I wrote this arrangement of BELLA CIAO for a Ukrainian pianist friend of mine, Genia Chudinovich: for us Italians, the original folk song is the anthem of the resistance movement by the partisans who opposed nazi-fascism during their fight against the occupying forces of Nazis. That’s why I chose April 25th, our liberation day, as the date for release.
Whereas the original song is epic and energetic, horrified by what’s happening, my version is sad and melancholic. I owe this perspective to a great Italian journalist: Francesca Mannocchi. I’ve been following her work as a war correspondent for quite a while, and she shows with such clarity how the resistance can be joyful only as an event buried in the past and focusing on the values that inspired it, but it is actually as devastating as the very war it opposes.
The final part of the track is a little more hopeful: after all, music, and art in general, is a creative act and, by definition, is the best antidote to war, which on the contrary is the destructive act par excellence.
Credits
Music composed, performed and produced by Paolo Cognetti
Digital distribution: DistroKid and Kanjian Music
Artwork: Paolo Cognetti
Help Kharkiv Children with GéNIA
Credits
Music performed and produced by GéNIA
Music composed by Paolo Cognetti
Master: Cicely Balston (AIR Studios)
Digital distribution: EmuBands
Artwork: Paolo Cognetti & GéNIA
GéNIA is currently working on the ‘Save the children. The Path of Hope’ project, in collaboration with the Charity ‘Kharkiv with You’. The goal of the project is to help Kharkiv kids who have serious health problems, such as cancer, genetic disorders, major psychological problems induced by the war, and many others, who have already been offered free treatment in Europe, but need to be transported there, and this is very costly.
Severely ill children in need of major world-class surgery are sent to the Bambino Gesù network of hospitals in Italy: “IRCCS San Raffaele Roma”, “Pediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù” and “Ospedale Bambino Gesù di Palidaro”.
A number of children with autism spectrum disorders were taken to France. There are also groups of children who are being taken to Bulgaria from the occupied territories, suffering from major psychological disorders.