Photo courtesy by Massimo De Rosa
Prison Songbook was born out of a 1920s and 1950s prison blues research based on recordings made in American prison institutions by the Lomax and Oster ethnomusicologists, who brought out many incarcerated bluesmen who became known as Leadbelly or Bukka White or Robert Pete Williams. In other cases these recordings are a musical testament of artists who then disapperaed into thin air. As you can easily imagine the artistic and social aspects in this case touch and intertwine with the long and incomplete journey of integration of the African American people into American society.
The issue has highlighted the delicate relationship between art and human rights and the value of music as a personal and historical ransom.
It's an important project that repositions "blues" in a high cultural context.
It is proposed in guitar and voice mode by Sara Piolanti, one of the most interesting singers in Forlì, Italy (collaborations with Caravane De Ville, Modena City Ramblers, Marta Sui Tubi, Vince Vallicelli, etc) and Marco Vignazia on guitar.
http://www.marcovignaziablues.com/prison-songbook/