Bella Ciao

​Bella Ciao is a now internationally famous tune which has become synonymous with resistance and protest. It originally exploded in popularity following the end of World War II. With anti-fascist and anti-Nazi sentiment at its height, Italians rallied around the tune as a way of commemorating the sacrifices made by Italian partisans during the war in their struggle against Nazi occupation. Even into today, the song is used by protesters, or invoked in times of struggle. The most recent resurgence occurred during the peak of the COVID pandemic, where it could be heard shared between quarantined rooftops in viral videos.

Historical Context:

Towards the end of WWII, Italy was divided. On July 25th 1943, the fascist regime had fallen, and it looked as though Italy was finally coming to its senses. However, shortly after Mussolini’s arrest, German forces arrived to occupy the country--attempting to maintain control over their unruly ally. The new anti-fascist government of Italy fled south as a puppet state was propped up in the north with Mussolini again at its head. Italian citizens were subjected to mass executions and forced labor. In response, partisans rose up, first in Naples, and then throughout the country. Minority political parties banded together to form the CLN (Committee of National Liberation). The CLN became the banner of the partisans and Italian resistance. It’s those who fought and died in this resistance that are celebrated in the lyrics of Bella Ciao.

There is a concise and well made documentary about this conflict available on YouTube. I’ll link it here, if you’d like to learn more about it:

Lyrics:

​Una mattina mi son svegliato
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
Una mattina mi son svegliato
E ho trovato l’invasor. 

O partigiano, portami via
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
O partigiano, portami via
Che mi sento di morir.

E se io muoio da partigiano
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
E se io muoio da partigiano
Tu mi devi seppellir

Me seppellire lassù in montagna
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
Me seppellire lassú in montagna
Sotto l’ombra di un bel fior.

E la gente che passeranno 
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
E la gente che passeranno
Mi diranno, “che bel fior!”

E questo è il fiore del partigiano
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao ciao
E questo è il fiore del partigiano
Morto per la libertà.

​One morning, I woke up
Oh goodbye beautiful, goodbye
One morning, I woke up
And I found the invader.

Oh partisan, take me away
Oh goodbye, beautiful, goodbye
Oh partisan, take me away
For I feel ready to die.

And if I die with the partisans
Oh goodbye, beautiful, goodbye
And if I die with the partisans
You must bury me.

Bury me up on the mountain
Oh goodbye, beautiful, goodbye
Bury me up on the mountain
Under the shadow of a beautiful flower.

And the people that will pass by
Oh goodbye, beautiful, goodbye
And the people that will pass by
They will tell me, “what a beautiful flower!”

This is the flower of the partisan
Oh goodbye, beautiful, goodbye
This is the flower of the partisan
Who died for our freedom.

Melodic Origins:

Originally, I was just going to take a look at this song in the context of how it related to World War II. While the lyrics are unmistakably Italian, an often occurrence in folk music is the replacing of lyrics over an existing melody. The technical term for this is “contrafactum”. (falk jstor.org) After receiving some guesses on my original post about the song, it got me thinking about where the melody itself may have originated. One particular commenter, Paul Barkowitz, pointed out its similarities with “traditional 19th century Jewish melodies”, and I just had to look into it. Turns out, there is something to this!

After only a little while of searching, I came across a Yiddish folk tune with a somewhat familiar melody: Dus Zekele mit Koilen (below is an instrumental version of the melody)

​The tune follows a singer as they ask where they can find a bag of coal. The title translates to, “A little bag of coal” in English. The repeating chorus to the song reads as follows:

​“Vile koilen iz a fargenigen
Ver es hot nor ungegrate,
Koilen iz zeher shvare tzu kriegen
Men darf shtein in der line ganz shpate.”

“Because coal is a pleasure
For whoever has it at hand
Coal is very difficult to get
One must stand in line very late.”
(lyricstranslate.com)

​Do you hear the resemblance? The similarity between the two songs is unmistakable. However, I can’t find anyone who can definitively draw a connection between the two. A wonderful and unfortunate aspect of a lot of folk music is that it is often passed through the generations orally. As a result, it can often be difficult to find hard evidence behind its origin and its evolution.

If I had to guess, and I am by no means an expert, the song was likely passed from Yiddish to Italian through traveling performers or immigrants. I have no evidence to show for this aside from the fact that music often traveled this way for much of human history. It could of course just simply be a case of two independently created songs happening to sound similar. Regardless, I find the image of a kind of musical sharing between cultures to be heartwarming, especially because of how this music has helped to support so many people through trying times, and still does to this day.

Cover:

In honor of the recently passed 25th of April, here is my brief take on a single verse of Bella Ciao:

​Thank you for listening and reading. I hope to explore other folk songs some time in the near future. In the meantime, happy jamming!