Bella Ciaos for the Red Rebels of Nepal!

Bella Ciao is a song of revolution. Its anonymous composer fought in the hills of Italy against the fascist Mussolini, who thought himself a Caesar and ended hung from a street post by the people he sought to rule.

They say you are East and we are West, but we, together, know the world is round. The hope and solidarity of millions are with the brave protesters in Nepal and the People's Liberation Army. For land and liberty, for communism! For a new world.

Bella Ciao (Rita Pavone)

Bella Ciao (Manu Chao)

Bella Ciao (Punkreas)

Bella Ciao (Spanish Revolution)

Bella Ciao (Tryo y Zebda)

Bella Ciao (Yves Montand)

Bella Ciao (PL)

And I"m looking for Chumbawumba's english remix...

Translations from the original Italian on the link...

The key variation in the original, which fairly fits the Italian partisans, is that is it alternately sung with the words "partisan" and "communist" depending on the crowd. Partisan is a term for the kind of ideologically motivated, left soldier that is informal but disciplined and commited. All communists are partisans, but not all partisans are communists.

Wikipedia lists the orginal Italian 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
ché mi sento di morir
E se io muoio da partigiano
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
e se muoio da partigiano
tu mi devi seppellir
E seppellire lassù in montagna
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
e seppellire lassù in montagna
sotto l'ombra di un bel fior
E le genti che passeranno
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
e le genti che passeranno
mi diranno che bel fior
È questo il fiore del partigiano
o bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao
è questo il fiore del partigiano
morto per la libertà

And notes in translation: rhymes could not be rendered in English, and several short Italian words (bella,ciao) translate into long English words (beautiful, goodbye), so that the result is "heavier" than in the original version.

This morning I awakened
Oh Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye Goodbye
This morning I awakened
And I found the invader
Oh partisan carry me away
Oh Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye Goodbye
Oh partisan carry me away
Because I feel death approaching
And if I die as a partisan
Oh Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye Goodbye
And if I die as a partisan
Then you must bury me
Bury me up in the mountain
Oh Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye Goodbye
Bury me up in the mountain
Under the shade of a beautiful flower
And those who shall pass
Oh Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye Goodbye
And those who shall pass
Will tell you what a beautiful flower it is
This is the flower of the partisan
Oh Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye beautiful Goodbye Goodbye
This is the flower of the partisan
Who died for freedom

Strijdliederen, a blog in Northern Europe, translates Bella Ciao like this:

Bella Ciao 
Translation by Antoinette Fawcett

I woke this morning and all seemed peaceful
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
I woke this morning and all seemed peaceful
But oppression still exists.

Oh freedom fighter, I want to fight too
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
Oh freedom fighter, I want to fight too
Against their living death.

And if I die, a freedom fighter,
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
And if I die, a freedom fighter,
Then you’ll have to bury me.

Let my body rest in the mountains
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
Let my body rest in the mountains
In the shadow of my flower.

And all the people who will pass by there
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
And all the people who will pass by there
Will show that lovely flower.

This is the blossom of those that died here
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
This is the blossom of those that died here
For land and liberty.

Bella Ciao 
The world is waking outside my window
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
Drags my senses into the sunlight
For there are things that I must do 

Wish me luck now, I have to leave you
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
With my friends now up to the city
We're going to shake the Gates of Hell

And I will tell them - we will tell them
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
That our sunlight is not for franchise
And wish the bastards drop down dead

Next time you see me I may be smiling
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
I'll be in prison or on the TV
I'll say, "the sunlight dragged me here!"

Comments

[CH]

Anyone know where to find the Turkish/Kurdish version from Grup Yorum that Wikipedia lists?

[Jimmy Higgins]

I sent the Grup Yorum version to burningman with a few others which he may wind up posting in the coming period...

[Can Şafak]

I listened an english version, I don't know who was the singer. It was sensitive. I'm looking for it.

[Can Safak]

I listened an english version, I don't know who was the singer. It was sensitive. I'm looking for it.

[lara]

actually, KUD Idijoti are Croats, and they sing Bella Ciao in Italian, with some slightly different lyrics

[Jimmy Higgins]

Hey, burningman, you'll be pleased to hear of the radical youth contingent feeder march into Saturday's march in DC, called if I am not mistaken by a number of SDS chapters. They had, I am informed, two (2, count 'em, 2) marching bands--one an anarchist drumming and percussion outfit in full regalia--gas masks, bandanas, riot shields, etc.--and the other a "proper" marching band with horns and all. Both played Bella Ciao! (I doubt that any recording made on the spot would be worth posting, but maybe some other visitor to RF knows better.

