Wheelchair Thieves "Band"

The wheelchair thieves are a unique story in Italy, an adventure that has come beyond the thirtieth year of activity which has managed to keep the spirit unchanged that has always animated the band: have fun and entertain by proposing through the music an original point of view on different skills. "The constitution of this band can be considered the Italian musical event of the year "The Scream 1992 “The most unusual and innovative band of Italian music” Il Messaggero 1993 "A rock dragging like an avalanche" Events 1994 "Rock without barriers: here are the wheelchair thieves" L'Unità 1995 History "Those who ride a wheelchair disturb you too ... tell them to stop!" This is the provocative beginning of “Distrofichetto”, the workhorse of the Thieves of wheelchairs, the band made up largely of artists with disabilities who thank you to irony and love for music, they managed to experience diversity as a value and not as a problem. It all began in 1989, when a group of friends forced into wheelchair from a genetic disease, muscular dystrophy, they decided to give birth to a seemingly impossible dream: to form a musical group. One time overcoming the initial difficulties related to the formation, the band through its own songs launched a real challenge to indifference, to clichés and to prejudices by firmly opposing the concept of normality. Like all bands, a few years of apprenticeship and then concerts, records, video clips, television appearances and radio passages, with all the difficulties that any musical group can meet on its way. Accept and overcome your limits, smile ironically on the world and above all to change perspective, transforming fear into courage and discomfort as a resource, in fact, are the ideas heard and translated into music by the band he wants promote a new image of different skills, made up of integration, competence and professionalism. The keywords are lightness from the beginning, optimism and good humor to face in an original and innovative way i problems related to a very debilitating pathology. The number of one thousand total concerts performed in schools, squares, theaters, arenas and stadiums throughout the peninsula and abroad, among them the concerts held on May 1st in Piazza San Giovanni in 1996 and should be mentioned in 2006 in front of hundreds of thousands of people and participation in the concert of the Jubilee of 2000 in Tor Vergata in front of more than a million people and in worldview.
Since the inception of the band there has been an interest from the media that it catapulted the "thieves" on television, radio and local and national newspapers. Guests in the main television broadcasts such as Domenica in, Maurizio Costanzo Show, Unomattina, live life, Roxibar, Telethon, 30 hours for life, I send rai3 and many others. The Thieves were the protagonists of three Rai3 docu-fictions that have had excellent ratings: "Vita da thieves", "Aspiring thieves", "Alexander and his thieves". Concerts in schools have always had great importance for "thieves", multimedia shows composed of music, words and images on themes such as disability, diversity, the environment, work, peace. A commitment that began in 1992 and never interrupted convinced that if you want to change things you have to start by students. The record production is constant, with almost 20 discs active between albums, singles and records recorded for specific projects of both awareness and charity. Also made three video clips for the promotion of the discs " Distrofichetto ”,“ Sparta ”,“ Unstable balance ”and an awareness video against cultural barriers and prejudices entitled "O even no". Thanks to the meeting with the Arcobaleno cooperative of Frascati as a group musical experience has turned into a musical laboratory open to everyone form of physical, mental and psychiatric fragility: musical workshops for involve other children with disabilities to give them the opportunity, through music, to improve oneself musically and socially. The group felt important that the "know-how", painstakingly acquired over the years, was transferred to all those children with physical, mental and psychiatric disabilities who, despite having unexpressed talent or a strong musical interest, they did not the opportunity to concretely manifest it. From these laboratories come the "New thieves" who take turns on stage. Currently it is a multifaceted formation, which varies, evolves and it breaks up by staging not just concerts, but multimedia shows that deal with social and cultural issues not necessarily linked to the world of disability. A light-hearted and engaging repertoire that displaces the audience forcing him or jumping, dancing and singing all together. With the help of the Angelipress communication agency, directed by Dr. Severini Melograni, manage to make a dream come true and open the final evening of the 2017 Sanremo Festival with the song "Stravedo per la vita" together with the orchestra directed by maestro Federico Capranica, getting the ratings highest in that range since 2000. Also thanks to Angelipress they play on the afternoon of May 1st in Piazza San Giovanni in Rome in the concert organized by the unions and they reach the peak of listening for the whole afternoon. The 2017 summer tour sees them as protagonists throughout the peninsula with a series of dates where the musical message of the wheelchair thieves conquers the audience of every age in 2018-19 intense tour in schools throughout Italy financed by CA.RI.P.LO Foundation and BancaIntesa and a long summer tour that began with a date of particular importance: Brussels 16 May 2018 EU- Performing arts and disabilities: the italian way On 16 May in Brussels, in the Yehudi Menuhin room of the European Parliament, the President Antonio Tajani and Vice President David Sassoli present a Italian excellence in the field of integrated artistic expression: I ladri di wheelchairs. There will be the words, images and music of the wheelchair thieves who they will tell their thirty-year history of music and disability characterized since from the beginning with a lot of irony, lightness and good humor. A challenge to the prejudices and clichés that people have always wanted with disabilities, considered second-class citizens and simple users of the activities artistic. An opportunity to tell the goals and the incredible numbers achieved by this original and unique band in the Italian and European panorama. From September 2019 for ten Sundays protagonists of the new broadcast of RAI2 & quot; Or even no & quot; the Sunday morning of which we report the link of
RAI Play
On November 15, 2019 the Thirty Years of Thieves begins with the first dates in Africa, from 16 to 23 November engaged in the Ugandan capital for a series of events invited by the Italian embassy February - June 2020 the second series of the program “or also no ”broadcast on RAI2 on Sunday morning September 2020 - May 2021 3rd season of the "O anche no" program aired on Rai2 on Friday evening and rerun on Sunday morning.

useful links
Official Site
May 1st 2017 party
Telethon 2017
O Anche No (RAI)
Sanremo 2017