Brian Eno: over an hour of unreleased music for sick children
A gift to try to lift the soul and spirit of those in difficulty. An hour of unreleased music to accompany and support children hospitalized in intensive care and cardiac surgery at the Giannina Gaslini Institute in Genoa. A gesture of solidarity that comes from one of the greatest composers in the history of music. Brian Eno, 76 years oldin his career he did not limit himself to creating “the sound spaces”that is, ethereal and elusive compositions, but he was also the precursor of true musical eras, teaching entire generations and indelibly transforming the language of sound, not only electronic, of the last thirty years.
Talking Heads, Devo, Ultravox, U2, David Bowie are just some of the big names with whom he has collaborated as a producer. His dream compositions will now contribute to the project “Music therapy and integrated disciplines to support hospitalized children”, created in 2021 by Davide Ferrari, president of Echo Art and supported by the “Con i Bambini” Foundation as part of the Fund to combat child educational poverty. The initiative entitled “Music for Intensive care and Surgery Rooms” involved the great composer to complement the music therapy work at the Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Gaslini hospital in Genoa, directed by Dr. Andrea Moscatelli.
“I managed to involve Eno because I have been in contact with his family for some time – said Davide Ferrari, president of Echo Art – here in Genoa, in fact, years ago we hosted his brother Roger's concert on the occasion of the Mediterranean Music Festival. For our activity, Eno created environments and soundscapes with suspended music, long instrumental notes, dilated spaces and neutral universes, not characterized by sounds or melodies referring to specific musical genres and without points of reference for the listener, along the lines of ambient music of which the British artist is a skilled and inimitable pioneer”. The music will be played in the spaces where the children are hospitalized or at specific moments as foreseen by the music therapy project. The latter is also considered to all intents and purposes to be a useful tool for non-pharmacological sedation in pre-anesthesia before major surgical interventions. “The musical sound stimulus is capable of activating multiple distinct brain areas, music can bring countless benefits to human beings, both spiritual and physical. Brian Eno's work is an important contribution to the Irccs Gaslini Music Therapy project which for over three years, integrating complementary disciplines to child therapy, it allows us to provide support and relief to hospitalized children and their families, improving the therapeutic response of our young patients”, declared Renato Botti, general director of Gaslini.
The musical compositions can be performed in various hospital departments, including operating rooms. “The interventions are based on the proposal of music aimed at reducing levels of stress, anxiety and fearto regulate the autonomic system and to promote recovery – continued Ferrari – these beneficial effects have already been demonstrated by numerous studies in the last decade”. The donated music cannot be disclosed, per contract. And this is an important point to underline: they are only and exclusively for hospitalized children and their families.
