The appearance of Luciano Berio's Folk Songs in 1964 caused notice because of their simplicity and tonal harmonic palette. Listening to the arrangements, however, elucidates how novel and even radical the harmonizations are. The settings are for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra and were written for the composer's then-wife, the American singer Cathy Berberian. Her extraordinary musicianship, vocal control, and interest in the latest music (and the earliest, for she was also a leader in the rediscovery of Renaissance and early Baroque music) made her the international vocal star of avant-garde music.

In this cycle, Berio took advantage of her great gift for tone color and language. There are nine languages and dialects among the 11 songs, and in each of them Berberian was capable of projecting the sound and diction of an authentic, indigenous singer. One of the most striking changes in vocal coloration comes in the final song, which has one verse in Russian. Berberian seamlessly switches from a Turkic sound to a Russian and then back again.

The first song is a lover's description of a loved one; the second is a Christmas song in tones of awe. The Armenian song describes the rising moon, and the French one is a playful song about how to win a fair maiden's heart. The Sicilian song is sung by fishermen's wives as they await their men's return from the sea. The two Italian songs were written by Berio when he and Berberian were both students together. The Sardinian song is a sad song sung to a nightingale. The two Avergnac songs were found in Cataloube's collections Songs of the Auvergne, but re-harmonized by Berio.

The final song was found by Berberian on a 78 rpm Soviet recording. She sang it phonetically, and it was then noted down and harmonized by Berio. A professor of Uralic and Altaic languages was able to determine (a tribute to the accuracy of Berberian's ear for sounds in unfamiliar languages) that it is a song about two young lovers plotting an after-dark rendezvous: "You go by this path, and I'll go by that path, and thus we will confound our enemies," went the translation of one verse; the two appear to be planning to meet in a garden where roses can bloom.

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