Bella ciao
"Bella ciao" (; "Goodbye beautiful") is an Italian protest folk song from the late 19th century, originally sung by the mondina workers in protest against the harsh working conditions in the paddy fields of northern Italy. It is generally accepted that the song was modified and adopted as an anthem of the Italian resistance movement by the partisans who opposed nazi-fascism between 1943 and 1945 during their fight against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany allied to the fascist and collaborationist Italian Social Republic, although some historians argue that there is little to no evidence that this song  was actually sung by Italian partisans. Versions of "Bella ciao" continue to be sung worldwide as an anti-fascist hymn of freedom and resistance. History. The origins of the song are unclear. One hypothesis is that "Bella Ciao" was originally sung as ""Alla mattina appena alzata"" by seasonal workers of paddy fields of rice, especially in Italy's Po Valley from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century with different lyrics. They worked at monda (weeding) the rice fields in northern Italy, to help the healthy growth of young rice plants. It took place during  the flooding of the fields, from the end of April to the beginning of June every year, during which the delicate shoots needed to be protected, during the first stages of their development, from temperature differences between the day and the night. It consisted of two phases: transplanting the plants and pruning the weeds. Monda was an extremely tiring task, carried out mostly by women known as mondinas, from the poorest social classes. They would spend their workdays with their bare feet in water up to their knees, and their back bent for many hours. The atrocious working conditions, long  hours and very low pay led to constant dissatisfaction and, at times, to rebellious movements and riots in the early years of the 20th century. The struggles against the supervising "padroni" was even harder, with plenty of clandestine workers ready to compromise even further the already low wages just to get work. Besides "Bella ciao", similar songs by the mondina women included "" and "". Other similar versions of the antecedents of "Bella ciao" appeared over the years, indicating that "Alla mattina appena alzata" must have been composed in the latter half of the 19th century. The earliest written version is dated  1906 and comes from near Vercelli, Piedmont. As a partisan song. "Bella ciao" was revived by the anti-nazist and anti-fascist resistance movement in Italy between 1943 and 1945, with modified lyrics. The author of the lyrics is unknown. According to historian Cesare Bermani, this version was sung by the , a partisan group operating in the Abruzzo region as well as by groups in the in the Emilia-Romagna and only came to Northern Italy shortly before the end of the war. Bermani further explains that the main partisan song at the time was "Fischia il vento" and that  Bella ciao only became widely popular in Italy in the 1960's after it was presented by Giovanna Daffini, who claimed it to be an old song of the "mondine" that was then adapted by the partisans during the war, at the Festival dei Due Mondi in 1964. She had previously presented the "mondina" version in 1962. Music historians Antonio Virgilio Savona and Michele Straniero on the other hand argue that the song was not sung until after the war. Italian partisan Giorgio Bocca, a member of the Northern Italy based Giustizia e Libertà movement, also claimed that the song  was not sung by the partisans during the Italian resistance. The text as sung today was first published in 1953 in the magazine "La Lapa", and then in "L'Unità" in 1957.  Melody. A possible origin of the melody was identified by researcher Fausto Giovannardi following the discovery of a Yiddish melody (Koilen song) recorded by a Klezmer accordionist of Ukrainian origin, Mishka Ziganoff, in 1919 in New York. According to the scholar Rod Hamilton of The British Library in London, "Kolien" would be a version of "Dus Zekele Koilen" (The bag of coal), of which there are various versions dating  back to the 1920s. Italian folksinger Giovanna Daffini recorded the song in 1962. The music is in quadruple meter. Covers. One of the most famous recordings is that of the Italian folk singer Giovanna Daffini who recorded both the mondina and the partisan versions. It appears in her 1975 album "Amore mio non piangere". Many artists have recorded the song, including Herbert Pagani, Mary Hopkin, Sandie Shaw, and Manu Chao. International versions. In addition to the original Italian, the song has been recorded by various artists in many different languages, including Albanian, Arabic, Belarusian, Bosnian, Breton, Bengali, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian , Czech, Danish, English, Esperanto, Finnish, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Hebrew, Japanese, Kashmiri, Kurdish, Persian, Macedonian, Malayalam, Marathi, Norwegian, Occitan, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Syriac, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil ,Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian and Yiddish. In popular culture. As an internationally known hymn of freedom, it was intoned at many historic and revolutionary events. The song originally aligned itself with Italian partisans fighting against Nazi German occupation troops, but has since become to merely stand for the inherent rights of all people to be liberated from tyranny. Renewed popularity. In 2017 and 2018, the song received renewed popularity due to  the singing of "Bella ciao" multiple times in the Spanish television series "Money Heist". The character Tokyo recounts in one of her narrations, "The life of the Professor revolved around a single idea: Resistance. His grandfather, who had fought against the fascists in Italy, taught him the song and he taught us." The song is played in emblematic moments in the series as a metaphor for freedom. The part 2 finale is also titled "Bella ciao.". As a result of the popularity of the series, there was a flood of music releases in 2018: Miscellaneous. In 2012, the melody of  Bella ciao has also been adopted with adapted lyrics as a worldwide environmental activist song ("Do it now"), demanding political action against global warming. The melody is often used as a football chant by Italian ultras groups of Cosenza Calcio, A.S. Livorno and also outside of Italy by Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, A.E.K., Portland Timbers, Atlanta United FC, Motherwell, Aris Thessaloniki, Panathinaikos F.C. and FC Zürich fans. In April 2018, supporters from the Portuguese soccer club F.C. Porto adapted the song with the lyrics "Penta Xau" ("Bye bye fifth"), referring to the lost opportunity by rival club S.L. Benfica to  win a fifth national championship in a row, a feat only F.C. Porto has achieved in the country. The song was also adapted by Brazilian fans during World Cup 2018 to tease and taunt Argentina about their possible exit in the first round, which eventually did not occur, with references to Argentine players Di María, Mascherano, and Messi (Brazil and Argentina have a well-known football rivalry). The song was the inspiration for the #EleNão movement against extreme right wing Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. During nationwide protests in Colombia in 2019, the anti-fascist song was adapted by demonstrators  to oppose the government of Iván Duque of the Centro Democrático party, who have been for years questioned or investigated for systematic violations of the Constitution, the environment, Human Rights and Crimes against humanity. As the presidential period of Duque ends in 2022, since 2019 the song, dubbed as 'Duque Chao', is sung and interpreted in protests in Colombia and by the diáspora, also during the national strike demonstrations of April and May 2021, in which citizens have been killed, injured and disappeared by state police forces. In March 2020, the song once again gained international attention after Europeans and  Italians in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and Europe sang "Bella ciao" from the balconies of their housing complexes. Also Macedonian singers Aleksandar and Dac in 2020 created a Macedonian language version of the song titled Корона чао (Korona čao). In 2022, the Pressburg Mint (Slovakia) released a commemorative silver coin under the authority of Niue featuring El Professor from the Money Heist on the reverse, and the full text of the partisan version of the song on the obverse. Filmography. "Bella Ciao" has been used many times in soundtracks of films. Examples include: Bella ciao "Bella