Well, it’s been a while since I’ve last updated my blog. Many things happened in those last months and I didn’t have the time (and will) to update the blog. But lately I felt that I needed to hone my translations skills and here we are: Fischia il Vento (Wind whistles), is a partizan song, one of the most well known.
The lyrics were writted by the medic and partizan Felice Cascione on the music of the famous Russian song “Katyusha”.
The last two lines in every verse is repeated two times.
Fischia il vento e infuria la bufera
scarpe rotte e pur bisogna andar
a conquistare la rossa primavera
dove sorge il sol dell’avvenir.
Ogni contrada è patria del ribelle,
ogni donna a lui dona un sospir
nella notte lo guidano le stelle
forte il cuor e il braccio nel colpir
Se ci coglie la crudele morte
dura vendetta sarà del partigian
ormai sicura è la dura sorte
del fascista vile e traditor
Cessa il vento, calma è la bufera
torna a casa il fiero partigian
sventolando la rossa sua bandiera
vittoriosi, al fin liberi siam!
Wind whistles and the storm rages
Broken shoes and yet we must head
to conquer the red spring
where the Sun of the future rises
Every country is homeland to the rebel
Every woman yearns for him
The stars guide him at night
Strong his heart and the arm when they strike
If the cruel death catches us
The partizan will have its fierce revenge
It’s now certain the grim fate
of the vile and traitorous fascist
The wind ceases, the storm calms
the proud partizan comes back home
waving his red flag
we are at last victorious and free!
A few notes on the translation:
Sole dell’avvenire here translated as “Sun of the future” is an old socialist/communist expression.
Contrada has no fixed meaning in Italian. Depending on the county, it may mean “quarter”, “street”, “district”, “county”, “territory”, “land”, “country” and so on. Today is mainly used to name the various quarters of the old town of a city. For example, the various contrade of Siena who play in the Palio.
Well, I hope to update this blog more often in the future. See you soon!