[the burningman]

Most excellent. I've been pressing an old friend in a local NYC band to help record a US version of the song.

And I promise to update this entry with all the great versions you passed my way when I have more than a free afternoon...

[John Lacny]

Note to esteemed Comrade Jimmy Higgins: Kud Idijoti is not from Estonia, they are from former Yugoslavia. Specifically, they are from Pula, the largest city in Istria. This is a Croatian border region that had a lot of Italians, and was a center of dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia in the interwar period. After the War Against Fascism, most of the Italians (a good percentage of whom had been collaborators) fled Istria or were expelled by the Partisans, much as the volksdeutscher who had collaborated with the Nazis were expelled from most of Eastern Europe. But many people in this region still speak Italian as well as Serbo-Croatian.

Anyway, Kud Idijoti covered both "Bella ciao" and "Bandiera rossa," but their versions can be seen as implicitly irreverent in the context of Yugoslavia, which was built on a Partisan victory. I am told that when they held a concert once in Northern Italy -- where the Partisans were very popular, but where they were defeated after the war -- Kud Idijoti were loudly booed by Italian Communist youth.

"Bella ciao" is anti-fascist and therefore has wider appeal than "Bandiera rossa," which is explicitly socialist. Not too long ago I was in a chain style faux-Italian restaurant, and some version of "Bella ciao" was part of the soundtrack along with Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra.

[Jimmy Higgins]

Joma Sison sings Bella Ciao! On YouTube!!

youtube(dot)com(slash)watch?v=3IZ31IZ339A

Top that, burningman!

[Jimmy Higgins]

Below is the Philippine Inquirer article from which I learned of the Joma "Bella Ciao" (h/t DW). I have posted in full because I couldn't find a useable link. Ya gotta love the reference to Sison as "the Netherlands-based recording artist."

Jimmy

Jose Ma. Sison on YouTube, too
By Volt Contreras
Inquirer
Posted date: February 01, 2007

MANILA -- It looks like even founder Jose Ma. ''Joma'' Sison has to catch up with the digital revolution if he wants to pursue his ideological one.

Among hardcore Reds he may be idolized, but nowadays he also needs to be pixelized.

This is basically why two songs by Sison -- founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, icon to Asia's longest-running Maoist insurgency, and a ''terrorist'' in the eyes of post-9/11 US and European governments -- are currently playing on YouTube.

Sison, who turns 68 on February 8 and is in his 19th year of exile in Utrecht, The Netherlands, is the unseen troubadour behind two music videos which, according to the popular video-sharing website, were posted two to three months ago.

With guitar and violin accompaniment, he sings the Spanish version of "Bella Ciao," an originally Italian partisan song from World War II, as well as a Tagalog classic inspired by the poem "Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa (Love for the Native Land" by Andres Bonifacio, father of the Philippine Revolution against Spain.

In an e-mail to the Inquirer Thursday, Sison said two supporters of his actually posted the songs on YouTube. ''My wife and I do not know [them] personally. But they are very friendly to me because they defend me against nasty remarks about my revolutionary stand,'' he said.

He was apparently referring to the web denizens ''jakej5'' and ''Amoneth,'' the acknowledged sources of the two videos.

In Manila, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) media officer Carl Ala said ''Bella'' and ''Pag-ibig'' were actually two tracks from a CD Sison started recording in 2004 and which was commercially released in ''alternative'' record shops and bookstores last year.

The CD, titled "Poetry In Song," was conceptualized mainly to help draw support for Sison's legal challenge in Europe against his being tagged a terrorist by Western powers.

Ala agreed that having Sison on a youth-oriented website could help bring the Leftist intellectual closer to today's mouse-clicking generation, most of whom may not even have been born yet when the revolutionary burst into Philippine history.

As Sison put it in response to a series of questions from the Philippine Daily Inquirer: ''Yes, I am conscious of seeking to reach out to the young, especially because they were not yet born when I began my struggle. I always try to reach out to the young because they continue the struggle.''

''I find them receptive to revolutionary ideas and revolutionary music. The crisis of the world capitalist system and the domestic ruling system of big compradors and landlords drive an increasing number of them to seek revolutionary change.''

A literature and political science professor before being known as an activist who led student demonstrations against the Vietnam War and the Marcos dictatorship in the late '60s and early '70s, the exiled Sison has gone more public with his lyrical side in recent years.

