Banda Bassotti was formed in 1988, by a group of politically active musicians who began to sympathize with the Nicaraguan, Salvadorean, Palestinian, and Basque people fights. This group of friends supports the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional with solidarity initiatives by creating some work brigades. From 1984 to 1987 they took part to a three months brigade with the building cooperative XXV Aprile, to build some students houses and a school. From 1987 to 1989 the group creates a rock-band which begins to stir in the squats and in the demonstrations. The Banda Bassotti together with other comrades establishes the project Gridalo Forte No fascism! No racism! A documentation centre against fascism and racial prejudice.
From 1990 to 1991 they organize an antiracist festival with the same title who took place in Rome on 1991 May 3rd and 4th. European antiracist bands took part into such festival with concerts, videos and meetings. From this documentation centre, after two years the label Gridalo Forte Records is created. From this documentation centre the project Balla e Difendi arises, always in 1991, where the Banda Bassotti, took part to, together with other roman bands, such as: Red House, Filo da Torcere, AK 47. In this record, produced by the Gridalo Forte Records independent label, took part the most active bands of the left roman antagonist scene. "Figli della stessa rabbia" the first Banda Bassotti cd follows the success of such initiative and it is produced by the same label. This cd obtained a great success of both audience and critics and acted as an ingagements band multiplier: from a roman dimension to a national, and then an international one.
Without abandoning their roots, the BB obtained appreciation in Spain and especially in the Basque Country, where they performed in several concerts together with some independist left bands. During the recording of "Bella Ciao" together with the GANG, it raised the idea to play in Salvador for the FMNL. The occasion to realize such idea comes out few months later in march 1994, for the first political elections after 11 years of civil war in Salvador. The Banda Bassotti played with the Negu Gorriak in San Salvador central square at the end of the campaign with an audience of 50.000 people. They performed in 4 concerts in less than a week.
In June 1995 the band moved to Euskadi for 15 days in the IZ studio, on the mountains and with Kaki Arkarazo –sound technician and Negu Gorriak guitarist- they recorded "Avanzo di Cantiere" produced by Gridalo Forte Records label. Fermin Muguruza took part to the traditional song "Carabina 30-30" This cd is sold also in Euskadi and Spain, published by Gora Herriak Records a branch of the International Basque label Esan Ozenki. The record has been presented in several concerts in Italy and all over Spain: Bilbao, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Santiago De Compostela, Saragoza, Gasteiz, Oiartzun. The Banda Bassotti played with the Negu Gorriak in summer 1995 in Bilbao Gaz Square at the town party with an audience of 10.000 people. After a while the Banda Bassotti took part to a Hitz Egin demonstration for the freedom of expression, a big concert to raising funds for the Negu Gorriak trial against the civil guard General Galindo. The song reported is Ustalkerria. They raised 200.000.000 liras for the defence, about 12.000 people took part to it and 15 bands played, there were all Basque bands and the Banda Bassotti represented the international sympathy.
In the mid 1996 the band decided to stop because of great energies spent and the obvious difficulties to go on both with the band and to work in the yard.
In February 2001 Negu Gorriak -who broke in the same time of of the Banda Bassotti- decided to keep the promise to get back together to play in a concert to celebrate the end of the legal prosecution of Colonel Galindo against their song Ustalkerria when the Negu Gorriak won the trial. The agreement stated that also the Banda Bassotti should have to rejoin nad play with the Basque band. The Banda Bassotti decided to increase the instruments of the band with the brass section: Sandokan to the tombone -singer of the Ramiccia and trombone of the International Fermin Muguruza Dub Manifest and of the Radici nel Cemento- and Stefano Cecchi to the trumpet -trumpet of the bands International Fermin Muguruza Dub Manifest and Radici nel Cemento-. They rearranged their songs and left for Bilbao.
Concerts in February should have been two but they were three, due to the great demand of tickets (30.000). Seizing this opportunity the Banda Bassotti organized two concerts in Rome on 15th and 17th March 2001. The first concert is in support of the people reported for the demonstration against the nazi Haider arrival in Rome, while the second took place in the Social Centre "Villaggio Globale" with an audience of 9.000 people. The great success of these occasional concerts was the input to find new energies and the Banda Bassotti started to reorganize its future as a band. They started again to play and they received great demands from Italy and Spain.
In May 2001 a double live cd has been published by the label Gridalo Forte Records with the title "Un altro giorno d’amore" recorded at the Villaggio Globale and mixed in the Euskadi Garate Studio by Kaki Arkarazo. The video is the live concert of May 17th as well. Fermin Muguruza took part to roman concerts singing "La Linea del Frente" and "Zu Trapartu Arte" the two most famous songs by Fermin Muguruza’s first band: the Kortatu. After a while they shoot the video of "Carabina 30-30" and Maurizio Gregori -Ramiccia’s saxophonist- joined the band.
