Italian Folk Music, Vol.1: Piedmont, Emelia, Lombardy

Folklorist Alan Lomax, who collected many of the selections on the album, provides a historical introduction to the northern Italian regions represented here by their rural singers and bands—and even cattle (the first track features “a whole orchestra of bells” sounding around the necks of cows as villagers move the animals to mountain pastures for the summer). Love songs, lullabies, tarantellas and waltzes, patriotic songs, ballads, yodeling, and drinking songs capture life marked by community and tradition.

Liner notes include some translations of lyrics, informative context for each track, and a bibliography (in Italian).