Audio file
Title: Folk Music of Italy, Episode 4: Italian Work Songs (part 4)
Date recorded: April 17, 1955
Contributor(s): Performer: Lomax, Alan; Broadcaster: BBC
Subject(s):
Note: Discussed in this part: Transhumance. Bitter songs of the partenza (departure) as shepherds leave their families to take their sheep to richer pastures. Lucanian man and woman sing partenza song with frictions drum accompaniment. Shepherd with little wooden pipe. Women singing comic song of the return of the shepherd with bagpipe accompaniment. "Protect me from all shepherds, heavens above, / All sheep-silly and simple, they prefer their sheep to love." Songs of transportation: the porters sing with their burdens as they toil up the steps of the mountain path. They dream of carrying the most beautiful girl up the mountain. Counting song of the burden-bearing salt miners of Trapani, Sicily: "We walk like the dead by night" -- a lament of savage misery from the oldest industry. Sicilian carters' songs. They travel from midnight to dawn to get the produce to the market in the early morning.
Location:
Archive ID: B012
Track: 12
Original ID: T567R01
Part of: Folk Music of Italy (BBC)
About the session: The Folk Music of Italy was an eight-part series of Italian folk music produced and hosted by Alan Lomax for the BBC's Third Programme. The recordings were made by Lomax during his Italian field trip in 1954 and early 1955; the series was compiled before his return to England in the early spring of 1955.
Rights: The rights to the audio, photographic, and video materials contained within the Lomax Digital Archive are administered by various publishers, record labels, collectors, estates, and other rights holders. Any uses, commercial or not, must be cleared by the specific rights holders. For questions regarding the use of any material on the LDA, please contact Permissions.
Do you have something to add, or do you see an error in this record? We'd love to hear from you.

More from the session

Share