MACCARI OPERATION continues. Francesco Lotoro's video appeal

Thanking you for the support that many of you have given us since the end of last June, when we first told you about it on Facebook, we are once again relaunching the MACCARI OPERATION, that is the FUNDRAISING for the restoration of 10 sealing wax discs from the Zonderwater military prison camp; among them is the one containing "𝐋'𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐢 𝐒𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢", an original composition by 𝐑𝐀𝐎𝐔𝐋 𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐈 whose restoration is essential to be able to obtain the written musical score, the original manuscript having been lost. With this 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 the master 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐨 briefly illustrates the MACCARI OPERATION and asks for your support. In the video and at the bottom of the page you will find the indications to support it.

After long and delicate negotiations, a few months ago the Foundation managed to acquire the 10 78 rpm Shellac records containing the phonographic recordings made by prisoners of war musicians interned during the Second World War at Camp Zonderwater (South Africa) . Zonderwater (43 km from Pretoria) was the largest military prisoner of war camp built by the British during the Second World War; between 1941 and 1947, it housed over 100,000 Italian soldiers captured by the Allies on the fronts of East Africa, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Italian Libya. They were transferred by ship from Suez to Durban and first sent to the transit camp in Pietermaritzburg.

The Zonderwater complex, under the command of Colonel Hendrik Frederik Prinsloo, was a true urban settlement with a 30 km road network and consisting of 14 blocks structured into 4 camps, each housing 2,000 prisoners. The camp had language schools, middle schools, and technical-professional schools, libraries, canteens, churches, a cinema, a radio station, and an official camp newspaper. Craft and sports activities were also carried out, and a 3,000-bed hospital was even set up.

Zonderwater's musical and theatrical activity was of the highest caliber, employing musicians, actors, singers, theatrical dressmaking, and makeup. Seventeen theaters were set up in barracks equipped with spacious stages; a symphony orchestra of 86 musicians and a brass band of 65 instrumentalists were formed. Thanks to the extensive historical material collected by Emilio Coccia (curator of the Zonderwater Museum in Pretoria), the thesis of Donato Somma of the University of Witwatersrand, and Elisa Longarato, head of the Zonderwater Association, we learn that Marshal Giuseppe Filippi wrote "Inno del prigioniero di guerra" (Hymn of the Prisoner of War) (lyrics by Antonio Forleo), and in 1942 Carlo Alberto Scoppetta wrote "Canto del prigioniero di guerra" (photo) and "Amor di sogno" for voice and piano (lyrics by Mario Gazzini). Prisoner-of-war composers such as Salvatore Giammello, Amleto Greco, Aldo Buttiglione, Michele Mineo, Filippo Cristofori, and Salvatore Caruso wrote piano, vocal, and chamber works, songs, religious pieces, and opera arrangements (some scores were rearranged for orchestra from memory), operettas, and Italian-language adaptations of American or British plays.

In Zonderwater, Vittorio Longarato built a banjo-mandolin with a wooden frame made from a Campo bench, the upper part of the soundboard made from rabbit skin, and four double strings made from metal wires taken from motorcycle brake cables. Among the musicians, the names of the Palermo baritone Gregorio Fiasconaro (father of the sprinter and middle-distance runner Marcello Fiasconaro), the Roman sergeant, violinist, and composer RAOUL MACCARI , the pianist DAVIO ALMANGANO from Pavia, and the violinist corporal COSIMO (known as Mino) MARTUCCI from Lecce stand out.

In 1946, after the war and awaiting repatriation, Martucci, Almangano, and other Italian musicians interned at Zonderwater recorded a vast repertoire for piano, piano and violin, guitar, and other instruments at a sort of recording studio set up by the British authorities just outside the camp. Among the recorded pieces (arrangements of pieces by Chopin, McDowell, and others) stands out a piece marked "composed in captivity," namely "L'Assedio dei Sogni," for piano, written by Raoul Maccari and recorded by Almangano.

These recordings were released in December 1946 at Gallo Recording Studios in Johannesburg. During the war, Gallo Recording, unable to record in the UK due to obvious logistical constraints, installed the equipment to produce a limited number of discs, primarily test or custom pressings. When Gallo Recording engineer John Hecdt died in the 1960s, the records were part of his extensive music collection, which he passed on to his son. These unique copies of the Zonderwater recordings were sold at auction in the 1990s , and the collection was purchased by Rob Allingham, founder of Recordiana , joining his extensive collection of South African recordings, housed in Johannesburg. It was from Recordiana that the ILMC Foundation had the opportunity to acquire them.

Although requiring specialized equipment for digitization and remastering, the Zonderwater discs are in good condition except for one, the most important of the entire collection: due to an accident during transport to another location for packing, the 78 rpm record containing the recording of "L'Assedio dei Sogni" broke on an external point and also has a deep scratch. The missing piece has been recovered, and the disc will be entrusted to a technician in Bari for repair; the goal is not only to reconstruct the disc in its entirety but also to reconstruct the (lost) score from the audio, as we successfully did months ago for the two Pyral discs of Maurice Soret's symphonic poem "Rêve de France" (Operation Soret, successfully concluded).

For the repair of the aforementioned disc WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT, given that the ILMC Foundation has already covered the costs of purchasing the 10 discs; as with Operation Soret, we place immense trust in you; even the smallest contribution will be more than useful. Thank you. ---- TO SUPPORT THE MACCARI OPERATIO via wire transfer made out to: Istituto di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria BANK: INTESA SanPaolo BRANCH: 55000 - Fil Accentrata Terzo Settore IBAN: IT94 Y030 6909 6061 0000 0103 682 SWIFT CODE: BCITITMM REASON: Operazione Maccari

Or you can send it to the address: Istituto di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria In this case, please send it by registered envelope to: Istituto di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria Via V. Marone 38/C - 76121 Barletta (BT) - Italy

Or you can donate to the Fondazione by clicking on the following link: https://www.fondazioneilmc.it/sostienici REASON (optional): Operazione Maccari

The ILMC Foundation will issue a regular receipt.

For any problem you can write to: info@fondazioneilmc.it or call/send a Whatsapp message to +39 347 7517282