San Remo Music Festival. Italian Song Festival in Sanremo. Casino Sanremo - a paradise for gambling tourists

Italian “sharks of the pen” claim: the career of any performer of a popular song in the country begins with San Remo. Over the entire history of its existence, the Sanremo Festival has opened the doors to the world of music and fame for more than a dozen musicians. Andrea Bocelli, Adriano Celentano, Eros Ramazzotti and Toto Cutugno became famous thanks to one successfully performed song in a town called San Remo.

Pages of history

Second World War brought grief not only to countries that suffered from aggression from the Nazis. Italy, which supported Hitler, who lost this war, paid no less a price. Devastation, the collapse of the economy and rejection from the victorious countries plunged the country into shock. But the years passed, the horrors of the war years faded into the background, life took its toll, and the Italian soul wanted to sing again... The idea of ​​holding a song festival arose almost immediately after the war. A harbinger of the Festival we are familiar with Italian song San Remo became the National Song Festival, held by the organization La Campannina in 1948 in its own entertainment complex Capannini di Franceschi in Versilia. True, financial problems led to the fact that the competition did not take place in 1950. However, the idea was liked by the director of a small casino in Sanremo, Pierre Busetti, who, together with Giulio Razzi, revived the song festival.

AND new story The world-famous event begins on January 29, 1951 in the casino headed by Busetti. The Casno-Municipale building was built by Eugene Ferret back in 1905 and was called Kursaal. Theatrical performances, concerts and festivals took place within the walls of the legendary casino. Although at that time the building was not yet a gambling house. It was only on January 21, 1928 that people began to play for money in Kursaal. This happened before the war itself. Pierre Busetti inhaled new life in the Casino Municipal, saving it from ruin: the Sanremo Song Festival was held there until 1977 and only then “moved” to the Ariston Theater.

The very first Italian Song Festival was held in Sanremo from January 20 to 31, 1951 in the Festival Salon (Salone della Feste) of the Busetti Casino. Of course, this event was not at all like the pompous and colorful Festival in San Remo, familiar to contemporaries. Contestants performed songs from the stage, and the audience sat at tables, around which waiters scurried around serving drinks. The festival was broadcast only on the second radio channel, and only three contestants took part in it: Achille Tagliani, the duo Fasano and Nila Pizzi. On the first two evenings, each contestant performed ten songs, and the audience chose the best. On January 31, 10 songs were performed in the final, the best of which was recognized as “Thank you for the flowers” ​​by Nilla Pizzi .

It should be noted that the first song festival in San Remo did not receive recognition abroad, and the country's record companies responded very sluggishly. A few days after the end of the competition, about 80,000 printed copies of the concert appeared. Success came “from where we didn’t expect it.” In the same 1951, a musical film was released on television called “The Sensation in San Remo” with the participation of Marika Rökk. Although the film had nothing to do with the song festival, it generated a wave of interest in it.

In 1952, Nila Pizzi celebrated victory again, and she took the remaining two prizes. The year 1953 brought the first scandal at the Sanremo Song Festival: the author of the song “Drummer of the Regiment,” Deani, was accused of plagiarism. Only this year at the competition for the first time there was a real fight for victory, during which Pizzi lost to Carla Boni.

The following year became a landmark year for the festival held in San Remo: the song competition was shown on television for the first time (albeit in a recording). But already in 1955, millions of Italians watched the song festival in live. Out of more than four hundred songs, only 16 made it to the finals. It must be said that the late 50s and 60s became a golden period in the history of the festival. Already in 1960, the number of television viewers reached 30 million, and in 1961, the scandalous debut of Adriano Celentano took place, performing with his back to the audience. Since 1964, world-famous stars have taken part in the competition program of the festival in San Remo.

