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27th February -3rd March
Sanremo Music Festival kicks off tonight
The Sanremo Music Festival is the annual Italian song contest held in the city of Sanremo, Italy since 1951. The popular music festival inspired the Eurovision Song Contest. The Sanremo Festival for many years also served as the Italian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest; the last time this happened was in 1997 when Jalisse, winners of the 1997 Sanremo Festival, represented the country ending 4th with their song Fiumi di parole.
Two categories of artists will be competing: the "Big" and the "Newcomers". On 3rd March there will be two winners, one for each category. Among the ''Big'' contestants there are two former Eurovision Song Contest participants: Al Bano (Italy '76, Italy '85, Switzerland 2000 as backing vocalist) and Antonella Ruggiero (Italy '79 with Matia Bazar). The hosts of this year's festival are Pippo Baudo and Michelle Hunziker.
Although the Eurovision Song Contest abolished the live orchestra in 1999, the live orchestra is still a basic element for the Sanremo Festival. For every act this year there will be a different orchestra director. The Sanremo shows also feature many special guests. This year Penélope Cruz, Lara Fabian (Luxembourg 1988), Norah Jones, Scissor Sisters, Take That, John Legend, Miguel Angel Munoz, Paso Adelante, Joss Stone, Mika, Joss Stone are scheduled. Enough? Not really... On 1st March the ''Big'' will perform their songs in duet with names like Nelly Furtado, Anggun, Mario Biondi, Têtes de bois, Supremes, Amii Stewart, Teresa Salgueiro and many others.
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dear sanremo contest, wanna you this year for spamming option and seeking out
speach for drink the vain as evaluated the spamm for the original day light,
so on dear sanremo ,
take care,
welcome Armenia,fans applause the vinus as far as the feed drop,
I must add that Michelle Hunziker had impressed me especially with her interpretation of Sally Bowles from Cabare.
@ And the conductor is... Robert Opratko
Hallo Bas,
Since there no other reactions, getting isolated here seams that we are discovering more common interests. ;-)
I agree completely about Facchinetti family, concerning Piero Mazzocchetti I think he was rather charming person (small and cute with remarkable smile) coming as discovery from abroad (Germany), giving a correct interpretation to an average composition and that was all. I've also noticed Elsa Lila and her singing but I was not especially touched with the melody. On the other hand Dorelli, Concato and Tosca were indeed exceptional.
And once again with my compliments: it seams to me that not only knowledge is your personal attribute, but also the refined ears for music listening.
Take care.
Yes, wasn't I? I scare myself, I cannot remember when I last predicted the winner of the ESC correctly. This must have been 1999, I think. Raffaella Carrà presented Sanremo in 2001, the year Elisa won with "Luce" - which she performed again last Friday.
I enjoyed Sanremo this year. A lot of songs "grew" on me during the week. Dorelli was fantastic, but I really liked the songs of Fabio Concato ("Oltre il giardino" 
and Tosca ("Il terzo fuochista" as well - I like theatrical performances. I agree with you, Darren, Mango's song was great - what a melody, what a voice. I really don't understand how Mazzocchetti and the Facchinetti family landed a top-10 spot. Their songs weren't that special, I think. Furthermore, Friday's homage to Armando Trovajoli (conductor for Italy in the ESC in 1957) was moving, to say the least.
I consider myself really lucky to have RAI1 on cable tv. It was a great week of evening entertainment! And in the end... Cristicchi's song was touching and, really, very topical. I would have preferred Albania's Elsa Lila as a winner in the youngsters' competition, but I can imagine Moro touched the right chord with his anti-mafia song.
@ And the conductor is... Robert Opratko
[b]Your prediction about the results was remarkably correct.[/b]
Once again thank you Dr. Bas Tukker, for the tips and recommendations. Following Sanermo Festival after a pause (last time when I had a chance to watch the full coverage it was when Raffaella Carrà was presenter and Elisa had her success with Luce) and not knowing Italian well I get a bit lost in the observation. So, your response was quite helpful. For me personally the most enjoyable this year was the night of duets. Along with the champions' performances (Simone Cristicchi, Al Bano, Piero Mazzocchetti) my personal favorites were Mango, both for his interpretation and the melody and from the young Fabrizio Moro - Pensa and previously mentioned, unfortunately not qualified Mariangela with Ninna Nanna,.
Hope you had nice time in Makedonija last year, my compliments vice versa I was twice in the Netherlands, once in Amsterdam and once in Mastricht, both times I had the same strange feeling like being born there.
MAKEDONIJA is a beautiful country, which I visited last summer.
I really have no clue who will win this edition of Sanremo. I always expected Daniele Silvestri to do well when he entered a song in Sanremo in the past, but so far, he never made a big impression on the judges. In my opinion Johnny Dorelli should win (isn't it fantastic to see a 82 year old conduct the orchestra - Gianni Ferrio, you wrote a marvellous song!), but I think Simone Cristicchi might be the favourite to win the contest. But again, I don't know - it's anybody's game.
Thanks Dr. Bas Tukker.... warm greetings to Netherlands from Macedonia. I will watch the show tonight and hope to have more impressions to share.
To Darren:
The song "Ninna nanna" was performed by Mariangela.
