The album of the day: Il Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano, “Bella ciao”

The New Italian Songbook
Bella ciao (Cd Bravo/Alabianca BR128553735-2)

The adventure of Dischi Del Sole, the legendary independent label that documented popular music in the 60s and 70s
Italy, without any concession to the market, was hidden for a long time under the Milan of drinking, the hedonism of the 80s and the regurgitations of the disengaged reflux.
Like a burning and inextinguishable ember, his explosive expressive force has continued to burn despite everything and recently, thanks to the rediscovery of the popular repertoire by many young people, numerous titles have been put back into circulation on CD, meeting with considerable public interest.

Names such as Fausto Amodei, Gualtiero Bertelli, Caterina Bueno, the Gruppo Padano di Piadena, Ivan della Mea, Cicciu Busacca, Giovanna Marini have returned to interest a generation too young to have known them at the time, rightly enthusiastic for music that is not only beautiful but full of depth and content that is too absent on the music scene.

On this day we couldn't help but recommend “Bella ciao”, the unforgettable soundtrack to the show of the same name staged with considerable scandal in 1964 at the Spoleto Festival by the Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano directed by Filippo Crivelli and with musical consultancy by Roberto Leydi.
A journey into the suffering of those who are exploited, a merciless denunciation which, through the texts of Franco Fortini, spoke of the oppression and damage caused by corruption and power and which cost its authors a complaint for contempt of the armed forces.

Today this album represents the only remaining testimony and the voices and instruments of these artists still cause shivers as they perform songs taken from the repertoire of the rice weeders, the scariolanti, the partisans, the spinning mills; voices coming from every part of Italy, songs of work, of love, of prison, of war, unfortunately relevant today perhaps even more than in the period in which they were recorded.

These beautiful recordings are fundamental not only for reclaiming a history that had been put aside for too long, but for getting to know a vast musical heritage which in those years, thanks to the work of scholars such as Leydi and Carpitella, was
finally freed from the worn-out “picturesque” postcard popular folklore to be performed with due seriousness and musical competence.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.