From the artists
We were born in the Italian region called Emilia, between the fertile plain of the river Po and the Apennine mountains. In this area, rural culture has deep roots and it was part of our experience as children. Both the emancipation of working class women and the partisan Resistance in World War II have an important place in local history. Some years ago we introduced reinterpretations of folk songs into our contemporary music projects, especially the ones sung by choirs of female rice field workers, called Mondine or Mondariso. Their songs tell a story of hard, poorly paid work, their loves, the hypocrisy of society, protests, war, the challenge of working far from home, the violence of oppression and the need for political awareness. Our exploration of the sound and style of this repertoire became a game of reinvention and transformation, with our voices and instruments as additional polyphonic elements to amplify and enhance vocal or structural aspects. In our music the songs emerge through sounds far from this tradition, rooted in our experience in contemporary musical experimentation, alternating dissonances with melodic impulses, noises with impalpable harmonic textures. Touched by the evocative power of these female voices and the strength of their life experience, we sketched an emotional territory where our relationship with the geographical and historical coordinates of Emilia resonates with other sounds, other places. This work owes much to a special woman, Giovanna Marini, who since the 1960s has studied, interpreted and promoted the Italian folk music heritage. Her voice and music have shown us different ways of keeping this tradition alive and preventing it from dying out or remaining imprisoned in sound libraries. She has not only rediscovered and reinterpreted folk music: her research has led her to incorporate the style and themes of folk singing into new compositions. Her example is a great inspiration for us.
– Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker
Lyrics and Translations
Country cloud
Music by Silvia Tarozzi
and Deborah Walker
La lega
First female proletarian struggle song. It has been part of the Mondine repertoire since the early twentieth century. Version and original recording of the Coro delle Mondine di Bentivoglio, multi-track remix and arrangement by Silvia Tarozzi.
Sebben che siamo donne
paura non abbiamo
per amor dei nostri figli
per amor dei nostri figli
sebben che siamo donne
paura non abbiamo
per amor dei nostri figli
in lega ci mettiamo
Oilì oilì oilà e la lega crescerà
e noialtri lavoratori, e noialtri lavoratori
Oilì oilì oilà e la lega crescerà
e noialtri lavoratori vogliam la libertà
Sebben che siamo donne
Paura non abbiamo
abbiam delle belle buone lingue
abbiam delle belle buone lingue
sebben che siamo donne
paura non abbiamo
abbiam delle belle buone lingue
difenderci sappiamo
Oilì oilì oilà e la lega crescerà
e noialtri lavoratori, e noialtri lavoratori
Oilì oilì oilà e la lega crescerà
e noialtri lavoratori vogliam la libertà
Voialtri signoroni
che avete tanto orgoglio
abbassate la superbia
abbassate la superbia
voialtri signoroni
che avete tanto orgoglio
abbassate la superbia
e aprite il portafoglio
Oilì oilì oilà e la lega crescerà
e noialtri lavoratori, e noialtri lavoratori
Oilì oilì oilà e la lega crescerà
e noialtri lavoratori vogliam la libertà
Although we are women,
We are not afraid
For the sake of our children
For the sake of our children
Although we are women,
We are not afraid
For the sake of our children
We put ourselves in league
Oili oili oilà and the league will grow
And we workers, and we workers
Oilì oilì olià and the league will grow
And we workers want freedom
Although we are women,
We are not afraid
We have beautiful good tongues
And well we defend ourselves
Oilì oilì ...
And you rich gentlemen
That you are so proud of yourself
Lower your pride
And open your wallet
Oili oili oilà and the league will grow
And we workers, and we workers
Oili oili oilà and the league will grow
And we workers we want freedom
Courtesy of the Coro delle mondine di Bentivoglio (IT)
Pietà l’è morta
The lyrics were composed by the partisan Nuto Revelli in the Spring of 1944 on the melody of Sul Ponte di Perati, an air of military tradition sung by the Alpine troops. Version of the Mondine di Bentivoglio.
Lassù sulla montagna
bandiera nera
è morto un partigiano nel far la guerra [...]
