Antologia

This anthology is a tribute to Giovanna Marini, a key artist and an emblematic figure of Italy’s oral song tradition. Born in Rome into a family of musicians, Giovanna Marini passed a degree in classical guitar at the Santa Cecilia School in Rome and perfected her skills with Andres Segovia. She then played the lute for a few years in the ensemble “Concentus Antiqui”, directed by Maestro Quaranta. In the early sixties, she met a group of intellectuals – among them Pier Paolo Pasolini and Italo Calvino – and she discovered social songs and sung oral history. In 1964, a show of political and social songs “Bella Chiao” toured throughout Italy, giving Giovanna an opportunity to sing as well as to gather traditional songs — all this in the context of the fiery sixties. This was the start of her involvement in the “Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano” along with “political” songwriters as well as “rural” singers. She started to collect, transcribe and study songs of oral tradition, for which she created a musical notation system. This work of transcription and arrangement has enabled her to perform this song tradition on stage. In parallel to her work as a singer and songwriter, Giovanni has taught ethnomusicology applied to Italian songs of oral tradition, in many seminars and workshops in Italy and the world over.