Giovanna Marini

Giovanna Marini (born Giovanna Salviucci; 19 January 1937 – 8 May 2024) was an Italian singer, songwriter, researcher and ethnomusicologist. Marini founded the School of Popular Music of Testaccio, and has been called "the voice of Italian folk song". Marini was born in Rome in a family of musicians. Her father, Giovanni Salviucci (1907–1937), was a composer who studied with Ottorino Respighi. Her mother, Ida Parpagliolo (1904–1994), was a pianist. Marini studied classical guitar with Andrés Segovia and in 1959 she graduated from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. In the early 1960s, she befriended artists and writers who were passionate about Italian popular traditions, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Dario Fo, Italo Calvino and Roberto Leydi. In the mid-1960s, she married Pino Marini, a nuclear physicist. The couple relocated for a few years in Boston, an experience that later informed Giovanna Marini's 1966 album Vi parlo dell'America (Let me tell you about America). An ardent communist, Marini identified in contemporary folk music the perfect vehicle to express her political ideas. Over the course of her career Marini wrote many protest song lyrics (many of them sung by fellow musician Paolo Pietrangeli), embracing the themes of social justice that characterized the Italian '68 period and other political issues. Marini founded the School of Popular Music of Testaccio during the 1970s. She wrote many pieces for cinema and theatre. From 1991 to 2002 she taught ethnomusicology at the University of Vincennes (Paris-VIII). Marini died in Rome on 8 May 2024, at the age of 87. After her death, she was described as "the voice of Italian folk song" and the "Italian Joan Baez". 1999 – Targa Tenco: best singer (with Francesco De Gregori) for Il fischio del vapore 1963: Lu picurare - canzoni popolari abruzzesi (45 rpm) 1965: La disispirata - canzoni popolari sarde (45 rpm) 1967: Ciò che voi non-dite/La linea rossa (EP, with I.Della Mea) 1977: Ho bisogno di te/Se si sa di volare (EP) 1965: Le canzoni di Bella ciao 1966: Vi parlo dell'America 1967: Chiesa Chiesa 1968: Lunga vita allo spettacolo. Viva Voltaire e Montesquieu 1971: Controcanale '70 1972: La Nave. La Creatora 1969: La vivazione 1974: L'eroe (ballata nuova) 1975: I treni per Reggio Calabria 1978: Correvano coi carri 1979: La grande madre impazzita 1 1979: La grande madre impazzita 2 1980: Cantate de tous les jours 1982: Cantate de tous les jours vol. 2 1983: Quatuor vocal 1984: Le cadeau de l'empereur 1985: Pour Pier Paolo 1986: Requiem.Cantata delle cinque stanze 1996: Oresteia Aischylos (Igloo) 1998: Musiche di scena 1999: Si bemolle 2002: Il fischio del vapore (with Francesco De Gregori) 2003: Buongiorno e buonasera 2004: Passioni 2005: Nostra patria è il mondo intero 2006: Antologia Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano "Archivio Corriere della Sera". archivio.corriere.it. Retrieved 30 April 2025. "Remembering Giovanna Marini: The Voice of Italian Folk Song". www.ilmessaggero.it. 8 May 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2025. Info archive on musicaitalia.free.fr (DOC file); accessed 28 April 2015. (in French) "Addio a Giovanna Marini". Il Manifesto. 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers (2nd ed.). South Africa: Books & Music (USA). p. 452. ISBN 0-9617485-0-8. (in Italian) Club Tenco official site, clubtenco.it; accessed 28 April 2015.(in Italian) Giovanna Marini at IMDb Giovanna Marini discography at Discogs (in Italian) Official site of Giovanna Marini