Giovanna Marini, historic voice of Italian popular song, has died at the age of 87 after a short illness. She is a composer, singer, researcher, she dedicated her life to the oral tradition, founding the Testaccio school of popular music in the seventies, the first of her kind, which continues her activity today.
Nicknamed the “Italian Joan Baez”, the singer-songwriter has left a deep mark on the national folk music scene, standing out for her songs of civil commitment. In addition to the collaborations with Ivan Della Mea, Paolo Pietrangeli, the Pastori di Orgosolo and the Gruppo di Piadena, the one with Francesco De Gregori stands out for the album “Il whistle del vapore” (2002), which collects classics of Italian popular music, enriched of new ideas. After Pasolini's death, she stated: “A country that is capable of killing a poet is a sick country.”
Roman, daughter of the composer Giovanni Salviucci and pupil of Andres Segovia, Giovanna Marini was one of the most important “storytellers”, as she liked to define herself, on the Italian musical scene. In the 60s she frequented intellectuals and writers such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italo Calvino, Roberto Leydi, Gianni Bosio and Diego Carpitella, who introduced her to popular and authorial songs. In the following years Marini contributed to the history of the “Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano” by taking social songs around Italy with various political songwriters. In the 70s you founded the first popular music school in Italy, that of Testaccio, in the Roman neighborhood of the same name.
In all these years he has written a lot of music for theater and cinema: works directed by Attilio Corsini, Marco Mattolini, Ascanio Celestini, Citto Maselli and Nanni Loy.
Among his shows, “Ci ragione e canto”, directed by Dario Fo in 1965, “Vi parla dell'America”, “Chiesa Chiesa” and “Eroe”.
In 2016 his music was the soundtrack to the documentary “Un Paese di Calabria”, focused on the history of the municipality of Riace. His “Bella ciao” sung in the heart of Garbatella was the soundtrack of April 25, 2023.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM