This is more a song for 25 April than to be discussed as we approach 25 December, but nevertheless, here goes. Few songs are better known than the song Bella Ciao, best known as a marching song by the Partisans. A recent film Bella Ciao – Song of Rebellion traced the “obscure origins” of the song. The directors talk about the film here. You can hear the song here. The lyrics are:
Una mattina mi sono svegliato, [I woke up one morning]
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
Una mattina mi sono svegliato,
e ho trovato l’invasor. [and I found the invader]
O partigiano, portami via, [Oh partisan, take me away]
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
O partigiano, portami via,
ché mi sento di morir. [because I feel near to death]
E se io muoio da partigiano, [and if I die as a partisan]
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E se io muoio da partigiano,
tu mi devi seppellir. [you must bury me]
E seppellire lassù in montagna, [bury me up in the mountains]
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E seppellire lassù in montagna,
sotto l’ombra di un bel fior. [under the shadow of a flower]
Tutte le genti ché passeranno, [all the people who will pass]
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
Tutte le genti che passeranno,
Mi diranno «Che bel fior!» [will say to me – what a lovely flower]
«È questo il fiore del partigiano»,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
«È questo il fiore del partigiano, morto per la libertà! [this was the flower of the partisan, who died for freedom]
Much less attention is given in the film to the fact that the song was previously a work song sung by the mondine: seasonal rice workers in Italy’s Po Valley. Bizarrely, in the interview above, one of the directors says she ‘thinks’ this was before World War 2. In fact, the mondine worked from the late 1800 to the first half of the 1900s. Women of the poorest social classes came from Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy and Piedmont. You can still see the fields if you take a train from Paris to Milan. The workers, all female, were required to work long hours, in poor conditions, for low pay, supervised by men. A series of strikes led to 8 hour working days in 1906 and 1909. A 1949 film Riso Amaro was set among the workers. The song is clearly the origin of the Partisan song and you can hear it here, sung by the Italian singer Milva. The lyrics are:
Alla mattina appena alzata [in the morning, as soon as I am up]
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao, ciao, ciao
alla mattina appena alzata
in risaia mi tocca andar. [I must go to the paddy field]
E fra gli insetti e le zanzare [among the insects and the mosquitoes]
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
e fra gli insetti e le zanzare
un dur lavoro mi tocca far. [tough work befalls me]
Il capo in piedi col suo bastone [the boss with his stick]
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
il capo in piedi col suo bastone
e noi curve a lavorar. [bends us to work]
O mamma mia o che tormento [mother, what torment]
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
o mamma mia o che tormento
io t’invoco ogni doman. [I call on you every day]
Ed ogni ora che qui passiamo [and every hour that we pass]
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
ed ogni ora che qui passiamo
noi perdiam la gioventù. [we lose our youth]
Ma verrà un giorno che tutte quante [there will come a day that all of us]
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
ma verrà un giorno che tutte quante
lavoreremo in libertà [will work in freedom]
The song recording the resistance and fight of the female rice workers is to my mind every bit as important a history as its version in the anti-fascist fight. Thanks to Edda Bertani for reminding me that resistance takes many forms.
Londonlawcalling 