🌙One of the darkest folksongs I’ve ever heard, and certainly the darkest “lullaby” is the Sardinian folksong “Ninna Nanna / Lullaby” sometimes called “Antoneddu Antoneddu / Young Antonio.” The three verses of this song are each sung by a different character: the first by a woman named Caterina who sings to her son; the second by the son Antonio; the third by the father, who is a bandit. ✨The lyrics tell the hard story of a family involved bandit life. As I interpret it, the story goes go: Caterina, the mother, sings to her young-adult son “I would rather you were dead than a bandit in the countryside.” The son Antoneddu responds: “Mamma, don’t take this so badly! If I am in the countryside, believe me that it’s not for dishonorable reasons.” Not reassuring in the least. In the final verse, the bandit father sings. I believe that he has lost his life, and is singing as a ghost, inhabiting a memory of falling in love with Caterina. The memory is set at the seaside, presumably far from the countryside in which his life as a bandit played out its final scene. “How beautiful the sea is,” he sings, “And Caterina’s eyes have robbed me of my heart.” ✨I learned this song from two sources: first, from a gorgeous performance that was recorded in Sardinia in the 1950s, and released as part of the Smithsonian Folkways album called “Italian Songs and Dances.” ✨Second, from the singing of the Corsican musician Maria Carta. Her expressivity and ornamentations transfixed me. Her version was recorded in the 1970’s and is called “Antoneddu Antoneddu.” ✨A note about the text: usually the Folkways album liner notes include lyrics to the folksongs they release, but for whatever reasons, this song’s lyrics were omitted. Thankfully, I found a transcription of these lyrics submitted by the LyricsTranslate user Akiki2, and I’m so grateful to them for that! I made just a couple of minor changes based on what I was hearing by ear in the recording I primarily referenced.
#sardinia #sardegna #sardinianmusic #lullaby #harp #folksong #folkmusic #darkfolk #traditionalmusic