving one’s homeland. Towards the end of the program, Father Ezio called on Simonetta Baldassari to come up and give a tribute to someone in the audience who has done so much for the Italian and Italian-American community for over 50 years, as a radio and TV host who now maintains a website of Italian news and events, who was one of the founders of NIAF and a longtime supporter of the Lido Civic Club, who helps keep the religious traditions of his hometown alive here, and who helped plan the Women’s Museum of the Arts in his other life as an architect. At the end of her remarks, she named AMHS member Pino Cicala and expressed everyone’s thanks for all he has done.

Then a bouquet of flowers, chosen by Darlene DiBattista, was presented to Pino by AMHS vice president Nancy DeSanti. The program ended on a high note as everyone, including the audience, sang the beautiful song “Con Te Partirò’,” made famous by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. We bet there was hardly a dry eye in the house!!