Italy – Br. Mario Chiarapini dedicates two musical compositions to the Superior General

Br. Mario Chiarapini, Italian, professor of literature, school principal and music composer, recently presented to the Superior General and his Council, two new musical compositions written especially for their election and as a wish for all the work that awaits them in the coming years of their mandate.

Brother, tell us about the music you composed for the Superior General and his Council…

“Yes, I dedicated the two compositions (Our Lady of the Peripheries and the rap La Salle us) to Brother Armin, Superior General, and his Council, first of all to wish them good work in the spirit of the 46^th General Chapter and the Leavening Project, so that throughout the Institute the dream of responding to the current challenges and embarking on a serious journey of transformation may be realised”.

What inspired you to write the lyrics, how long did it take you to compose them?

“I composed the song Our Lady of the Peripheries almost on the spur of the moment, inspired by reading the Leavening Project, which concludes with a prayer to Our Lady of the Peripheries. The song can be considered a paraphrase of that prayer, an invocation to the Virgin Mary to help us have “the strength to take risks, to go beyond borders”.

Lasallian rap, La Salle us, had a different genesis. I had an initial idea to compose it a couple of years ago, a project, however, that I discarded almost immediately, unhappy with the way it was evolving and structuring, and I binned it. The idea resurfaced two years later, at the end of the General Chapter, which I was fortunate to attend. After having dedicated so many compositions, hymns, motets, Masses and songs, to our Founder, I wanted to offer him something more in keeping with the world of youth. So I delved into the genre of hip-hop music.

The attentive listener will not miss the brief quotation of the first words of the traditional and most famous hymn to the Founder, Honneur à toi, which I have included in the orchestration accompanying the declamation of the quatrains.

The pieces recently composed by Br Mario can be listened to via his youtube channel @mariochiarapini5351, along with all his other compositions, “now, in total, about eighty”, Br Mario reminds us.

Brother Mario Chiarapini, FSC, born in 1948, professor of literature and school principal, is known in Italy as an expert on youth and family problems, as well as a musician. He has taught in various Lasallian schools and, for over twenty years, at the Urbanian Pontifical University. He has some twenty books to his credit, about ten of them with Pauline Books, and others with various publishing companies, as well as hundreds of articles in various journals. He has written on catechesis and youth, parents and teachers, school and social issues. Brother Mario Chiarapini is also known for his music publications with more than 25 personal CDs and many songs scattered in other compilations. Editor-in-chief of the Lasalliani in Italia newsletter since 2011, he is currently principal of the Angelo Braschi School in Grottaferrata (Rome).

In addition to Br Mario’s most recent musical compositions, others can be found on the YouTube channels of the Pauline Media and other record companies with which he has published.