But already 1967 became a tragic page in history: after his song was withdrawn from the competition, Luigi Tenco committed suicide. The festival that year was in jeopardy, and the subsequent 70s became a crisis. The general decline in the global economy also affected culture, best performers refused to participate in the festival, and television broadcast only the final of the competition. However, 1970 was a triumphant year for the song “He who does not work does not make love,” performed by the spouses Adriano Celentano and Claudia Mori. Perhaps the most difficult year for the Sanremo Italian Song Festival was the year 1975: 26 of the 30 contestants were newcomers, only 45,000 records found buyers, and the jury members were chosen completely at random using the phone book.

The "Renaissance Era" for the song festival began in the eighties, when the format of the event began to resemble a television show. So, in 1980, the then-beginning singer Toto Cutugno won with the song “Only We.” True, that year the songs were performed “to plus” (recorded music) or even “to plywood”. In 1983, Cutugno entered the stage as a favorite, but his hit “The Italian” took only fifth place.

1984 was the first year when performers were divided into two groups: established singers and "new voices". It was at this time that the Italian song festival burst into the vast expanses of the USSR. First, the TV show “Melodies and Rhythms of Foreign Pop” devoted a separate section to the festival in San Remo, and in 1984 an hour-long episode was released on Soviet screens. Its success exceeded all expectations: people wrote thousands of letters to television asking to show songs by Italian performers. It was a real boom!

1986 brought victory to Eros Ramazzotti. But even here there was a scandal: one of the contestants, along with the dancers, attached their bellies and simulated pregnancy. Live performance was restored in 1990. In addition, the 90s once again brought to the Italian scene foreign stars. So, in 1998, Ricky Martin and the Backstreet Boys sang in San Remo, and in 2000, Sting, Tina Turner and Robbie Williams.

In 2005, the number of categories at the Italian Song Festival was expanded to four: women, men, groups and classics. But already in 2007, the organizers returned to the previous scheme: newcomers and established performers. And in 2011, in San Remo they again began to elect a performer who will represent Italy at Eurovision.

Modernity

In recent decades, the Italian Song Festival has been held annually in late February - early March in the town of Sanremo. The competition itself is not a competition of performers, but of original songs written by Italian composers. The main condition is that the song should not be performed publicly before the start of the festival. Since 2005, the winner has been determined using a mixed vote of a professional jury and television viewers. At one time (in 1955), the Sanremo Song Festival became the standard for the Eurovision Song Contest. Now the Italian competition is broadcast on Eurovision channels, being one of the most significant events in Italy, causing great amount disagreements and disputes.

Forgetting about facts and statistics, the Sanremo Song Festival can safely be called the soul of Italy. Together with the state, it flourished and faded, newfangled trends and scandals did not bypass the competition, the hosts made ambiguous jokes, and guests and contestants turned their performances into rallies, even the orchestras rebelled here... Nevertheless, the festival in San Remo continues to exist, moving towards in the same direction as Italy, and, like several decades ago, young people, not only in body, but also in soul, come here just to sing.

The Sanremo Song Festival, with its rich history dating back more than half a century, has become a kind of symbol of Italy. His stage became the first serious step for dozens of young and talented performers, who subsequently received recognition not only in Italy, but also far beyond its borders. Blogoitaliano has already talked about the history of the Sanremo Festival, the dates and place of its holding. Today we will touch on traditions and interesting events related to the Festival.

Like other famous events, the Sanremo Festival has its own traditions that have developed over the years.

Traditions of the Sanremo Festival

Perhaps, main tradition of the Sanremo Festival- his concert venue. Since 1977, the annual song competition in Italy has been held in theater "Ariston". Over the years, more than 1,500 songs have been performed on its stage, performed by hundreds of participants.

The main tradition of the Sanremo Festival is the stage of the Ariston Theater

Traditionally, on the opening day of the Festival on main staircase"Ariston" lays out a red carpet along which the honored guests of the Festival enter the Theater.

Only new songs that have not been performed anywhere or by anyone before can participate in the competition program.

Each participant competitive program performs no more than 2 songs - this rule, over many years of trial and error, has also become a tradition at the Sanremo Song Festival.

Along with aspiring singers and singers taking their first steps on big stage, their eminent colleagues also take part in the competition for the best performance of an Italian song. Moreover, some of the celebrities managed to be on the list of Festival participants 8 or even 14 times.

