From Ukraine to Kurdinstan, to Hong Kong and now in Iran, demonstrators from all over the world meet and unite in the notes and words of "Bella Ciao", the traditional Italian song that has become a symbol of freedom.
Viral is becoming the duo of Iranian girls who sing the
Farsi
version of "Bella Ciao", to protest against the hijab and the death, at the hands of the moral police, of 22-year-old Mahsi Amini, a case that sparked a wave of protests in Iran.
The video was relaunched on Twitter by CNN journalist Frida Ghitis.
"This song is very famous in Iran, and around the world, because it is a symbol against oppression," said Masah, a 29-year-old Iranian expatriate, during a solidarity rally in Rome.
"Bella Ciao" we remember her in the song of the Kurdish women fighters in Turkey, in that of the Umbrella Revolution protesters, in 2014 in Hong Kong, as they challenge the Chinese government to ask for more democracy.
We find it in the recent protest of French singers and actresses against the Tehran regime on social media and sung by Iranian expatriates from Paris who in recent days have protested the death of the young Mahsa.
Also in Jerusalem, last year, opponents of outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, nicknamed "Bibi Netanyahu", sang "Bibi Ciao" on the tune of the song, as a sign of joy at the prospect of closing his term.
In 2019, opposition protesters in Iraq gathered to chant "Blaya Chara", which means "no out" in Iraqi dialect, with the same tune as "Bella Ciao". "
In Italy, "Bella Ciao" is an unofficial national anthem that we heard with emotion from the balconies during the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The Ukrainians sang it this year in front of Russian forces.
A liberating and familiar song resounds on the war front.
The folk singer Khrystina Soloviy had already done this by re-adapting “Bella Ciao” in the Ukrainian language.
Interviewed she declared: “This song is universal, I dedicate it with new words to the Ukrainian armed forces, to our heroes and to all those who are defending my land right now”.
A message that has broken through.
The story of the song "Bella Ciao"
There is no evidence that it is the song of the Partisan Resistance, according to Carlo Pestelli, author of the book "Bella Ciao: The song of freedom", interviewed by the French agency, Afp.
Its history dates back to the nineteenth-century songs of northern Italy.
"It is difficult to pinpoint its origins," explains Carlo Pestelli, noting that the music itself has different sources.
His ambiguous words - evoking an anonymous invader and the honor of dying for freedom - have made him a symbol of solidarity for many causes ever since.
"It was not a communist song,
but a manifesto for freedom,
it represents apolitical values that everyone is able to understand and share", explains Pestelli.
It is also "an easy song to sing", with a catchy refrain that even non-Italians can pick up in chorus.
The popularity of "Bella Ciao"
Its internationalization comes with the successful series “
La casa de papel”
.
She has recently been the protagonist of debates in the world of music for the choice of Laura Pausini not to sing it during a Spanish television program.