La Canzone delle Mondine (Bella Ciao)
It seems that politics, especially that gossipy one, when it invades fields that do not belong to it, only combines damage.
Lived now as a football ultras fan, when a party takes possession of a music, it manages to make it a symbol of an array trampling on history, values and traditions.
This monstrosity has thrown itself with violence and I would also add with much ignorance on the popular song “The song of the Mondine” simply called “Bella Ciao”.
This song is among the most famous Italian popular songs and its history is truly fascinating.
His music, by an unknown author, seems to come from a French “carole” of the 1500s.
The “carole” is an ancient dance of several people which was done by holding hands, going round and round with a song.
Often, in the peasant versions, they danced in a circle around a fire.
This music soon crossed the French border and reached Piemeonte and the lower Lombardy in the area of Pavia. Here it became the song of the mondine.
The song of the Mondine then moved throughout northern Italy to Veneto.
The Mondine were those women who kept the rice fields clean by removing harmful weeds by hand.
Being so famous, as often happens with the most popular music, it was used with a different text. During the Second World War, in fact, the partisans changed the text and made it their hymn: it became Bella Ciao.
Today “Bella Ciao” is a song known all over the world. It is still used as a symbol during the many claims for freedom which, unfortunately, are still evoked in the protests.
Nadine & Marcus perform it in two versions.
Video – La Canzone delle Mondine + Bella Ciao –
Un abbraccio/ a big Hug
Marcus Dardi