Eros Ramazzotti has repeatedly become the winner of the Festival

Rarely does the Sanremo festival go without the participation of honored guests, including movie and pop stars, athletes, Olympic champions, and sometimes even royalty. For example, in 2010, the Italian Prince Emmanuel Filiberto of Savoy became a participant in the Festival. He sang with Pupo and Luca Canonici and took second place, which caused a lot of controversy in Italy.

Festival Winners

The name of the winner of the Sanremo Festival is traditionally determined by television viewers by voting live on the First Channel of the Italian state television RAI.

The first winner of the Festival, or rather its winner, in 1951 was Nilla Pizza with the song “Thank you for the flowers.”

On XIV Festival in 1964, the first prize was won by 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti for the song “It’s too early for me to love.” In the same year, she became the winner of another prestigious song contest - Eurovision.

Over the more than half-century history of the Sanremo Festival, it was on its stage that many famous Italian performers made their debut, who later became pop stars and idols of several generations. Among its winners in different years there were Adriano Celentano, Toto Cutugno, Eros Ramazzotti, Riccardo Fogli, Matia Bazar, the group Ricchi e Poveri (Italian Ricchi e Poveri), Albano and Ramina Power and many others.

Adriano Celentano took part in the Festival several times. His first performance in 1961 went unnoticed by both the public and the jury. And although his subsequent songs became hits more than once, Celentano was able to win in San Remo only once - in 1970 in a duet with his wife, actress Claudia Mori.

Toto Cutugno was included in the list of contestants four times, but won only once - in 1980 with the song “Solonoi”. In 1983, after the performance of the future hit - “Italiano” - the hall exploded with applause and armfuls of flowers flew onto the stage, but that time Cutugno did not officially take first place. It was awarded for the song “Come what may” to singer Tiziana Rival.

Celebrity guests

The organizers are trying very hard to maintain the audience's attention to the competition. To warm up the public's interest and increase viewership ratings, world celebrities are invited to the Festival. Thanks to this and other creative discoveries of the organizers, 10-15 million viewers annually gather on television screens during the Sanremo Song Festival.

Dita Von Teese presented her signature strip number

Over the years, the stage of the Ariston Theater has been visited by such celebrity guests as John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, Tina Turner, Luciano Pavarotti, Bono, Sting, Hugh Grant, Duran Duran, and dozens of other celebrities.

Madonna was the star of the Festival twice: in 1995 with the song “Take a bow” and in 1998 with the song “Frozen”.

The star guests of 2010 were the dancers of the French cabaret "Moulin Rouge", the star of "Avatar" Michelle Rodriguez and Dita Von Teese, who presented a stunning striptease. American erotic dancer, model, actress and ex-wife Marilyn Manson presented her signature strip act to the public in a huge martini glass.

In 2011 star guests of the Sanremo Festival were the British group Take That led by Robbie Williams, actors Robert De Niro, Monica Bellucci and Canadian singer Avril lavigne.

The first peaceful years after World War II in Italy. In place of the former ruins, new houses, businesses, and entire cities appear. However, the need for the spiritual revival of the people is acutely felt. The country now has a lot of things brought from abroad - jazz, twist, rumba, samba, tango. But you need something of your own, traditionally Italian. And one of the stages of this return of traditions was festival in Sanremo.

Sanremo is a small town on the Ligurian coast. It was widely known throughout the world as the “City of Flowers”, and for good reason. The florists and flowers of this city have brought it well-deserved fame. Before the war he was also very famous as one of the best resorts on the coast of Italy. Representatives of the aristocracy and upper strata societies from all over the world.

It is believed that the predecessor of the Sanremo festival was the National Song Festival, held in 1948 and 1949 in Versilia. This competition was no longer held due to financial problems, but it aroused the interest of the casino administrator in Sanremo, Pierre Bussetti. In turn, Bussetti managed to attract Maestro Giulio Razzi, director of the RAI radio broadcasting network, to implement his new project. This idea, which provides an opportunity to popularize one’s own national song, came in very handy.

