Recorded in 1954 by Alan Lomax

Notes by Gian Paolo Borghi, Tullia Magrini, and Ellen Harold  

From the mountains of Emilia-Romagna come these songs of farmers and female rice workers; ballads of World War II partisan struggle; age-old New Year’s songs; dance tunes; and excerpts from opera-like May rituals redolent of the poetry of the Italian Renaissance. A collection recorded just as industrialization was forever changing the fabric of Northern Italian rural life.

“There is no denying the power and rough beauty of these CDs.” —Roots World