During the current national strike, the harangue “Duke bye bye bye” has been heard. We retell the story behind the Italian resistance song Bella Ciao.
In this month of national strike, the harangue “Duke chao chao chao” has been heard in the streets, an adaptation of the Bella Ciao * anthem, which goes back to the times of World War II as a chant of resistance by the Italian partisans before the fascism of Benito Mussolini and the invading troops of Adolf Hitler.
There are several versions about the origin of the hymn. In the 1940s, the inhabitants of the Italian province of Modena opposed the Nazi occupation and its rulers separated from the Italian state, then led by Benito Mussolini, who had been in power for around twenty years. Right-wing forces were falling in Europe and this was a trigger for the strengthening of the Italian resistance. Some members of the partisans were Vincenzo Baldazzi, Alberto Di Giacomo, Aldo Eluisi, Rizieri Fantini, Giovanni Callintella, Alfonso Pettinari, Adriano Vanni, Virgilio Antonelli, Gino Lucetti, Romualdo del pope, Ugo Mazzucheilli, Giovanni Domaschi, Dario Cagno, Adelmo Sardini , Lanciotto Ballerini, Gino Manetti. The rebellion spread throughout Italy and from office he was accused of being a communist, suggesting that the resistance was cooperating with the Soviets.
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However, that is not the only story there is about the origin of the song. It has been speculated that Bella Ciao is an adapted version of the klezmer genre, from the musical tradition of Ashkenazi Jews or Eastern European Jews; the similarities can be compared to the song Oi oi di koilen by the Ukrainian accordionist Mishka Ziganoff, which dates from 1919 and it is speculated that this song would reach Europe via migrants.
The other version about the Bella Ciao refers to the Italian working women of the rice fields of the Po river valley, in the 19th century, who, it is supposed, sang: “Ma verrà un giorno che tutte quante / O bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao / Ma verrà un giorno che tutte quante / Lavoreremo in libertà ”, which translates: “ But there will come a day when all of us / O bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao / But there will come a day when all of us / We will work in freedom ”. However, this version was questioned by the historian Cesare Bermani.
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In the sixties, the song returned to the streets of Italy as an anthem of the workers and student protests of that time.
Other versions of Bella Ciao have been made, such as that of the Frenchman Yves Montand or that of the Argentine ska group Argie. The song has been sung in other countries, such as Salvador Allende’s Chile, and currently, within the framework of the national strike, a version against the government of Iván Duque has been adapted.
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* La letra de Bella Ciao translates:
” One morning, I woke up
Dear, goodbye! Dear, goodbye! Darling, bye, bye, bye!
One morning i woke up
And I found the invader
And if I die as a partisan
Dear, goodbye! Dear, goodbye! Darling, bye, bye, bye!
And if I die as a partisan
You must bury me
And bury me high in the mountains
Dear, goodbye! Dear, goodbye! Darling, bye, bye, bye!
And bury me high in the mountains
Under the shade of a beautiful flower
All the people who pass there
Dear, goodbye! Dear, goodbye! Darling, bye, bye, bye!
All the people who pass there
They will tell me: What a beautiful flower!
And this will be the flower of the
Endurance
Dear, goodbye! Dear, goodbye! Darling, bye, bye, bye!
And this will be the flower of resistance that died for freedom
And this will be the flower of the Resistance Who died for freedom. “