# Maria Carta

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**Maria Carta** (24 June 1934 – 22 September 1994) was a Sardinian [folk music](/source/Folk_music) singer-songwriter.[1] She also performed in film and theatre. In 1975 she wrote a book of poetry, *Canto rituale* (Ritual Song).

Throughout her career Carta covered a number of genres of traditional music of her native [Sardinia](/source/Sardinia) (*[cantu a chiterra](/source/Cantu_a_chiterra)*, *ninne nanne*—children's lullabies, [gosos](/source/Music_of_Sardinia), [Gregorian chants](/source/Gregorian_chant), and more), often reinterpreting them in more modernized and personal ways.[1] She brought Sardinian folk music into wider popular awareness in demonstrations at a national level in Italy (like the [Canzonissima](/source/Canzonissima) in 1974) as well as internationally, mainly in France and the United States.[1][2]

## Career

Maria Carta won the *Miss Sardinia* beauty contest in 1957 and later participated in the national [Miss Italy](/source/Miss_Italy) competition.

Around 1960, she moved to Rome where she met the screenwriter Salvatore Laurani whom she later married. She attended the [Centro Nazionale di Studi di Musica Popolare](/source/Centro_Nazionale_di_Studi_di_Musica_Popolare), directed by [Diego Carpitella](/source/Diego_Carpitella), at the [National Academy of Santa Cecilia](/source/Accademia_Nazionale_di_Santa_Cecilia)[3] and at the same time she pursued a musical and ethnographic research path with important productions and collaborations.

In 1971, she made two albums: *Sardegna canta* and *Paradiso in re*, and in the meantime she attended the ethnomusicologist [Gavino Gabriel](/source/Gavino_Gabriel). The same year [RAI](/source/RAI) broadcast the television documentary *Incontro con Maria Carta* (photography by [Franco Pinna](/source/Franco_Pinna) and texts by Velia Magno), in which she sang and recited with [Riccardo Cucciolla](/source/Riccardo_Cucciolla).

In 1972, she played at the [Teatro Argentina](/source/Teatro_Argentina) in Rome in the [*Medea*](/source/Medea_(play)) by [Franco Enriquez](/source/Franco_Enriquez). The same year she met [Amália Rodrigues](/source/Am%C3%A1lia_Rodrigues), with whom she held a concert at the [Teatro Sistina](/source/Teatro_Sistina). In 1973, the two artists made a tour in Sardinia.[4]

In 1974, she participated in [Canzonissima](/source/Canzonissima), interpreting the traditional Sardinian [Ave Maria](/source/Ave_Maria) [Deus ti salvet Maria](/source/Deus_ti_salvet_Maria).[5] She reached the final and was ranked second in the group of folk music with the song *Amore disisperadu*. In 1975, she held an important concert at the [Bolshoi Theatre](/source/Bolshoi_Theatre) in Moscow. In 1976, she served as Communal Councilwoman for the [Italian Communist Party](/source/Italian_Communist_Party), in the city council of Rome and remained in office until 1981.

In 1980, she participated in the [Festival d'Avignon](/source/Festival_d'Avignon); in 1987 she performed in [St. Patrick's Cathedral](/source/St._Patrick's_Cathedral_(Manhattan)) in New York City; and in 1988 in [St. Mary's Cathedral](/source/Cathedral_of_Saint_Mary_of_the_Assumption_(San_Francisco,_California)) in San Francisco.

She caught the attention of such directors as [Francis Ford Coppola](/source/Francis_Ford_Coppola) – who gave her the first of two of her widely-seen film roles as the mother of [Vito Corleone](/source/Vito_Corleone) in *[The Godfather Part II](/source/The_Godfather_Part_II)* (1974) – and [Franco Zeffirelli](/source/Franco_Zeffirelli), who cast her as [Martha](/source/Martha), the sister of [Lazarus](/source/Lazarus_of_Bethany), in *[Jesus of Nazareth](/source/Jesus_of_Nazareth_(miniseries))* (1977).

In 1985, she was awarded, as songwriter, the *Targo Tenco* for dialectal/regional music.