Festival regulations were created. Various recording studios then existing in Italy were invited to submit compositions for participation in the competition. In total, more than 200 songs were received.

And so, on January 29, 1951, in a local casino, festival in Sanremo began his story. As planned, the competition was broadcast by the second Italian radio program. The situation was completely different from the present one. The audience sat at tables served by waiters, and the artists performed from the stage of a small entertainment establishment. The three-day competition then involved three performers with twenty songs. The first winner of the festival, which would become legendary in the future, was Nilla Pizzi with the song “Thank you for the flowers.”

Obviously, this modest setting explains why the festival's debut did not cause any international response, and even the first discs appeared only two weeks after it took place. Their circulation was very small - in total about eighty thousand copies were sold. But time passed, and since 1954 the festival has been broadcast on television, and in 1977 it moves to the Ariston Theater, where it is still held.

The late fifties and sixties were golden years for Sanremo. It is gaining immense popularity all over the world. In 1960, thirty million television viewers watched the live broadcast! Since 1964, not only Italians, but also celebrities from other countries have taken part in the competition.

In 1967, a rule appeared that is still in effect today - each performer can participate in the competition with a single song. In general, although the rules of the festival have changed several times, two of them have always existed: singers perform original songs that have never been heard in public before, and the authors of these songs must necessarily be Italians. And although the festival had songs in both French and English languages, they were invariably written by Italian authors.

In the seventies, the Sanremo festival experienced a great decline. Among other things, this was due to the crisis in the Italian economy. The most famous performers stopped coming to the competition. In 1975, of the thirty members, twenty-six were debutants, and only forty-five thousand records were sold.

The Renaissance of Sanremo began in the eighties. Then the festival began to look more and more like a TV show than a competition. However, this does not in any way diminish the public's interest in the festival. It brings together participants from a variety of musical genres. They compete on the same terms famous artists and emerging talents.

Many laureates of the Sanremo festival have become real superstars. Among them Al Bano and Romina Power, 1984 winners, and 1986 runner-up Eros Ramazzotti.

The extraordinary popularity of the festival captured even the USSR. Some of its episodes appeared on television, and in the mid-eighties many famous Italian stars, including Al Bano and Romina Power, Tony Esposito, Toto Cutugno, Pupo, Ricky E Poveri are invited to tour to Moscow and Leningrad.

Now the Sanremo Song Festival is one of the oldest in Europe. It became the prototype of the Eurofestival, which later became known as Eurovision.

In 13 posts, I briefly talked about the performers who will take part in the Sanremo Festival this year. Those who were fond of Italian pop music in the 80s probably don’t know any of these performers. There are still three (actually five) performers left who are impossible not to know. I put them aside for dessert and for now I’m returning to the annals of festivals. Today we will talk about the 1967 festival. During this contest, several events occurred that were previously unseen. But first things first. 30 songs took part in the festival. Each of them was represented by two performers or groups. 14 songs made it to the finals. Like last year, quite a lot of well-known foreign performers took part in the festival. I will list them in increasing order - the repeated leader of the English charts Connie Francis, the most popular Frenchwoman Dalida, the duet of Cher and Sonya (Cher also sang solo), the Hollies (!) and the first performer from behind the Iron Curtain - the legendary Anna German (but Magomaev I never got there). By the way, this fact was never particularly mentioned, the only time when it was written about was in "Coeval" somewhere in 1985 short memories of Herman's Italian tour were published, but there they were not talking about San Remo, but about the Neapolitan Song Festival, in which he also took part in the same year, 1967 - she took 12th place there, but reached the final). I abandoned the chronicle of Neapolitan festivals a long time ago, but no one is stopping me from continuing it.

Tenth place - "Cuore Matto" (translation not found). Performed by Little Tony and Mario Zelinotti. This is a completely new sound. Somewhere it is similar to "Romantic", but in general it is difficult to imagine such melodies in San Remo three or four years ago.

21st place. Song with telling name Gi. One of the performers is Anna German.