In summer 2001 the Banda bassotti is on tour again in Italy, Spain and the Basque Country until September when they played at the Independent Day Festival with Manu Chao, Africa Unite, and so on. Without forgetting their attitude, the Banda Bassotti and their label organized a concert in Rome to support the partisan Walter Dall’Olmo and his family. After that they performed in Italy and Spain and in November 2001, during their first seven concerts tour, they had a total audience of about 30.000 people.
In their second tour in December, with four concerts their audience was of around 7.000 people. During this month they released a compilation with the title "Poetry and reality" for the Japanese label Two Children Records.
Singer Angelo "Sigaro" Conti, died at the age of 62 on 11 December 2018.
Go On Home British Soldiers
Banda Bassotti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Have you got no fuckin' homes of your own ?
For eight hundred years we've fought you without fear
And we will fight you for eight hundred more.
If you stay British soldiers, if you stay
You will never ever beat the IRA
The fourteen men in Derry are the last that you will bury
No, we're not British, we're not Saxon, we're not English
We're Irish! and proud we are to be.
So fuck your union jack we want our country back
We want to see old Ireland free once more.
Well we're fighting British soldiers for the cause
We'll never bow to soldiers because
Throughout our history we were born to be free
So get out British bastards, leave us be
Banda Bassotti's song, "Go On Home British Soldiers," is a defiant and impassioned call for British soldiers to leave Ireland, as perceived through the eyes of Irish nationalists. The song challenges the British occupation of Ireland, which has been ongoing for eight hundred years, and refuses to bow to the soldiers' authority. The lyrics are full of pride for their Irish heritage, with the repeated mantra of "we're not British, we're not Saxon, we're not English, we're Irish!" This is a clear message of identity and nationalism, communicating that even in the face of the British soldiers' power, the Irish will never relinquish their heritage, culture, and autonomy.
The song also raises the issue of the IRA in a challenging way. It suggests that if the British soldiers leave Ireland, the IRA will stop fighting. However, the verse also implies that the IRA has an upper hand against the British, as they have only buried fourteen of their men in Derry, implying that any attempts by the British to eliminate the IRA has proven fruitless so far. Therefore, the song fiercely proclaims that the British soldiers will never be able to defeat the IRA, and so they should leave while they still can.
In summary, Banda Bassotti's "Go On Home British Soldiers" is a song that is rich in Irish identity and loyalty, that fiercely protests against British occupation and calls for their immediate withdrawal from Ireland. It effectively communicates the pride the Irish have in their culture and heritage while condemning the British soldiers for their actions and their perceived lack of sensitivity to the Irish people's plight.
Line by Line Meaning
Go on home British soldiers, go on home.
Leave our country, British soldiers.
Have you got no fuckin' homes of your own ?
Don't you have your own country to defend?
For eight hundred years we've fought you without fear
We have been fighting against the British for centuries and will continue to do so without backing down.
And we will fight you for eight hundred more.
We are determined to fight against the British for as long as it takes to gain our independence.
If you stay British soldiers, if you stay
If you continue to occupy our country, British soldiers,
You will never ever beat the IRA
You will never be able to defeat the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The fourteen men in Derry are the last that you will bury
The recent killings in Derry are the last time the British will be able to bury Irishmen.
So take a tip and leave us while you may.
It would be wise for you to leave our country now while you still can.
No, we're not British, we're not Saxon, we're not English
We are not British, Saxon or English, but Irish and proud of it.
We're Irish! and proud we are to be.
We take great pride in our Irish heritage.
So fuck your union jack we want our country back
We don't care about the British flag, we want our country back.
We want to see old Ireland free once more.
We want to see Ireland regain its independence again.
Well we're fighting British soldiers for the cause
We are fighting the British soldiers for the greater Irish cause of freedom and independence.
We'll never bow to soldiers because
We will never show deference to British soldiers because we consider them to be occupying forces.
Throughout our history we were born to be free
Throughout our history, the Irish people have always fought for their freedom and independence.
So get out British bastards, leave us be
Get out of our country, you British scum, and leave us alone.
Contributed by Claire W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@olmocamareroaguilar1991
Long live Irish Republic! Go on home british imperialists!
Respect from Spain
@davidenfiladissa9900
spain doesn't exist cap de polla
@iraultza4245
GORA EUSKAL HERRIA ASKATUTA ✊🏻
@Ale-sy3nx
Greetings from italy 💪🏻💪🏻
@davideb.4290
Bella socio
@ezkibela
Greetings from Basque Country to my irish and italian bross
@joseptapies4174
Soy español, descubri esta banda, hace ya mucisimos años, y me encanta
@rexbarrios5262
Freedom Ireland....greetings from El Salvador.
@frunzeairship6885
респект героям Ирландских Освободительных Армий из России!!!
@neilstanley3402
Это верно!