When I first moved to Italy, I had never heard of the Sanremo Music Festival (officially called the Italian Song Festival). Over the years since, we usually have watched some of it every night of the four nights it is on in February. It is the longest-running annual TV music competition in the world on a national level. It started in 1951 and was broadcast live on Rai 1, the Italian public Radio station.
It does not celebrate the singers. The songs themselves are rated along with the musical arrangements. The songs used to be sung by two different artists, each one using an individual orchestral arrangement, to illustrate the meaning of the festival as a composers’ competition. During this era of the festival, it was customary that one version of the song was performed by a native Italian artist while the other version was performed by an international guest artist. I think it would be more interesting that way, than it is now with just one singer.
I enjoyed it better this year than normal. Maybe it is growing on me? Maybe I have been here too long? Who knows! Anyway, it’s fun and over the top Italian. The songs selected in the competition are in Italian or in any regional language and the three most voted songs are awarded. You vote by calling a number on your cell phone during the song if you like it. I even voted once this year 😁. I snapped some pictures. It is a very inclusive festival. For example, they had a piece performed by a group of people with physical or mental disabilities. It was very well done . That wouldn’t go over so well in the U.S. right now I think 🤔. Here they are.
See, I told you it was over the top Italian. 😉 that guy with the long train? It was 15 meters long.
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Bathroom. They set the round shower stone and concreted the floor. I had Irma and Alesandro here this morning and it’s going to start to get disruptive tomorrow. They will need to be cutting the tiles to fit and that will be messy and loud. They will be coming upstairs where we are living and going through to the terrazzo to do this. Oy. Oh well, it must be done.
Hi Catherine, Sanremo is definitely a hoot. I don’t like renovations. They are so messy. Dust everywhere. But yes, I keep my eyes on the prize. I will keep showing pictures. I have one more bath in an even more inconvenient location that needs a re-do desperately. I may wait a while for that one. 🙄😬
Thanks for sharing some highlights of the SanRemo music x-travaganza! Outrageous, but interesting, as one might expect. Excitement is mounting for your bathroom reno; you seem to handle these disruptions very well; perhaps with the visualization of the finished result. It too is interesting; perhaps more so than the festival; always exciting to see what improvements look like after! Have you ever seen ‘Help – we bought a village’? An English production which is always exciting; with folk like you who are ambitious, PATIENT and have a vision. All the best!!
It’s crazy Italian! 😆
Looks like fun Nancy 😀
Hey Carlo, the women were women. The men were flamboyant 🙂
Hi Judith, I didn’t vote for Olly either. And I had no problem voting on my Iliad phone. Anyway, it is really an experience. 🤣
The bathroom is beginning to take shape!
Honestly, if you hadn’t told us that was a music festival, I would have thought it was a drag queen show! (I think I’ll stick to Andrea Bocelli!)
I had first heard of Sanremo in an Italian language class I was taking a few years back. This year we tuned in last night for the last night — couldn’t believe it didn’t end until just before 2:00! Evidently host Carlo Conti couldn’t win for losing — keeping too strictly to a schedule vs allowing for spontaneity. In any case, I tried to vote, but my vote wouldn’t go through — Iliad told me it was a RAI network issue. We liked The Kolors with “Tu Con Chi Fai L’Amore.” Didn’t much care for the winner, Olly, with “Balorda nostalgia.”