Italian Sinfonia Sanremo Update 2008

* Spotlight on the 2008 Festival di Sanremo *
The 58th Annual Festival of the Italian Song
February 25 to March 1, 2008

· Where to watch and listen

· Host

· The participants

· Guest Stars

· Notes about this year's Festival

· Results

· Last year's Spotlight on Sanremo

· RAI's official Festival di Sanremo site seems to be the most up to date place to get Sanremo info and results online. You can also listen and watch post-Festival coverage on Radio Italia. For TV coverage, the only way in the US to view the festivities live was through RAI International, available for a monthly fee on satellite and most digital cable systems. This year, it seems to be on a 2 hour tape delay - even the finale! - so technically you can watch the performances on YouTube before they're even aired by RAI. The delay could be due to the Milan-Lazio game set to begin at the same time on Saturday; the way Sanremo has progressed in the last few years, it's only natural that soccer come out on top. The first night of taped coverage got off to a bit of a disaster when 15 minutes of the show were replayed just as one of I Giovani was set to perform.
Taped coverage of the final show is usually broadcast on channels 25 and 63 in the NYC area during RAI's regular Sunday programming hours.

Many of this year's songs will be heard on Italian radio while the Festival is taking place. The compilation will be released immediately after the Festival ends and, in some cases, artists will be releasing albums with their new songs during the competition.

If last year was any indication, you'll be able to find clips of just about any Festival happening on YouTube, which is as popular in Italy as it is in the US.

· Along with his artistic directing duties, Pippo Baudo is once again hosting this year's festival. Co-hosting with the 71-year old TV legend will be actor-comedian Piero Chiambretti and actress Bianca Guaccero and Hungarian-born Italian actress Andrea Osv"rt.

Guest Stars

The line-up of guests has not been officially released but international guests are scheduled to include Lenny Kravitz, UK sensation (and soon to take off in the States) Leona Lewis, Yael Naim (whose song is featured in the latest Apple commercials) and Duran Duran.
Italian superospiti, one appearing on each night of the festival, will include Jovanotti, Giorgia, Gianni Morandi, Fiorella Mannoia e i Pooh.

Thurdsday's show will bring additional guests. The night will feature some of the festival's competitors singing their new songs with other singers. This was a standard Sanremo practice in late 60s and 70s, returned for a bit in the 80s and was back last year. Among the Italian singers, Gianna Nannini joins Di Tonno e Ponce, Spagna with Bert", I Neri per Caso with Mietta, Gazz" with Turci and Marina Rei, I Nomadi with Grignani, Annalisa Minetti with Cutugno and Paola and Chiara together with Zarrillo. The noteworthy international guests include Michael Bolton with Tatangelo and members of the Gypsy Kings with Little Tony.

The Festival this year, with the return of Pippo Baudo, reverts back to the most familiar format of the song festival - 2 separate groups, the 20 "big" and the 14 "nuovi proposti," the new artists. No "big" will be eliminated but the giovani will be cut down to 8 by Friday night, the deciding night for the new artists. About 20% of the scoring will be decided by "le giurie di qualit"," a group of "quality-control" expert judges made up of not just representatives from the music business but also TV hosts and hostesses as well as actors and actresses.
The Giovani will have a separate jury box that will also include a mix of actors and MTV DJs.

Participant	Song	Notes
Eugenio Bennato	"Grande Sud"	Brother of Edoardo Bennato has also made a Sanremo appearance in the early 90s with fellow Neopolitan, and frequent Sanremo contestant, Tony Esposito
Loredana Berte	"Musica e Parole"	This well-known wild child of Italian pop is making her 9th appearance at the Festival. The ex-wife of Bjorn Borg has a history of making headlines at il Festival but has never had a top 3 finish.
Sergio Cammariere	"L'amore non si spiega"	The long-time Calabrese songwriter finally achieved some mainstream success with a 3rd place Festival finish in 2003.
Toto Cutugno	"Come un falco chiuso in gabbia"	He's back! The legend returns for the 14th time. He's won only once in his first solo appearance in '80 with Solo Noi but has had 6 2nd-place finishes and that doesn't even include his most famous hit, "L'Italiano," which failed to even place in '83.
Gi" Di Tonno e Lola Ponce	"Colpo di fulmine"	This couple were the stars of the italian version of Riccardo Cocciante's musical "Notre Dame di Paris."
Finley	"Ricordi"	The young pop-rock group, named after basketball star Michael Finley, are making their Festival debut.
Frankie HI-NRG MC	"Rivoluzione"	Rapper who likes to touch on social and political issues
Max Gazz"	"Il Solito Sesso"	Roman-born Belgian-raised cantautore who made debut at Sanremo Giovani in late 90s
Gianluca Grignani	"Cammina nel sole"	Achieved his biggest success with debut album, "Destinazione Paradiso," which made him a star in both Italy and Latin America; Grignani hasn't had much luck at Sanremo - yet
L'Aura	"Basta!"	23-yr old singer-songwriter whose only Sanremo appearance in 2006 brought some success with the song "Irraggiungibile"
Little Tony	"Non Finisce Qui"	Old-time rock and roll star and San Marino-native first performed at Sanremo almost 50 years ago singing "24 mila baci" with Celentano; his biggest hits all came from il Festival including "Cuore Matto" and ""La spada nel cuore"
Paolo Meneguzzi	"Grande"	It wouldn't be il Festival without a Meneguzzi appearance. He is appearing in his 5th Festival since 2001 with a track co-written by Gatto Panceri. He also will take part in this year's Eurofestival, representing his native country, Switzerland.
Mietta	?Baciami adesso?	Frequent Sanremo participant won Nuove Proposte competition in '89 with song written by Minghi and finished 3rd the next year with Minghi singing the popular "Vattene Amore."
Amedeo Minghi	"Cammina Cammina"	Talented singer/songwriter/composer returns to Sanremo where he's had some ups and downs, including an undeserving last place Nuove Proposte finish for one of his bigger hits, "1950," in 1983; Minghi's "La Vita Mia" made him a worldwide star and he even has an international fan club based in the US
Fabrizio Moro	"Eppure mi hai cambiato la vita"	Last year's winner of the Giovani competition with memorable anti-Mafia hit "Pensa"
Anna Tatangelo	"Il Mio Amico"	Winner of the Giovani competition in 2002, Tatangelo returns for the 5th time in 6 years with another track written by boyfriend Gigi D'Alessio; this one concerns homosexuality and, according to oddsmakers, is an early favorite to win the Festival.
Tiromancino	"Il Rubacuori"	Good to see a popular rock band, always active on Italian music charts, making their first appearance at the Festival
Tricarico	"Vita tranquilla"	Young talented songwriter is another potential favorite. He had a huge hit in 2000 with "Io Sono Francesco" and has recently written a song for Celentano's latest album. He's set to perform his entry in old-style prison garb, designed by Codiceasbarre, a charity fashion line started by a convict.
Mario Venuti	"A ferro e fuoco"	Prolific pop singer/songwriter who's written a Sanremo winner (Antonella Ruggiero's "Echi di Infiniti") in '05; his entry was co-written with Sicilian artist Kaball", with whom he's collaborated before on Sanremo 2004 and won the critic's award
Michele Zarrillo	"L'ultimo film insieme"	A frequent Sanremo participant, the Roman finished 5th in 1994 but the song became one of the most popular Italian singles of all time: "Cinque Giorni"