“We know that we have a large number of good musicians and composers in almost all of our Provinces. Who are they? Where do they come from? What kind of music do they compose? What are their Salesian songs? How do we form the Salesian Network of Don Bosco Composers? How do we catalogue these songs and make them available on the internet?" These were the questions that guided the birth of this new direction, Fr Gildasio Mendes explained.
The meeting also saw the involvement of Fr Ricardo Campoli, Latin America Reference person in the Social Communication Sector, and Fr Juan Pablo Abreu, Coordinator of the Arts for the Americas.
Also present were Fr Denis Dutra from the Province of Brazil-Belo Horizonte; Fr João Carlos Ribeiro from the Province of Brazil-Recife; Antonio Junior (Toninho), the Province of Brazil-Manaus; Vinicius Martins, the Province of Brazil-San Paolo, SP; Deacon Gutielles, the Province of Brazil-Belo Horizonte; Flavio Renato Santos, the Province of Brazil-Campo Grande, and José Assunção.
The list of guests also included: Matheus Salles, Fr Osmar Padovan, Fr José Sávio Mariano, Fr Thiago Eliomar, Rafael Valente, Fr Osmar Bezutti, Fr Geraldo Lisboa and Fr Daniel Neri.
During the meeting, the General Councillor for Social Communication recalled that Don Bosco himself was a musician and used music to educate and evangelise, and also commented that, in the digital world, music is the greatest force.
Then each composer introduced himself and briefly showed his musical work. Comments from members of the Social Communication Sector and suggestions for next steps were followed.
It was also decided to create a WhatsApp group among the various people involved, for exchange, sharing and realisation of a second meeting involving other composers.
Finally, the General Councillor for Social Communication concluded: "We shared good ideas and concrete projects for the future in this meeting. Later, we will organise a meeting of composers from each Region, so as to have an organised list of all the composers by the end of 2023 and know and make known their works, thus giving visibility to Salesian music in the Congregation."
