“An Immigrant’s Story” by Gianfranco Malorgio was written with a possible film version in mind and is based on the dramatic themes involved in people migrating under difficult conditions; it thus honours one of the major events in Italian history. It is stated that over 30 million Italians have left their country since 1861, thereby giving rise to a worldwide population of about 60 to 80 million people of Italian origin. This vast historical scale forms the main background to the piece.
An Immigrant’s Story centres on Malorgio’s use of synthesizers and on Moreno Viglione’s guitar, Viglione also taking charge of the production, mixing and mastering. This arrangement positions the two different elements at the heart of the recording and results in a work designed to convey a dramatic theme relating to migration and displacement. Instead of telling the story through a traditional vocal narrative, “An Immigrant’s Story” tells it by means of the composition itself, with the historical concept of emigration serving as the underlying theme.
The link with film is especially evident in the way the piece was conceived. Malorgio composed ‘An Immigrant’s Story’ with a visual adaptation in mind, since he had recently been working on compositions intended to be synchronized with films, soundtracks and documentaries. This objective assigns the track a specific position in his body of work, representing a meeting of composition and storytelling without the need for a conventional song format. The emphasis continues to be on the dramatic theme of migration and the experiences connected with leaving one’s homeland.
“An Immigrant’s Story” is therefore a tribute to the phenomenon of Italian emigration, employing a synth and guitar composition to deal with this historical experience from a broad human point of view. The subject of the piece extends beyond that of individual migrants to include the millions of Italians who left their country and the generations that came after them abroad. By having Malorgio play the synth and Viglione play the guitar, the work fuses its historical inspiration with a soundtrack-oriented method, thus producing a piece that is specifically linked to the story of migration and hardship.
