Economics Without The B.S.**:
[** Double entendre intended.]
National Public Radio/NPR's 'Sunday Morning Weekend Edition' had a piece today on the use of the old Italian folk song that is often associated with protest and liberaion.
How the Italian anthem 'Bella Ciao' is connected to Charlie Kirk's killing
BELLA CIAO
by
Victor Volpe
Popular Italian poetry, that is poetry of the people, has always made its way into the musica popolare, that is folk music. Bella Ciao is an excellent example of this. It comes from a genre of poetry called fior di tomba, or grave flower.
Fior di tomba poetry usually depicts unrequited love, alla Romeo and Juliet; and, the flower on the grave comes to symbolize the love lost. Sometimes different flowers are used to portray the type of relationship; e.g., the sweet scent and pretty bloom of a rose plant is contrasted with the thorns. This duality is a common analogy used to represent conflicts inherent in life itself, as depicted in another folk song, Barbara Allen, also having many versions.
Fior di tomba poetry was popular all over Italy; but, the Veneto region has long been a very rich source for many of these poems. The poems, with their analogy, are also depicted in the folk song. Bella Ciao has evolved from this rich heritage.
Bella Ciao comes from the Po River delta in the Veneto region; but, it is a protest song. How did this poem with a fior di tomba theme get transformed into protest? During the Risorgimento (the Italian independence movement of the 1800's) the theme transforms from a flower representing a personal love lost to the fower representing a greater cause, e.g., land reform, protest working conditions, the struggle of the people, etc. The popularity of the catchy verse and the ease of changing the words to fit the cause to be protested have given the tune a life into this century. With many things to protest in Italy during the early part of this century, many versions of the tune sprung up.
It was during World War II that one version of Bella Ciao shifted the theme from political protest to a fight for liberty. The version came out of the resistance of the Italian under-ground, which was over 100,000 strong, and so is often called the partigiano version. Since many in the resistance were members of the Italian Communist Political Party, the song is identified by some as being a communist song. Since folk music serves very handedly to portray popular protest, the Communists used folk music for their own political ambitions during the post-war years and especially during the 1960's and 1970's.
We Americans can see the strength of the partigiano version as portraying the fight for freedom and we remove the political baggage which has accompanied the song. The popularity of Bella Ciao in Italy has found its way in many other countries for the same reasons. There are American variants of the song (in English) which are used to express protest - for Women's rights, justice for workers, etc.
The song was recorded at the Spoleto Festival in 1964, during a presentation of folk music produced by Roberto Leydi and Filippo Crivelli. The record album has been available since under several foreign labels and for the past ten years has been available under Harmonia Mundi
(CD number HMA 195734, Bella
Ciao: Chansons du people en Italie).
It's a wonderful recording with many old tunes.
I hope you enjoy the tune. If you are in a performing group, try the tune out. It goes over very well for sing-a-long, for all ages, especially for young children. The "O Bella Ciao" chant in each verse (accompanied with hand clapping on the ciao) is quite easy to pick up regardless of your ability in Italian or musical talents.
BELLA CIAO [GOODBYE BEAUTIFUL]
(FIOR DI TOMBA)
[GRAVE FLOWER]
Bella Ciao - Chansons du Peuple en Italie
(Italian folk songs). "Padano di Piadena"