In March 2004, the Inquirer, mother company of INQUIRER.net, reported that he had taken to singing videoke at his Utrecht apartment during more relaxed times with guests. This was according to his supporters in Manila, who then held a tribute marking Sison's 40th year in the revolutionary cause.

''Not known to many people before, I sang at home to relax. I sang in church when I was a small boy. Some friends have encouraged me since two years ago to do recordings. Of course, my singing is something extra to whatever I have already accomplished,'' he said in Thursday's email.

The two videos don't actually show Sison singing -- they were more of a montage tracing the Marxist-Maoist struggle.

''Bella Ciao,'' being a universally adopted hymn of patriotism, draws imagery from paintings of Latin American peasant-warriors and Soviet propaganda materials resurrected from the Cold War era, climaxing with the portraits of the Marx, Stalin, Lenin, and Mao.

The more locally flavored ''Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa'' contains footage of violent rally dispersals in Manila, notably the infamous ''Mendiola Massacre,'' as well as scenes of poverty in the city and farms, and communist New People's Army guerrillas shaking hands with the poor folk.

When accessed by the Inquirer Thursday night, ''Bella'' had been viewed just over 4,000 times, ''Pag-ibig,'' close to 400 times.

All together, the ''comments'' panel for each song has spawned close to 40 entries, both pro- and anti-Sison -- the latter apparently accounting for the ' 'nasty remarks'' the exiled revolutionary referred to.

But as the Netherlands-based recording artist keenly noted: ''The feedback [I've been getting] is about my political ideas. It is not at all about the songs or about my singing. I am therefore encouraged to sing.''

[Christopher Day]

Japanese Ska version of Bella Ciao on YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aAH5NwX0uGs&mode=related&search=

[Polina]

there is an awesome Russian remake by Garik Sukachev. Very passionate :) You can download it for free here:
http://www.neprikasaemye.ru/mp3/bella_chao.mp3

[netl]

I have german version of this song by Hannes Wader and beautiful russian version performed by Muslim Magomaev and some other versions.

[JB]

Please send MP3s of any additional versions to:

redflags.us@gmail.com

I'll be posting a more comprehensive list here one of these days... and in the meantime I'm collecting as many versions as possible.

[Petra Emilia]

Hello!
I would like to know whether it's possible to find a good version in Spanish, a non-changed one.
Thanks for your help!

[passerby]

Chinese version：
http://www.xbzh.net/dvbbs/uploadfiletee/2006320573794895.mp3
那一天早晨,从梦中醒来
啊朋友再见吧再见吧再见吧
一天早晨从梦中醒来
侵略者闯进我家乡
啊游击队啊快带我走吧
啊朋友再见吧再见吧再见吧
游击队啊快带我走吧
我实在不能再忍受

如果我在战斗中牺牲
你一定把我来埋葬

请把我埋在高高的山岗
啊朋友再见吧再见吧再见吧
把我埋在高高的山岗
再插上一朵美丽的花
啊每当人们从这里走过
啊朋友再见吧再见吧再见吧
每当人们从这里走过
都说多么美丽的花
每当人们从这里走过
都说多么美丽的花

[JD]

There's also a dutch recording of Bella Ciao. The Mestizo band Mala Vita recorded their version Live on their first album Manifiesta.. I believe they still play it at gig's in Europe.

[Jesse Luscious]

There's also a great version by the German socialist skinhead band Commandantes on their debut cd "Lieder Fur Die Arbeiterklasse" on Mad Butcher Records.

http://www.commandantes.de/index.php?option=com_mp3player&Itemid=34

[Cat]

Muslim Magomayev, great Soviet opera and popular music singer variant: http://cubafriend.narod.ru/Assets/Songs/bella_ciao_magomaev.mp3

[SnunnyLox]

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[Goran Trutin]

I only want to correct the information about the KUD Idijoti. They are from Croatia, not from Estonia. Thank you.

[Simon]

there is a version by Vlado Kreslin on his album Cesta

[Skwisgaar Skwigelf]

Here's another one:

Mirah with the Black Cat Orchestra

[Skwisgaar Skwigelf]

Also:

Anita Lane

Done in a haunting style, with verses rendered in English. I quite like it.

[Shader]

http://rapidshare.com/files/83739517/grup_yorum_-_Cav_bella.mp3

Here is the Turkish version by Grup Yorum. But its lyrics are a little different from the lyrics posted by comrade Mirjam. The last two strophes are missing and the "kızıl çıçek (red flower)" in the last strophe is now "güzel çiçek (beautifull flower)". Turkey is not in its anarchist times with a big revolutionary power like in the past :(