Anthems are songs that often express the thoughts of a particular group and excite those group members. Generally, such anthems are written and composed for a specific purpose. However, some songs can become an anthem by themselves. Bella Ciao, the song Çav Bella in Turkish, is the most well-known example of this situation. Although originally an Italian folk song, Sergeant Bella has become the anthem of the anti-fascist movement over the years.
While the song Çav Bella, which we heard lastly in the La Casa De Papel series on Netflix, was a folk song about the hard working life of Italian workers, it turned into an anthem of revolt against tyrannical leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini with the Second World War. The story of influencing the whole world is quite interesting. Let’s take a closer look at the story of Çav Bella song and her transformation journey today.
The song of the Italian workers working in the rice fields:
It is not known when the song Bella Ciao, in Turkish, and Çav Bella first appeared, but it is generally thought to have been sung in Italy in the first years of the 19th century. Workers in the rice fields started to work in the early hours of the morning and were put to work in inhumane conditions.
Bella Ciao’s song, whose composition and lyrics are unknown, tells exactly this story. It is a story that an Italian worker, who leaves his wife at home and does not work in the rice field, tells to his wife, who is watching his way at home. Bella Ciao, which means ‘Goodbye, Beautiful’, is an Italian folk song describing both the hard working conditions of the workers and the love.
The song Çav Bella turns into a political anthem:
With the emergence of leaders such as Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, who threatened both their people and other peoples of the world, in the terrible atmosphere that spread with the start of World War II, anti-fascist movements began to be established in response to them. The first anti-fascist uprisings arose in Italy, since the founder of fascism was the Italian Mussolini.
The Italian folk song Bella Ciao, which was already loved by the people and describing the plight of the workers, was turned into an anthem by the opposition movement in this period. For all anarchists, communists, socialists and other anti-fascist groups as part of this opposition movement, Sergeant Bella has become a veritable rebel anthem.
The song of Çav Bella is spreading all over the world:
It is understandable that a local folk song was turned into an anthem by the same people, but it is truly astonishing that it has taken the world by storm. Although it is not certain, the meeting of the whole world with the song “Çav Bella” took place in 1947.
Thousands of people from 71 different countries of the world attended the World Student and Youth Festival held in Prague in 1947. Italian anti-fascist groups sang the song Çav Bella with their own interpretations at this festival. Since then, Çav Bella, an Italian folk song, has destroyed borders and has become the anthem of anti-fascist movements all over the world.
Sergeant Bella might actually be a Jewish folk song:
There is a lot of information about Bella Ciao, but the song was first recorded in 1962 by Italian folk singer Giovanna Daffini. When we go back a bit and examine other recordings, we come across a recording made in 1919 and the recording has nothing to do with Italy at all.
There is a Jewish genre of instrumental music called ‘Klezmer’ in Hebrew. When we look at the recording dated 1919 made in this genre, we encounter a song that is exactly the same as Çav Bella in terms of composition, although not in lyrics. Therefore, the origin of the song Çav Bella may be Jewish, but it is difficult to say for sure.
Turkish Çav Bella comments:
The first known Turkish interpretation of Çav Bella was made in 1980 by the protest music group Grup Yorum. The Grup Yorum version has been translated into Turkish in accordance with the widespread political content of the song. There is a version called ‘Sen Sen Sen’, sung by Mehmet Taneri in the following years, but in this song only the composition was faithful and the lyrics turned into a love song.
There is a political version of the song made by Grup Kızılırmak, a parody version made by Grup Vitamin, a national opinion version made by Anatolian Youth Association, and a fan anthem version called ‘Epics Yazan’ in the Galatasaray Fan Album.
What does Sera Bella mean?
Yep, Sergeant Bella is an anti-fascist anthem and naturally doesn’t look very cute. However, it is not right to be prejudiced against such a composition that has spread all over the world for more than a century. How many songs, apart from religious tunes, have become known all over the world?
Those who wish can customize the lyrics according to their belief, but the composition is now the common property of all humanity. Whenever we hear of a Sergeant Bella, we remember that we are human. If the words suit us, take it, if not, we will only listen to a good song. So Çav Bella actually means stop fighting at some point and listen to the music.
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