Blind Willie Johnson - When The War Was On - 1929

Fonte: A.V. Savona - M.L. Straniero, Canti della Grande Guerra, Garzanti 1981

Brano conosciuto anche con altri titoli (Alpini in montagna, Al comando dei nostri ufficiali) la cui prima esecuzione accertata risale al 1897: in questa prima versione, aveva un carattere patriottico-celebrativo. La melodia riprendeva un modulo musicale ampiamente utilizzato dai cantastorie dell’Italia settentrionale nei decenni precedenti il conflitto ed era comune a un altro canto diffuso in diverse varianti nella pianura padana, che durante la guerra assunse un significato di dissenso e protesta: Addio padre e madre addio. La melodia è anche la stessa, semplificata, di O Venezia che sei la più bella, diffusa nel 1850 a ricordo della sanguinosa repressione austriaca dei moti veneziani del 1848. Durante la prima guerra mondiale le parole vennero adattate dagli Alpini alle circostanze specifiche, e furono aggiunte... (continuer)

(1917?)

Dalla raccolta di Gian Luigi Beccaria nelle Langhe proviene un altro testo inedito, assai interessante. Noi non vogliamo più fare il militare è un canto registrato a Dogliani da un certo Andrea Borra, di cui non si conoscono i dati biografici, ma che probabilmente era un militante dell'idea socialista o anarchica.

Un testo collocabile negli ultimi anni di guerra, certamente dopo la Rivoluzione d'Ottobre.

Da Castelli-Jona-Lovatto, Al rombo del cannon. Grande Guerra e canto popolare, Neri Pozza, 2018, pag. 745.

2021

Caporetto, 24 ottobre 1917 : non un episodio di vigliaccheria ma la rivolta dei fanti contadini, il proletariato dell'esercito come li ha chiamati Curzio Malaparte, i figli di troia come li chiamavano alcuni ufficiali.
Stanchi di marcire nelle buche fangose, rosi dai pidocchi, stanchi di uccidere e farsi uccidere da poveri come loro.
Una rivolta che nessuno ha voluto o saputo guidare.

2018
The Great War

2014 was the centenary of the “war to end all wars” and I had the idea to compose some music around the subject. Rather than just release one song or EP in 2014, I decided it would be an interesting concept to release one song a year, from 2014 to 2018 that, combined, would form one (longer) piece of music.

In 2018 Bad Elephant approached me with the idea of releasing the project as a full album and this opportunity has allowed me to re-record and reinterpret the songs I had written since 2014 and also include some additional ones, the end result being The Great War album.

2018
The Great War

2014 was the centenary of the “war to end all wars” and I had the idea to compose some music around the subject. Rather than just release one song or EP in 2014, I decided it would be an interesting concept to release one song a year, from 2014 to 2018 that, combined, would form one (longer) piece of music.

In 2018 Bad Elephant approached me with the idea of releasing the project as a full album and this opportunity has allowed me to re-record and reinterpret the songs I had written since 2014 and also include some additional ones, the end result being The Great War album.

2018
The Great War

2014 was the centenary of the “war to end all wars” and I had the idea to compose some music around the subject. Rather than just release one song or EP in 2014, I decided it would be an interesting concept to release one song a year, from 2014 to 2018 that, combined, would form one (longer) piece of music.

In 2018 Bad Elephant approached me with the idea of releasing the project as a full album and this opportunity has allowed me to re-record and reinterpret the songs I had written since 2014 and also include some additional ones, the end result being The Great War album.

2018
The Great War

2014 was the centenary of the “war to end all wars” and I had the idea to compose some music around the subject. Rather than just release one song or EP in 2014, I decided it would be an interesting concept to release one song a year, from 2014 to 2018 that, combined, would form one (longer) piece of music.

In 2018 Bad Elephant approached me with the idea of releasing the project as a full album and this opportunity has allowed me to re-record and reinterpret the songs I had written since 2014 and also include some additional ones, the end result being The Great War album.

2016
1916

1916 was written about the Battle of the Somme which was fought between 1st July and 18th November 1916 and was the largest battle of the Great War fought on the Western Front. More than one million men were killed or wounded during the battle, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history…

2015
1915

1915 has been released on the centenary of the first use by British forces of gas as a weapon of war at the Battle of Loos. The horrific effects of gas warfare was immortalised in Wilfred Owen's poem Dulce et Decorum est, which is referenced in this song.

This song tells the story of a young father who, in 1915, is sent to the trenches. Among fear, human weaknesses and all kind of challenges, he realizes one thing: this will not be the last war, or the last son, or the last year of the world.