'Very little shocks people nowadays': Zucchero wants a little more compassion

When Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari takes to the stage in Malta, his message of love will also feature a poignant reminder of the sea of death that surrounds us. Kurt Sansone dropped the Italian singer and songwriter some questions ahead of the Malta leg of his Black Cat world tour.

Migration is back in the news in Italy as the country struggles to cope with an influx of mainly Africans escaping Libya.

It is a phenomenon that has over the past four years largely bypassed Malta, and the absence of boat people may have made us numb.

But even as we go about our daily lives, oblivious to those making the sea crossing in search of a new beginning, hundreds are perishing in the sea around us.

It is this state of affairs that Zucchero sings about in the gospel song Hey Lord, which forms part of the Black Cat album released last year.

“Without a name, they return to you,” he sings in a poignant reminder of the coffins that were lined up in Malta in 2015 when the bodies of nameless migrants were brought ashore to be buried in a broadcast televised worldwide.

I asked Zucchero about the grim picture of the “new slaves” – this is how he described the migration phenomenon in an interview last...