About the first night of Sanremo, Tuesday: I wasn't much impressed by the quality of songs, although there were some little gems. It was fantastic to see Milva back, she's still a fantastic singer, but her song was a bit... well, mediocre. Tonight, there may be some surprises... what about Johnny Dorelli (winner in 1958 and 1959) singing a jazzy song composed by Gianni Ferrio (who conducted the ESC orchestra in 1965!)?
Please if there is someone who knows who was the girl coming from Swiss singing lullaby "Nanunina (or similar)" on the first night of 57-th San Remo Festival (27.02.2007) it was distinctive melody performed with beautiful colorful voice.
I was watching the transmission yesterday. I am sorry but the quality of the show goes far beyond ESC offer. It was real celebration of music, singing and completely live performance. I wrote once and I will tell you again that I would like to see Italy back to ESC bringing it's best and moving ESC standards forward.
PLEASE DON´T COMPARE MORE SANREMO WITH ESC! THEY ´RE 2 SHOWS VERY DIFERNETS FOR FORM AND SPIRIT. THE ONLY SAME THING BETWEEN BOTH IS POLITIC: SANREMO WITH SOME COMICS DURIND THE SHOW AND ESC DURING THE VOTING!!!
I see no reason for us, ESC fans, to deal with a country which provokes the contest.
No ITALY in ESC, please, I do not want to see her back in the contest.
compare to the latest editions this year Sanremo has less talking, about politics I found funny the homor (ops humor) about "Noisette" (Rai1 director). This does not save the festival for being quite boring, filled with boring ballads, Sanremo is much less interesting than ESC, it hasn't the stage shows of theESC, it has few uptempo songs.
Erm...wasn't Jasmine like Peera Williams from the Wooden Chicks? (Paola Cortellesi singing "Non mi chiedermi" 
dear christina
a festival where the host (baudo) begins the show with "ahi ahi ahi ahi" means that is a dead festival....the promice that the 2007 edition will be focused on music sounded as promise from a politician and infact a lot of talking and pubblicity again and over again with some unacceptable politic comments masked under a comical scene.
so sad and pathetic people can italians be sometimes.
wake up
I hope to see Italy back next year!!!!!!
@Aris Arakelian
As far as I remember this thread is about San Remo and I'm free to speak my mind. I'm from Macedonia and everyone on ESCToday cries all the time when they see Balkan countries sharing votes. I'm against it as music is put aside and politics steps in. However all of them keep forgeting that Nordic countries, Ex-soviet countries, Benelux countries do EXACTLY THE SAME!!!! I hate that too!!!
San Remo is free of that bu*lsh*t and mostly music oriented...a true Festival !!!!
That is why I like it better then Eurosong! As a true ESC fan I want the same for Eurosong too, and I'm sorry but I will rise my voice against it! If you don't like my posts you can cry me a river as far as I care!!!
The best thing of this year's festival is the scissors sisters, the vocalist is quite waek, but the acoustic guitarist made the evening
Tomorrow there will be the best singer: Amalia Grè
@ Damian
if u r so pissed off of ESC why do you visit esctoday.com at the first place,for sanremo you can go to rai.it
@FEDERICO NOSTALGIC
1. dont know where u from and im not intersted indeed
2.pls do not comment politic of any country if u not understand it or not intersted to understand it
3. i ll vote against Europe Union we dont need to be in that Union at all
We are here to share music of Eurovision and good vibrations too im not against Italy but im against whriting about country which is not at Eurovision since 97 couse they feel offended by results of voting San remo as festival was once good festival with tastefull music. In this time like in all world music start to be comercial so in san remo too Eurovision too unfortunatlly
I not hate anyone and please stop politic reaction here thanx
SAN REMO is the MUSIC FESTIVAL, ESC wishes to be like!
Tradition, great music and one thing that ESC lacks from the depth-soul. San Remo is the mother of all music festivals...
I wish ESC turns back to music instead of politics.... Till then we'll enjoy SAN REMO....
I agree with Federico and Cristina! W ESC (the best!), but Sanremo is part of our history and differently than some national selections for Eurovision, it keeps (ok, we can like or dislike it) its roots, character and language.
@tas per
We watch it because it's part of our history and of our souvenirs, and because every year we hope for it to be better or even to go back to its best times. We could turn the TV off and do something else, but we don't. We're not forced to watch TV: I never watch it, but I watch Sanremo. We're just addicted to it, this is the truth!
I agree, Federico! Every year the host/organizer says that it's going to be different, and every year it's the same... "This year we'll focus on the music", Baudo keeps saying... We'll see.
Have a nice evening watching Sanremo!
Yes, too many commercials and too much talking; we'd better to record only songs and watch them the day after: this could be the only way to enjoy the music. Songs are less catchy than Esc, but there are more styles and ideas; in the latest ESC a song is the copy of the other.....all in English...one can distinguish the country only because of the flag.....
Antonella Ruggiero and Nada are the only 2 good things Sanremo has to offer this year. But they are buried by talking, horrible songs, old singers and a complitely talentless host: Michele Hunziker, she's famous because she married (just for convenience of the both) Eros Ramazzotti
Last time i watched it was Alexia winning it so 2002 or 2003....but it declined a bit....still San Remo was always a name for great festival....and it'll keep on for many years.
Good luck to Antonella Ruggero
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