Up there on the mountain
a black flag
a partisan died in doing war […]
Parziale
Music by Silvia Tarozzi
and Deborah Walker
Il bersagliere ha cento penne
A song of the Resistance based on a melody of military tradition. Version of the Mondine di Bentivoglio. The Arma dei Bersaglieri is an historical corps of the Italian army wearing a hat decorated with grouse feathers.
Il bersagliere ha cento penne
e l‘alpino ne ha una sola,
il partigiano ne ha nessuna
e sta sui monti a guerreggiar.
Là sui monti vien giù la neve,
la tormenta dell‘inverno,
ma se venisse anche l‘inferno
il partigiano riman lassù.
Quando viene la notte scura
tutti dormono alla pieve,
ma camminando sopra la neve
il partigiano scende in azion.
Quando poi ferito cade
non piangetelo dentro al cuore,
perchè se libero un uomo muore
non importa di morir.
The Bersagliere has a hundred feathers
and the Alpine has only one,
the partisan has none
and stands in the mountains to fight.
There on the mountains the snow comes down,
the storm of Winter,
but if hell came too
the partisan stayed up there.
When the dark night comes
everyone sleeps in the little church,
but, walking on the snow,
the partisan goes into action.
Then when injured he falls
do not cry it in your heart,
because if free a man dies
what does it matter to die.
Meccanica primitiva
Music by Silvia Tarozzi
and Deborah Walker
Dondina
Sung calls improvised from distances between shepherd girls in fields and pastures, in the tradition of the Apennines (canto a distesa), sung by Maria Grillini.
La campéna ed San Simòn
Nursery rhyme in dialect sung by grandmother Anna, a tradition of the province of Modena and Bologna.
Ignoranti senza scuole
Song written by the Vercelli trade unionist Pietro Besate in 1951, on the occasion of a congress of “Noi donne”, a women‘s weekly of the PCI, first feminist newspaper in Italy, press organ of the Union of Italian Women (UDI). Version of Giovanna Marini Vocal Quatuor.
Ignoranti senza scuole
calpestate dal padron
eravam la plebe della Terra
ma in risaia come in prigion.
E ci hanno detto
ma questa vita
la dovrete sempre far
e i padroni ci son sempre stati
e per sempre dovranno star.
Ma un bel giorno
abbiam risposto
voi siete i servi dei padron
e se lottiamo avremo più giustizia
più diritto di pane e di lavor.
Ma i padroni hanno armi
di menzogna e corruzion
hanno i giornali il cinema e la radio
che difende i diritti dei padron.
Ma “Noi donne” è un gran faro
che ci illumina il cammin
e per noi donne è un’arma di progresso
di giustizia per tutte noi mondin.
Ignorants without schools
trampled by the master
we were the plebs of the earth
but in the paddy field as in prison.
And they told us
but this life
you will always have to live
And the masters have always been there
and will always have to be.
But one fine day
we answered
you are the master‘s servants
and if we fight we will have more justice,
more right to bread and work.
But the masters have weapons
of lies and corruption
the newspapers, the cinema, the radio
that defend their profits.
But “Noi donne“ is a great beacon
that illuminates the path for us
and for us women it is a weapon of progress
and justice for all of us mondine.
Fa la nana
Traditional lullaby from Monghidoro sung by Maria Grillini.
Fa la nâna la mî cuchètta
che la mâma véggna da Mèssa
che l papà véggna dal marchè
con un sumarìn pr al mèn.
Don, din don, nanin.
Fa la nâna, fâla pûr
andén tótt a lèt èi bûr
con la lómm senza èi stupin
dôrum dôrum, fa i nanin.
Don, din don, nanin.
…la me mâma l‘è qué ch‘la crida.
Don, don din don, don din don, din don, nanìn.
Sleep my little sweet heart since mom comes back from mass,
since dad comes back from the market with a little donkey in his hands.
Don, don din don, don di don, din don, sleep.
Sleep, sleep, let‘s all go to bed in the dark, with the lamp without the wick, go to sleep.
Don, don din don […]
[…] my mom is here screaming.
Don, don din don […]
Tita
Tongue twisters and Emilian dialect rhymes - nursery rhymes and “conte” of the Apennines and the Po valley sung by grandmothers Anna and Lina. Multi-track remix by Silvia Tarozzi and Deborah Walker.