In the last years of her life, Carta gave her time to the [University of Bologna](/source/University_of_Bologna) where she conducted a series of classes and advised student theses on which she had relevant personal, human experience and scholarly background.[6]

In 1991, the President of Italy, [Francesco Cossiga](/source/Francesco_Cossiga), named her a "[Commendatore della Repubblica](/source/Italian_orders_of_merit#Order_of_Merit_of_the_Republic_(Ordine_al_Merito_della_Repubblica_Italiana))" ("Knight of the Republic"), similar to the British CBE.

## Death

Maria Carta gave her last concert in [Toulouse](/source/Toulouse), France, on 30 June 1994. Ill with cancer, she died at her home in Rome on 22 September 1994, aged 60.

## Discography

- 1971: *Sardegna canta*
- 1971: *Ninna nanna / Muttos de amore*
- 1971: *Adiu a mama / Antoneddu Antoneddu*
- 1971: *Trallallera corsicana / La ragazza moderna*
- 1971: *Paradiso in Re*
- 1973: *Nuovo maggio* / *Funerale di un lavoratore*
- 1974: *Dilliriende*
- 1974: *Amore disisperadu / Ave Maria*
- 1974: *Dies Irae*
- 1975: *Diglielo al tuo Dio* / *Nuovo maggio*
- 1975: *Maria Carta*
- 1976: *Vi canto una storia assai vera*
- 1976: *La voce e i canti di Maria Carta vol.1*
- 1976: *La voce e i canti di Maria Carta vol. 2*
- 1978: *[No potho reposare](/source/No_potho_reposare)* / *Ballada ogliastrina / Muttettu*
- 1978: *Umbras*
- 1980: *Haidiridiridiridiridinni*
- 1984: *Maria Carta concerto dal vivo*
- 1981: *Sonos ‘e memoria*
- 1984: *Sonos’ e memoria*
- 1992: *Chelu e mare*
- 1993: *Le memorie della musica*
- 1993: *Muttos ‘e amore*
- 1993: *Trallallera*
- 2002: *Sardegna canta*
- 2012: *Il Recital di Maria Carta e Amalia Rodriguez* with [Amália Rodrigues](/source/Am%C3%A1lia_Rodrigues)[\[1\]](https://music.apple.com/it/album/recital-di-maria-carta-e-amalia/575913519) (live album) Recorded in Rome in 1972.

## Filmography

Year Title Role Notes The Godfather Part II 1974 Vito Corleone's mother by Francis Ford Coppola Cecilia – Storia di una comune anarchica 1975 Olimpia by Jean-Louis Comolli Cadaveri eccellenti 1976 Signora Cres by Francesco Rosi Jesus of Nazareth 1977 Martha by Franco Zeffirelli TV Mini-series Un reietto delle isole 1980 Based on by Joseph Conrad's novel An Outcast of the Islands by Giorgio Moser TV Movie Derborence 1985 Singer The Professor 1986 The mother by Giuseppe Tornatore Disamistade 1988 "Madre Di Sebastiano" by Gianfranco Cabiddu Il commissario Corso 1992 telefilm Il respiro della valle 1992 (final film role)

## References

1. Duane, Orla & McConnachie, James (1999). [*World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gyiTOcnb2yYC&pg=PA191). Rough Guides. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-85828-635-8.

1. ["Maria Carta"](https://en.notrecinema.com/communaute/stars/stars.php3?staridx=69012). Norte Cinema. Retrieved 2020-10-29.

1. [Octavia Salvador, *Maria Carta* on line in enciclopedia delle donne](http://www.enciclopediadelledonne.it/biografie/maria-carta/)

1. *Maria Carta, il concerto dimenticato*, [La Nuova Sardegna](/source/La_Nuova_Sardegna), 10 marzo 2013

1. [*Maria Carta in Canzonissima 1974* on line in Teche RAI](http://www.teche.rai.it/2013/07/maria-carta-in-canzonissima-del-1974/)

1. Paolo Mercurio, *In memoria di Maria Carta Voce della Sardegna* (Giornata commemorativa, Milano 16 March 2014), in "BF magazine", n. 143, March 2014

## External links

- [Maria Carta](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0141404/) at IMDb
- [Sardegna Digital Library – Video with Maria](http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it/index.php?xsl=602&s=17&v=9&c=4460&n=24&c1=maria+carta&ric=1&idtipo=2)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Maria Carta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Carta) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Carta?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.