Faccetta Nera
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| released = {{start date and age|1935}}
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| writer = Renato Micheli
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"'Faccetta Nera'" ({{Literal translation|Pretty black face|Little black face}}) is a popular marching song of Fascist Italy about the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. It was written by Renato Micheli with music by Mario Ruccione in 1935.
The lyrics are written from the perspective of a fascist Italian Blackshirt soldier during the invasion of Ethiopia. In the song, the Italian narrator tells a beautiful young enslaved Abysinnian (Ethiopian) girl that she will be liberated from slavery and ruled by a new regime. She is invited to parade with the fascist Blackshirts in Rome, where she is promised a new and better life.
Themes
Slavery in Ethiopia is a prominent theme in the song.{{cite web |title=The True Story of "Faccetta Nera" by Igiaba Scego |url=https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2016-04/april-2016-women-write-war-the-true-story-faccetta-negra-igiaba-scego/ |website=Words Without Borders |language=en |date=1 April 2016}} The song follows the trend of Italian fascist propaganda portraying the invasion not as a war of conquest, but as a war of liberation to abolish Ethiopian slavery.
History
File:Bando contro lo schiavismo in Tigrè.jpg, proclaiming the abolishment of slavery in Tigray in Italian and Amharic. The abolition of slavery was one of the first measures taken by the Italian colonial government in Ethiopia.]]
The march is said to have been inspired by a beautiful young Abyssinian girl, who was found by the Italian troops at the beginning of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.
During the invasion, the song was hugely popular in Italy and caused national fervor.Forgacs, David (2014), Italy's Margins: Social Exclusion and Nation Formation since 1861, {{ISBN|1107052173}}, pp. 80-81 During the fascist occupation of Ethiopia, Ethiopian women cohabited with Italian men in a system of concubinage known as madamismo.{{cite journal |last1=Trento |first1=Giovanna |title=Madamato and Colonial Concubinage in Ethiopia: A Comparative Perspective |journal=Aethiopica |date=2011 |volume=14 |pages=184–205 |doi=10.15460/aethiopica.14.1.419|doi-access=free }}
The implicitly erotic song was, however, somewhat of an embarrassment for the Fascist government, which had, starting in May 1936, introduced several laws prohibiting cohabitation and marriage between Italians and native people of the Italian colonial empire. These efforts culminated in the Italian Racial Laws of 1938. The Fascist authorities considered banning the song, and removed all picture postcards depicting Abyssinian women from Roman shop windows.
Lyrics
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:Italian lyrics ::Se tu dall'altipiano guardi il mare ::Moretta che sei schiava fra gli schiavi ::Vedrai come in un sogno tante navi ::E un tricolore sventolar per te ::Faccetta nera, bell'abissina ::Aspetta e spera che già l'ora si avvicina! ::quando saremo insieme a te ::noi ti daremo un'altra legge e un altro Re ::La legge nostra è schiavitù d'amore ::il nostro motto è LIBERTÀ e DOVERE ::vendicheremo noi Camicie Nere ::Gli eroi caduti liberando te! ::Faccetta nera, bell'abissina ::Aspetta e spera che già l'ora si avvicina! ::quando saremo insieme a te ::noi ti daremo un'altra legge e un altro Re ::Faccetta nera, piccola abissina ::ti porteremo a Roma, liberata ::Dal sole nostro tu sarai baciata ::Sarai in Camicia Nera pure tu ::Faccetta nera, sarai Romana ::La tua bandiera sarà sol quella italiana! ::Noi marceremo insieme a te ::E sfileremo avanti al Duce e avanti al Re! | valign=top | ::::English translation :::::If you look at the sea from the hills :::::Young brunette, a slave among slaves :::::Like in a dream you will see many ships :::::And a tricolour waving for you :::::Pretty black face, beautiful Abyssinian :::::Wait and see, for the hour is coming! :::::When we are with you :::::We shall give you another law and another king :::::Our law is slavery of love :::::Our motto is FREEDOM and DUTY :::::We, the Blackshirts, will avenge :::::the heroes that died to free you! :::::Pretty black face, beautiful Abyssinian :::::Wait and see, for the hour is coming! :::::When we are with you :::::We shall give you another law and another king :::::Pretty black face, little Abyssinian :::::We will take you to Rome, as a freedwoman :::::You will be kissed by our sun :::::and a black shirt you too will wear :::::Pretty black face, you will be Roman :::::Your only flag will be the Italian one! :::::We will march together with you :::::and parade in front of the Duce and the king! |
In popular culture
The song is one of many Italian songs featured in Martin Scorsese's 1973 film Mean Streets.{{Cite book |title=Remembering Popular Musics Past: Memory-Heritage-History |last=Istvandity |first=Lauren |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2019 |isbn=1783089709 |pages=74–75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M96dDwAAQBAJ |last2=Baker |first2=Sarah |last3=Cantillon |first3=Zelmarie |quote=By contrast, Mean Streets is scored with a musical patchwork of songs from different time periods and genres: [...] all interwoven with or set in contrast to the traditional, nationalist American and Italian tunes ('Home Sweet Home', 'Faccetta Nera', 'The Star-Spangled Banner') [...]}}{{Cite news |title=Il culto indiano di Hitler; quando la disinformazione diventa mercato |url=https://www.ultimavoce.it/adolfi-hitler-india/ |date=2019-02-19 |work=Ultima Voce}}
See also
{{Wikisourcelang|it|Faccetta Nera|Faccetta Nera}}
References
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External links
- [https://archive.org/details/78_faccetta-nera_carlo-buti-ruccione-michell_gbia0269650a/_78_faccetta-nera_carlo-buti-ruccione-michell_gbia0269650a_01_3.8_CT_EQ.flac Recording as sung by Carlo Buti] {{Dead link|reason=Message at the Archive: "This item is no longer available."|date=February 2025}}
- [https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=Faccetta+Nera Recordings of the song] at YouTube
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150618194743/http://www.lorien.it/X_INNI/Pg_Canzoni-D/Alfa_F/Ca_Faccetta-Nera.html Lyrics]
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Category:Italian fascist songs
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