Growing Up with a Disability.
Federico Martello.
To listen to Federico Martello’s work, please use the following links:
Federico Martello – Non Esiste Il Destino (Official Video)
Federico Martello is an Italian singer, author and composer. His voice is described as a barytenor, and the voiceprint is a fusion of the studies of opera, soul and jazz improvisation (Academy of Opera – Diapason Academy in Siena – course of modern singing and jazz improvisation – Vocal Classes Academy in Milan.
Federico was born in Partinico (Palermo) – Italy – 1st June 1982. Since he was a child he showed a marked and natural sense for music and singing. Despite his motor disability since he was born, he continues with this passion for music and develops his talent, chasing and pursuing its goals, thanks in part to his tenacity and strength of will, both to aid and support of his family. After finishing his studies, Federico began working in Palermo, then he moved to Siena where he attended the University, worked and at the same time attended the Academy of Music Diapason, studying singing and modern jazz improvisation with the teacher Clara Cosci. He took part as well in some concerts organized by the Academy and some musical entertainment in Chianti.
In 2005 Federico was admitted at Vocal Classes of Luca Jurman in Milan, practicing vocal and breathing techniques (RPA). Federico voice is described as a barytenor.
His voiceprint is a perfect fusion of the studies of opera, soul and jazz improvisation.
I will not say that growing up with a disability is easy or beautiful, because that would be a lie, first to myself and then to you.
It all happened during childbirth, a lack of oxygen and the inefficiency of some health workers have created permanent damage, called spastic quadriparesis. I lived a lot of my childhood in my mother’s lap because I couldn’t sit up, but as a stubborn woman from Southern Italy took me every day to do physiotherapy and I began to take my first steps under the gaze of the people who observed me in a strange way as if I were a freak of nature.
Many times my mother said to me: “come on, let’s go for a walk”.
I cried as often as I could because I was ashamed of people’s eyes which intimidated me.
She said: “Today they look at you, tomorrow they will smile at you”.
One of my mother’s greatest teachings.
But for a young boy who faces life having to challenge his own fears and not being able to do what other friends did, it was not so easy. I saw my schoolmates play football, run and go for long walks whilst I was forced to spend my long afternoons in endless physiotherapy sessions.
At the age of 10, my father gifted me an electronic piano and I discovered my passion for music. I enjoyed playing at family parties as it was something that made me feel good within myself and that distracted me from dark thoughts. During a feast in my hometown, there was the concert by the singer Alex Baroni (who died prematurely) and I was carried away telling everyone “I want to sing like him”.
I started going to singing lessons and from that very moment I understood that that was my vocation; it was something that gave me energy, that gave me physical and mental well-being and when I sang in public people began to look at me with different eyes as the emotion I transmitted to them, they were no longer for my uncertain and difficult walking.
It was almost a form of redemption after years of suffering, a way of saying “I am this too”.
I attended several singing academies perfecting myself, studying a lot, and in the meantime worked full time because state subsidies certainly do not allow you to live in a dignified way; especially in light of the fact that I wanted to live alone and build a life away from the protective wing of my family – I wanted to be autonomous and independent.
At the age of 20, I realised this project of mine by moving to Milan.
Since then, I have participated in an infinite series of festivals and contests.
I have many won prestigious awards, but one day whilst watching Italian television I began to wonder why I didn’t see any singers with a disability.
Even those few events I attended that were broadcasted on TV, the directors cut the footage of me walking on the stage, instead optioning to show me already in front of the microphone as if my disability were something to hide!
I began to ask myself why?
I started to apply for various talent shows including X Factor, Got Talent, The Voice and when attending casting, whilst the producers were delighted by my voice and my skill, my disability was a problem…
I did, for years, a lot of castings and about 8 years ago a producer said to me, without much hesitation, “we don’t want to do pitying on television”.
It was like receiving a punch in the stomach; a mortifying and ignoble phrase that left me dumbfounded and I left that casting angry, disappointed, bewildered.
At that moment I said to myself “never again in Italy!”.
Television is in the hands of unprepared and unsuitable people who hold high positions.
Here I say it with anger and pain. From the time of the late Pierangelo Bertoli and Luciano Tajoli that a singer with a motor disability did not appear on television (and not because there are none, regardless of me).
For Italian television, we did not exist.
It is time for television to emerge from this obscurantism and extreme ignorance which contributes to the exclusion of disabled people. They need to show us and NOT hide us as if we did not exist.
Television, much like music, is a great tool of communication. it is therefore desirable that it becomes a means of inclusion, of bringing the masses closer to the weakest.
I started a long career abroad in 2010 and I did concerts in the United States, Russia, Gibraltar, Spain, Poland, Siberia and wherever I went I left my mark, I was appreciated for my talents, for my gift and not judged by my disability which worsened following a serious injury in 2012 that has forced me to move in a wheelchair most of the time.
Indeed my disability was considered an added ‘value’ and the public saw me an example of strength and hope.
Abroad.
Until my manager a few months ago decided – on his own volition – to send my application to All Together Now Italy with a video of a show broadcasted by the first Russian channel and seen by more than 60 million viewers. Two hours later I received the call to participate in the first casting and a few days later I was called back and invited to attend a casting in front of the director of the show who said to me “I don’t see a man in a wheelchair, I listen to an excellent singer who has a lot to give to Italy”.
I experienced this in Italy with the awareness that there are many, besides my family and friends, who really believe not only in my abilities but who places a sincere trust in my possibilities and it was the best gratification I could receive after my participation in All Together Now.
A somewhat unexpected thing happened.
One judge on the programme remarked that she wouldn’t vote for me because I was in a wheelchair; that I could have ‘moved’ the ‘older male’ judges but not her. Russian viewers asked for the judge to be removed from the show and I had the utmost solidarity from the audience on this matter.
I wanted to be evaluated for how I sang and not because I was in a wheelchair.
Even the Russian television channel used my performance as promotion on their social networks, reaching about 3 million views, becoming one of the 10 most viewed videos of Russia1 (the second Russian TV channel). In this response, I often think that a sociological study on the behaviours of viewers would have been interesting.
I attended the same show in Italy; the Italian programme has given significant space to my disability (perhaps because it has been many years since there has been a disabled singer on television), and yet the viewers were divided between those who loved me immediately and those who concluded that I was on television only because of my wheelchair.
In Russia, it may seem strange that television programs provide space to deserving disabled singers for many years, and in this respect, I found the viewers were very used to our presence. As assessment is – and should – only made solely on skills (in my case singing) and not on disability.
My conclusion is that the less space given to disability in showbiz, the more the viewers’ will face difficulties in accepting disability as normal.
The possibility to normalise our presence also on TV shows and to make it clear that no one can say “you can do it that, you cannot do it this”, because today there are people with disabilities who, for example, drive F1 cars, who ski, who play football, etc.
I firmly believe, always, that artists (and I characterise myself as such in my own small way) have a moral duty to convey positive messages, tolerance, help, support, smile, of patience, of human love and I am very happy that today in Italy I am called “the singer who has broken-down prejudices”; “the singer who has broken down barriers”.
There is still a lot to do, but as I often say, you have to start somewhere!