I'll be completely honest - the song is not competitive. Hermann's style during this period was more consistent with the Festival in Naples.

Let's turn to 23rd place Special attention- the song “The Coming of Hope” was performed by the “silver” performer of the previous competition, Katerian Caselli, and the duet of Cher and Sonya. The style has changed a little. There is a unique video from their rehearsal. The camera already has a zoom lens!

24th place - Cher again with the song “Don’t Sleep” (there was also some Italian there, Niko Fidenko, but that doesn’t matter)

25th place - the Hollies. Yeah, the ones that “My brother is stupid, but he’s my brother,” Bus stop", "Woman in a Black Dress", "Sorry Susan" and "I'm Alive". By the way, Mogul wrote a song for them.

But this is not the end of the story about the festival.

28th place - Domenico Modugno (!) and Dzhidiuli with a song with a very strange name... “On the blue roof of my crazy love.” Hmm....

The song is essentially good, but not for this particular festival.

And on last place there was a song “One of Us”, one of the performers of which was Milva, who went down in history IMHO for two reasons - she sang the famous “Passwords” with Celentano (by the way - the post with this clip is my most quoted post on LiveInternet) plus for her the canonical female version of "Bella Ciao".

Amazingly, this is the second festival in a row in which best songs buried far down the list.

What else would I like to add? 1967 - Last year, when there are no future stars of the 80s in San Remo yet, although some of them have already taken the high road. For example, Massimo Ranieri - winner in 1987.

Italian Song Festival San-Remo

Italian Song Festival in Sanremo (Italian: Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo)- Italian song competition, which is held annually in winter at the end of February - beginning of March (previously held at the end of January) in the city of San Remo, Italy.

Festival of Sanremo

The competition is a competition of original songs by Italian composers that have never been performed anywhere before. The winner will be determined by the decision of a professional jury or by popular vote. Often this competition is simply called the Sanremo Festival (Italian: Festival di Sanremo), or outside Italy the Sanremo Music Festival (English: Sanremo Music Festival). It served as inspiration for the creators of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Participation in the Sanremo festival marked the beginning of the careers of many now famous Italian singers, such as Andrea Bocelli (Italian. Andrea Bocelli), Paola and Chiara (Italian: Paola e Chiara), George Todrani (Italian: Giorgia Todrani), Laura Pausini (Italian: Laura Pausini), Eros Ramazzotti (Italian: Eros Ramazzotti) and Gigliola Cinquetti (Italian: Gigliola Cinquetti).

The festival in Sanremo is broadcast on Eurovision and is one of the main events of the Italian mass media. Therefore, it is not surprising that the decision on each competition almost always causes a lot of controversy and disagreement.

History of the Sanremo Festival

The forerunner of the festival in Sanremo was the festival of national singing (Italian: Festival Canoro Nazionale), held in 1948 by the organization La Capannina (Italian: La Capannina) in the town of Versilia (Italian: Versilia). But a year later it had to be canceled due to insufficient funding.

Also in 1950, Angelo Nicola Amato, in charge of social events at the casino in Sanremo, together with Angelo Nizza, star of the popular radio series The Four Musketeers, decided to organize the first Italian Song Festival. Angelo Nicola Amato went to Milan, where he offered to buy this idea to a record company, and Angelo Nizza offered the same thing in Turin to EIAR. The idea was accepted, but there were not enough rules, which were developed by Pier Bussetti and Giulio Razzi.

The first Sanremo festival took place from 29 to 31 January 1951 and was broadcast on Rai Radio 1 and featured only two performers, Nilla Pizzi and Achille Togliani Achille Togliani).

Since 1955, the song competition has been broadcast live on the RAI 1 television channel (Italian: RAI 1).

From 1951 to 1976, the festival was held in the casino in Sanremo (Italian: Casino di Sanremo), but since 1977 all competitions have been held in the Ariston Theater (Italian: Teatro Ariston), with the exception of 1990, when the competition was held in the new Flower Market (Italian: Mercato dei Fiori) in the Armea valley (Italian: Armea), in the commune of Bussana (Italian: Bussana), on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary, due to the larger capacity of the premises.

