According to Wikipedia, “‘Bella ciao’ is an Italian folk song, and later an anti-fascist resistance song. It was used by the Italian partisans during the Italian Civil War between 1943 and 1945 in their struggle against the fascist Italian Social Republic and its Nazi German allies.” More recently, this song was covered by Steve Aoki and Marnik, which has predictably drawn the criticism of many native Italians.
The new dance music version of the track was deemed inappropriate and insulting by many on Twitter.
Marnik: due teste di cazzo. Nient’altro da dire. Spero che sia la vostra ultima cazzata, poi a lavare piatti tutta lavita
— Fenicottero Da Combattimento (@FenicotteroC) June 16, 2018
visto che siete italiani dovreste vergognarvi ancora di più per aver permesso che si creasse una cosa simile, siete assolutamente rivoltanti e spero che capiate che quello che avete fatto è un insulto ad una parte importante della cultura e storia italiana
— nihil ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽ (@nihilssi) June 16, 2018
Mi fate pena e schifo. Pena perché per avere successo di punta siete dovuti ricorrere ad una canzone popolare e schifo perché la canzone popolare è BELLA CIAO ed è stato un inno in onore di tutte quelle persone morte e torturate a causa di nazisti e fascisti E VOI SIETE ITALIANI
— A DoctorDisco in Wakanda 🙅🏾 (@doctordiscoflor) June 15, 2018
Delle due l’una: o non sapete cosa questa canzone vuol dire e allora siete davvero ignoranti. Oppure lo sapete, nel qual caso vi dovreste vergognare di poter anche solo sfruttare un inno alla libertà, per ricordarci sempre di ciò che è successo.
In ogni caso non ne uscite bene.— Eva Luna (@Synthetic3ve) June 15, 2018
Marnik are Italian by nationality, which seemed to draw even more anger from their followers as it was believed they should have been more sensitive to the cultural history and importance of the song from the beginning.
In contrast, most of the responses on Facebook seem to be generally positive.
The song was premiered by Your EDM a week ago, but it wasn’t until later in the week that the flood of criticism started pouring in. (Note: Your EDM was not aware of the cultural significance of “Bella Ciao” until fans began responding on Twitter.) Marnik have now posted a statement via their personal Facebook pages. Perhaps most importantly, Marnik states that they did receive clearance to cover the song. They were inspired by the Spanish television series “Money Heist.”
“At the very basis of covering and making Bella ciao into a remake to us is just another way to celebrate the history of what Bella ciao represents,” wrote Alessandro of Marnik, “which is an inspiring history of fighting the fucked up oppression of fascism and nazi culture.”
It seems as though the track is no longer available on Spotify, but you can listen to a live recording here.
https://www.facebook.com/alessandromarnik/posts/10155953732098241
