It has been out for a few days but it can already be considered a real summer hit. And we are not talking about a song by Fedez or Carl Brave and Noemi or even Elodie. Rather than the song “A Sunday from Chioma” from Elvis Berrocal. Don’t you know it? It is easy to say that she is special, now we will tell you why. If you’ve never been to Quercianella, a fraction of the municipality of Livorno, perhaps it will not be immediately clear to you what location it is. But suffice it to say that, resting on the coast north of the well-known locality of Castiglioncello, this hamlet exists and, in particular, here is the Small port of Chioma, a bathing establishment that in the evening becomes a place for the summer nightlife. And this is where our story starts.
Who is the young artist, Elvis Berrocal
Elvis Berrocal is a big boy from 1997, Peruvian, that is arrived in Italy when he was years old 7. His mother and siblings were already in our country, but when he arrived, “She proved to have major behavioral problems, which ranged from isolation to social withdrawal to mutacisimo. Problems that were already manifesting themselves in the family environment ”, explains a Luce! Giovanni Scavone, operator of Anffas Florence that he knows his story well. “For him it has always been difficult to socialize with the boys, he realizes his problems but he is much more skilled than others”. Precisely for these ailments, which were not understood even at home, the boy lived in family home up to 21 years. “Here she was no better. It has been for a long time bullied – continues Scavone – both inside the center and at home. After studying at the Agricultural Institute, he has been in Anffas since 2018 ”. In fact, Berrocal attends the day center of the National Association of families of people with intellectual and / or relational disability. “At the beginning the relational and socialization difficulties were really great, he kept the small hours at home and when he arrived at the Center he would beach himself on the sofa or on the armchairs all day. It should be stimulated to promote his psycho-physical well-being“, Adds the operator, who has found the right trick to make things start to change.
The passion for Ed Sheeran and that meeting, one evening in Quercianella
Few things are as passionate about Elvis as the music of Ed Sheeran. “He likes his songs, he likes the English language. So with the staff of the Center we proposed to him write a song and he accepted, as if he were a game“, Continues Giovanni Scavone. But a song about what? Listening to the songs of the Irish singer-songwriter he immediately jumped to the eye – indeed to the ear – that for the most part they spoke of love for a girl. “Elvis has never been particular interest in girls, of course if I ask him he names me many famous actresses, but when I asked him ‘is there a girl who particularly impressed you?’ told me about an episode dating back to a few years earlier, when he went to the disco at Chioma di Quercianella with a group of boys, and here he saw a young woman who had stuck in his mind, even if, he also specifies in the song seen on the track but ‘it wasn’t love at first sight!’ ”, adds the operator with a smile. Here we found the topic and the title, of course, could only be “A Sunday at Chioma”.
The song and the video: “He never smiled like that”
The video of the song is part of an educational path that the operators have built with Elvis, stimulated by his passion for music. Together they wrote the text and made the film. “He wrote some sentences – Giovanni says -. For compose the text and the music it just took us an afternoon, they came almost alone “. A great help came from an intern and another girl from the center, Adriana, was also part of the choir on the song. “I’ve never seen him smile like that, like when we were shooting the video, all set in our Florentine center. We understand that what he misses most is believe in yourself and others“. A very important milestone, but there was a bit of fear in deciding whether to make it public or not. “It’s hard to get to the well-being that Elvis has achieved but it’s easy to have relapses instead: we were scared to publish, that negative judgments arrived as often happened at home too. For now, however, the only reactions have been all positive ”.
The future in music: “It’s a stage animal”
Il rhythm enters the head and it is impossible not to fall in love with the most explanatory verse of the whole song: “That day in Quercianella how beautiful you were. In the Chioma disco, you sent me into a coma ”followed by the chorus“ How wonderful you are ”. And the wink final is charged with a particular meaning, which smacks of personal fulfillment for a boy who in life has had to face many difficulties, but also of the promise of redemption. A real one hit, in short, welcomed by many enthusiastic comments on social networks and beyond. In fact, Elvis actually is performed live during the social dinner of Anffas Firenze, Thursday 14 July. “Really a stage animal, he wanted to sing it 4 times, it was the catchphrase of the evening “. But the purpose of this incredible work was to encourage his socialization, a goal that can be said to be achieved and now who stops him anymore? “Hhe bought a guitar and is learning to play it. It would be nice if you were passionate about music … Meanwhile we are also thinking about another song, something more winter, we would like to write something about him. Maybe. In the meantime, however, I have impressed his smile on his face, it was amazing“, Giovanni concludes.
The Anffas association
L’Anffas, National Association of Families of Intellectual and Relational Disabled Persons (former National Association of Subnormal Children and Adults Families, hence the acronym that has remained), was born in 1958 with some statutory objectives, such as the prevention of mental handicaps, well-being and the protection of the needs of the mentally impaired and their families. The Association unites today in federation over 200 locationsscattered throughout Italy, with 15,000 members, 13,000 users and 4,000 employees. The birth of the center in Florence is shortly after the national one and dates back to 1959, on the initiative of a group of parents. Since May 1968, its headquarters have been located in via Bolognese, in a very beautiful environment on the hills of Florence, in a series of properties purchased definitively, thanks to the contribution of the partners, two years later. The “mission” of Anffas Firenze is to guarantee people with such disabilities the inalienable right to a free and protected lifeas much as possible independent respecting their dignity.