Between 1953 and 1971, with the exception of 1956, each song was performed twice by two different singers, each performing the song in a different orchestral arrangement, demonstrating the festival's main purpose as a competition for composers rather than performers. At that time, it was customary at the festival that the song was performed first by Italian singer, and then a singer invited from abroad. Since 1972, each participant in the competition performs only one song. The 1981 and 1984 festivals featured songs in English and French, but written by Italian composers. Some foreign singers, who participated in the competition in the 1960s, performed songs in which only the title was Italian.

In the 1980s, the Sanremo Festival abandoned the orchestra, and competitors performed songs either to recorded music or entirely to a soundtrack.

From 1956 to 1966, as well as in 1972, 1997 and 2011, the festival determined the Italian participant in the Eurovision Song Contest.

There is also a tragic page in the history of the Sanremo festival. In 1967, contestant Luigi Tenco was found dead in hotel room, a few hours after the end of the second round.

Since 1984, with the exception of 2004, participants in the competition, in addition to the main nomination “Great Artist”, are also awarded in the nomination “Debut” (Italian: Nuove Proposte), which actually announces another song that won the festival. In 1982, the nomination “Critics Award” (Italian: Premio della critica) was established, the victory in which is awarded by the decision of the press representatives covering the competition. Since 1996, this nomination has been given the name “Mia Martini” (Italian: Mia Martini), in memory of the first singer to win the Critics’ Prize. At the last festivals in Sanremo, some songs were awarded special prizes. For example, the “Volare Prize” (Italian: Premio Volare) for the best text appeared. The name of this award was inspired by the famous song by Domenico Modugno (written by Franco Migliacci), which won the 1958 competition. A tradition has also emerged to present an award for contributions to the development of the entertainment industry.

The evolution of the Sanremo festival

1951: first competition
1953: The rule of dual interpretation of song and orchestration was introduced, which would remain in effect until 1971, with the exception of 1956
1955: first live television broadcast
1958: first live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest
1961: A rule is introduced whereby the final scores are made by unanimous decision of Enalotto (Italian: Enalotto) and are announced a week after the final performance
1964: a rule is introduced according to which one of the interpretations of the song is performed worldwide famous singer, who sings it in Italian, with rare exceptions
1972: Single interpretation rule reinstated
1974: for the first time, “great” performers receive the right to perform directly in the final competition, as opposed to “debutants” competing for this right
1977: the festival moves from the casino in Sanremo to the Ariston Theater and is broadcast on color television for the first time
1980: songs at the competition are performed either to recorded music or completely to a soundtrack
1982: The Critics' Prize is established
1984: For the first time, the winners in the category “Great Artist” are determined by voting in Totip (Italian: Totip), while the winners in new nomination“Debut” is determined by the decision of a professional jury
1986: restoration of “live” performance of songs
1990: restoration of “live” orchestration and popular voting for all participants in the competition
1992: A rule was introduced whereby "great" performers also compete for the right to participate in the final competition
1994: The organization of the festival is again entrusted to RAI
1996: all debutants advance to the final competition dedicated to them
1997: Introduction of a professional jury consisting of media persons working in the entertainment industry (until 2003 and in 2007 and 2008)
1998: the first three finalists in the “Debutant” nomination receive the right to compete for victory in the “Great Artist” nomination
2002: open voting of each member of the professional jury is again introduced for participants in the “Debut” nomination after the performance of the final song
2004: a single popular vote based on messages sent from mobile phones is introduced for all nominations
2005: division of the competition into several nominations, the winners of which receive the highest award, as well as the restoration of mixed voting
2007: limitation of nominations to two - “Great Artist” and “Debut”
2009: first broadcast in DDT and HD formats and the introduction of Internet voting
2010: one of the participants in the competition is the winner of the “X Factor” (Italian: X Factor), as a reward for winning this game
2011: restoration of the tradition of electing a participant to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest

Winners of the Sanremo Festival

List of winners in the “Great Artist” category: