ITEM
Africa nostra (Inno dei Legionari Africani) Item Info
Africa nostra (Inno dei Legionari Africani) - item
- Object ID:
- demo_1042
- Creator:
- Columbia
- Type of Sound:
- Music
- Lyrics Composer:
- L. Romano Menini
- Music Composer:
- Pietro Paperini
- Instruments:
- Tenor; Choir; Orchestra
- Type of Music:
- Hymn
- Record Language:
- Italian
- Date:
- 1936
- Identifier:
- DQ 1816
- Linked Recording:
- demo_1041
- Rights:
- metadata-only record, please check the publication for rights
- Source:
- Corriere Musicale Rassegna Fonografica, March 25 - April 25, 1936
- Description:
- The main subjects of this song are the legion and the legionnaires, particularly exploited by Fascist propaganda from the second Italo-Ethiopian conflict (1935-1936) onwards, and later during Italy's engagement in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Second World War (1940-1943). As the word was used in the Italian army before Benito Mussolini came to power, the "legion" designates a basic military unit which, in the context of Fascist Italy, also refers to the ancient Roman imperial armies and activates their imaginary. The legionnaire, expected to fight and die in the name of the "Duce", embodies the values central to Fascism and its propaganda. When he helps Italy regain its "greatness", the legionnaire is a hero and a good patriot. When he dies in combat, he is a martyr, and his death represents an exemplary, desirable sacrifice. In addition to his love for his country and for B. Mussolini, songs featuring the legionnaire evoke his feelings for the mother, fiancée or wife he has left to fight far from home; songs featuring the legion evoke also a collective heroism. Legionnaires and the Legion are therefore major symbolic figures for the regime as soon as it sets out to wage war, and needs to activate and regulate the feelings that will motivate a possibly fatal military engagement, and make it accepted, even desired, by those who won't be going to the battlefront.
- Online Resources:
- https://canzoneitaliana.it/en/canzone/africa-nostra-2-en/
- Performers:
- Crivel (Ferdinando Crivelli)
- Lyrics by:
- L. Romano Menini
- Music by:
- Pietro Paperini
- Instruments:
- Tenor Choir Orchestra
- Genre:
- Hymn
- Sound Type:
- Music
- Recording Language:
- Italian
- Related Record:
- demo_1041
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Africa nostra (Inno dei Legionari Africani)", REDIRE Database, Bonn Center for Digital Humanities (BCDH)
- Reference Link:
- http://localhost:4000/items/demo_1042.html
Rights
- Rights:
- metadata-only record, please check the publication for rights
- Standardized Rights:
- Dischi Columbia, Catalogo generale, 1938