The Manos Blancas Chorus of Friuli, founded in 2010 by the Nonino Prize in honor of Claudio Abbado and supported by the Nonino Distillatori, is the 1st Manos Blancas chorus born outside from Venezuela.
The story of the Manos Blancas Chorus starts in 1999 in Venezuela by means of Naybeth Garcia and Johnny Gomez, teachers and assistants at the music school of Maestro José Antonio Abreu: theirs is the ides of applying the “El Sistema” method to children affected by cognitive and sensorial deficiencies, introducing it in the National System of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela, created by Maestro José Antonio Abreu 35 years ago.
On January 30th 2010 the Nonino Prize is awarded to the Manos Blancas Chorus of Venezuela, a chorus where children and adolescents suffering all sorts of disabilities, interact integrating with orchestras and choruses of all kinds and levels. It is a miracle coming from “vibrations of the soul that gives: joy and dignity to creatures marked by a different destiny and opens the heart of who listens to them!”
On such occasion the Nonino Family, involved by this “miracle”, creates the Manos Blancas Chorus of Friuli, the first Italian chorus and also the first outside Venezuela.
On June 14th 2010 Giannola, Cristina, Antonella, Elisabetta and Benito Nonino found the Associazione Amici del Coro Manos Blancas del Friuli Onlus (Association of the Friends of the Manos Blancas Chorus of Friuli Onlus), with the clear aim of giving the children of Friuli the same chances of Venezuelan children, involving the greatest number of disabled children, in particular those affected by cognitive, visual and hearing deficiency, with learning difficulties, motor disabilities and autism, with the aim of approaching them to music. This gives birth to a continuous collaboration with Naybeth Garcia and Johnny Gomez with the aim of promoting and spreading their experiences and knowledge in order to encourage them to support the birth of Choruses Manos Blancas in the entire Italian territory.
Until today in Italy three more Choruses Manos Blancas have been established: two in Lombardy and one in Rome and this makes us hope that very soon many more will be born, possibly one in each Region!
The Manos Blancas Chorus of Friuli – with its headquarters at the Association of Parents of the Nostra Famiglia di San Vito al Tagliamento PN in Via della Bontà 7 – avails itself of the indispensable presence of the teachers: Paola Garofalo, Rosanna Danelon and Claudia Bortolussi and it is presided by Mauro Chiarot – the former President of the Association of disabled children of Nostra Famiglia, Vice President Mirian Gutierrez de Sarpe and Honorary Presidents Naybeth Garcia Lopez and Johnny Gomez Torres, in charge of the Venezuelan Manos Blancas project. … “Everybody thinks that to join a chorus you need hearing and voice. But it isn’t true. The children of the Manos Blancas Chorus, which means white hands, have been successful in the educative orchestras of their Country, Venezuela, even if they cannot hear and speak, even if they have motor disabilities or learning difficulties or if they are affected by autism. They have learned music with their heart and, if they have no voice, they sing with their hands wearing white gloves. They express rhythmically any musical piece, describe poetic geographies, and follow the rhythm of vibrations. Their “song of signs” is joy and care, it is their right of expressing themselves, and it is the possibility to take part in other people’s life.”…
“Los Manos Blancas” have conquered their country with the slogan: “we too are Venezuela”.
We are sure that the children of the Chorus “Manos Blancas of Friuli” soon will be able to say: “we too are the World!”
National Associations:
Since 2012 the Manos Blancas Chorus of Friuli is a member of the Comitato Sistema delle Orchestre e dei Cori Giovanili e Infantili d’Italia (Committee System of Youth and Children Choruses of Italy), born in 2010, led by Federculture with the aim of supporting the creation of further realities, of promoting several initiatives, of creating a common relationship with the institutions and, above all, to help the emancipation of children and young people from hardships, offering them a chance of social redemption through the free access to the study of music.
www.manosblancasdelfriuli.it
