WORK SONG (2024)
Audio piece, 3:10 min.

The Audio work is a contribution for the sound exhibition “Alla mattina appena alzata #5” on Canale Milva.

Alla mattina appena alzata #5” comes as the continuation of a trajectory started about four years ago, for it fits into the conceptual framework set by the Italian popular song “Bella Ciao,” sung by Milva for CANZONISSIMA in 1971. As our regular listeners know by now, this corresponds to the “Bella Ciao” sung by the Italian rice-workers who were employed in the rice fields of Piemonte and who sang together in protest against the exploitation of their labor power by their masters, but also to mark the rhythm of their collective work and to empower each other through their chants and ballads. This song has become an emblem of resistance in liberation struggles all over the world, at different moments in history, and gives rhythm today to the sonic reflections of the invited artists. 

Ronja Svaneborg’s ‘Work Song’ thematises the concept of the “work song,” that is, those chants that historically came into being specifically to accompany work in different contexts and parts of the world. Fascinated by the capacity of sound to manipulate our brainwaves, causing resonance and hence placing us on the same frequency as others around us during a collective listening event, the artist decided to explore how our internal rhythm is influenced by an external rhythm and test the ability of music to harmonise the emotions of a social group and create a sense of social bonding, preparing the field for communal action.

Canale Milva is a radio show and sound exhibition run by Giada Olivotto and Camilla Paolino.

Listen to the whole exhibition here:
canale-milva.laptopradio.org