DOWNLOAD THE LYRICS OF THE CHANTS.

The work documents part of the repertoire of the informal choir Canta che non passa (Our Singing Will Stop It). The choir is a spontaneous group of middle aged/elderly people active in the NO TAV* movement in Valsusa, northern Italy. The choir’s repertoire consists mainly of protest songs adapted from preexisting musical sources, with new lyrics created from scratch.

I recorded the choir during one of their meetings. Rather than placing the microphone on a stand, at some distance from the group and capturing the collective dimension of the voices, I chose to move within the choir and point the microphone at the individual voices of the participants. This strategy allowed me to emphasize the imperfect nature of the choir and place emphasis on the singular/plural dimension of the group as well as the uncertain beauty of non-professional voices.

* The NO TAV movement is an Italian grass root struggle that, since the early 2000s, has opposed the construction of the second high-speed train line between Turin and Lyon. More about the No TAV struggle: see Transnational Institute and Undisciplined Environments.