Santino Spinelli
Santino Spinelli , stage name Alexian (born July 21, 1964 in Pietrasanta ) is an Italian musician and composer as well as a university professor . He belongs to the Roma ethnic group .
Life
Spinelli was born as the youngest of six children (including the only boy) of Gennaro and Giulia Spinelli. He first went to school in Lanciano ( Abruzzo ) and graduated with honors from the State Institute for Commerce "P. De Giorgio". He then studied linguistics and literature at the University of Bologna with a thesis on George Borrow and musicology . He is married to Daniela De Rentiis, with whom he has three children: Gennaro, Giulia and Evedise.
Santino Spinelli is an accordion player , singer, composer and, with his group Alexian, conveys Roma culture on concert tours throughout the historical area of the Roma, from Punjab to the French Camargue .
In 2001 he was elected as the only representative of Italy to the parliament of the International Romani Union . He is the founder and president of the Romano Them (World of Roma) cultural organization, which organizes festivals. Spinelli was also a founding member of the International Association of Roma Writers in Helsinki in 2002. Spinelli has held a Chair in Roma Language and Culture at the University of Trieste since 2002 . He is considered the first Roma in Europe to achieve such a high position at a university.
The poem " Auschwitz " written by Spinelli stands on the edge of a fountain that is part of the memorial for the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under National Socialism in Berlin in 2012 : "Sunken face / extinguished eyes / cold lips / silence / a torn heart / without breath / without words / no tears ”.
In October 2018, a memorial to the memory of the Völkermard against the Roma and Sinti was inaugurated in the Parco delle Memorie in the Italian city of Lanciano . Spinelli's poem Auschwitz is also engraved in its foot . Lanciano was the first city in Italy and, after Berlin, the second in Europe to erect a memorial to commemorate the extermination of the Roma and Sinti.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Comune di Lanciano: 75 ° anniversario della Rivolta Lancianese del 5-6 ottobre 1943 , PROGRAM 2018, 01 October 2018
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Spinelli, Santino |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alexian (stage name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian musician and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 21, 1964 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pietrasanta |