FF’s first album, 1.0, was released in 1999 in Italy by Mescal and soon travelled beyond national borders. Universal Music Japan engineered a Japanese release in 2000, and Omnium Recordings an American/Canadian/Mexican one in early 2001, to a wide acclaim. In the mean time, Fiamma and Alberto had built up a permanent (and predominantly female and very young, consistently with the attitude of the project) live band. This includes the versatile Lady Jessica Lombardi, here (Emilian bagpipes, flutes, electric bass) and Italian-Eritrean female dj Medhin Paolos (loops and samples). The band has been invited to WOMAD 2001 in Palermo; to the CMJ Music Marathon in New York in the same year (the event cancelled because of the Twin Towers tragedy); to the Detroit Festival of the Arts in 2002 and to many festivals and gigs in Italy and abroad.
In September 2003 FF signed to American label Omnium Recordings and released their second album, Home. The new release is even more focused on northern Italian roots than the former one (almost all of the 11 tracks are traditionals, and traditional artists of the old generations feature prominently), but it is also more extreme in sound, with a harder, more “live” approach to electronica. The album was accompanied by a contract with an agent in the USA, SRO Artists, and an American tour, which saw FF perform on the most important American world music festivals and clubs of the period (Chicago, Detroit, Bloomington, Minneapolis, St. Louis...). Since January 2004 Home is in distribution in Sweden (by CDA); since March in the UK (by Discovery); on April 16th it will be released in Italy, too (by Mescal).
Tre sorelle
Fiamma Fumana Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We are the prettiest, let us through
Every day, all day long is good for singing
We are the merriest, let us through
Every Sunday we get ready for the feast
Feast-time, let us through
We dress up and put flowers in our hair
In the village streets everybody is greeting us
Feast-time, let us through
Every young man in the village is courting us
We dance with them all, but will take no-one
In times of war our grandmother was a partisan
Daughters of war, let us through
In times of peace our grandmother went to the rice field
Daughters of labour, let us through
The song "Tre sorelle" by Fiamma Fumana is an upbeat and cheerful anthem sung by three sisters from the small town of Campegine. The sisters claim that they are the prettiest and merriest in the town, and hence, they insist on being let through everywhere they go. They sing about how they sing all day long, every day, and the town is filled with their joyous voices. They also celebrate the feast time, which happens every Sunday, by dressing up and putting cherry-tree flowers in their hair. People from the village greet them on the streets, and all the young men court them. However, the sisters dance with everyone but choose nobody.
The song takes a dramatic turn in the second half as it talks about the sisters' grandmother. In times of war, the grandmother was a partisan, fighting in the resistance. But, in times of peace, she went to the rice fields, working hard to provide for her family. The song ends with a call to acknowledge the sisters' grandmother as daughters of war and labor. The song is a perfect example of how music can be used to express different emotions and ideas, combining light-heartedness with tales of hard work and struggle.
Line by Line Meaning
We are three sisters from Campegine
We are introducing ourselves as three sisters from Campegine
We are the prettiest, let us through
We believe that we are the most beautiful and are asking people to make way for us
Every day, all day long is good for singing
We love to sing and think that any time of the day is perfect for it
We are the merriest, let us through
We are always in a happy mood and requesting people to let us pass
Every Sunday we get ready for the feast
Every Sunday we prepare for a celebration
Feast-time, let us through
We are excited about the feast and asking people to give us way
We dress up and put flowers in our hair
We decorate ourselves with flowers for the occasion
Cherry-tree flowers, let us through
We specify the type of flowers we wear and ask people to let us pass
In the village streets everybody is greeting us
Everyone in the village is greeting us as we go by
Every young man in the village is courting us
All the young men in the village are trying to woo us
We dance with them all, but will take no-one
We dance with all of them but are not interested in any of them for a romantic relationship
In times of war our grandmother was a partisan
During the war, our grandmother fought as a partisan
Daughters of war, let us through
We are proud of our grandmother's contribution and asking people to give way because of it
In times of peace our grandmother went to the rice field
During peacetime, our grandmother worked in the rice fields
Daughters of labour, let us through
We are proud of our grandmother's work ethic and asking people to make way because of it
Contributed by Tyler I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
toteZitrone
I love latin / italian folk songs with electronic music. Great!
michael thomas
thank you for the info & background on this wonderful trio.
J Cortese
First ran into this song when someone did a "Farscape" vid to it -- brilliant song.
The Utopia Of The Distopic Future
bellissima canzone!
Fabrizia Maria Elvira
Fantastiche !.Stupendo video !
Aedren
Techno folk, or what kind of genre is Fiamma Fumana? Anyway, this is a very good song! :D
Gustavo Tagliaferri
L'ho sempre amata...
Sinclopus
che figata!
michael thomas
where in italy does this wonderful trio hail from?
Paola Vallerga
From Emilia Romagna, a region in Northern Italy. Some more info here (English translation available) https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiamma_Fumana