ITEM

Da Trastevere a Dessie Item Info

Da Trastevere a Dessie - item

Object ID:
demo_1690
Creator:
Fonit - Fonodisco Italiano Trevisan
Type of Sound:
Music
Lyrics Composer:
Amleto Trinchieri
Music Composer:
Amleto Trinchieri
Instruments:
Tenor; Choir; Orchestra
Type of Music:
Song
Record Language:
Italian
Date:
1936
Identifier:
7433
Linked Recording:
demo_1689
Rights:
metadata-only record, please check the publication for rights
Description:
This recording is part of a vast propaganda repertoire of popular songs designed to accompany the political preparation and conduct of the Second Italo-Ethiopian Conflict, followed by the victory of Fascist troops and the founding of the Italian Empire in East Africa. These songs evoke this colonial war and its finality, using a wide range of modes and themes. In addition to the war and the Fascist martyrs, many of these songs assert the legitimacy of Italian colonization of Ethiopia, and more broadly of East Africa, presenting it in particular as a liberating and civilizing mission carried out among indigenous populations who were allegedly enslaved by the Emperor of Ethiopia, the Negus Haile Selassie. Throughout this repertoire, colonized populations are the subject of racist representations. When they evoke the "African woman", these racist representations also become sexual (see Gianpaolo Chiriacò, "Afrovocality – Ethiopia in 1930 Italian Popular Music", https://afrovocality.com/eirpop/ethiopia-in-1930-italian-popular-music/, accessed on February 12, 2025). This recording refers to Rome. The ancient capital of the Roman Empire, of which it preserves numerous remains, is the object of a myth and a cult of "Romanity" ("romanità") due to its embodiment of the history, symbols and values of the ancient empire (military power, heroism, imperialism, grandeur, glory) on which the Fascist regime bases its own symbolic apparatus and national imaginary. From the early 1920s, the city was redeveloped to showcase the Roman ruins, at the cost of destroying part of its later architectural heritage. Linking the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia, from which Benito Mussolini worked and delivered some of the most important speeches of the Fascist period, the "Via dell'Impero" (now "Via dei Fori Imperiali"), laid out between 1924 and 1932 to better showcase the many sites that line it, is an eloquent testimony to this highly symbolic urban policy.
Online Resources:
https://canzoneitaliana.it/en/canzone/da-trastevere-a-dessie-en/
Performers:
Amleto Trinchieri Alberto Semprini
Lyrics by:
Amleto Trinchieri
Music by:
Amleto Trinchieri
Instruments:
Tenor Choir Orchestra
Genre:
Song
Sound Type:
Music
Recording Language:
Italian
Related Record:
demo_1689
Source
Preferred Citation:
"Da Trastevere a Dessie", REDIRE Database, Bonn Center for Digital Humanities (BCDH)
Reference Link:
http://localhost:4000/items/demo_1690.html
Rights
Rights:
metadata-only record, please check the publication for rights