By Giulia Campora
Staff Writer
The 74th Sanremo Music Festival, the biggest competition of the year in Italian music, has graced the small town of Sanremo, Liguria, from Feb. 6-10. The festival occurs annually, beginning in 1951.
The host this year was Amadeus, who has presented the competition for the past five years, with co-host Fiorello, this being their last year presenting. Every night, a special guest co-presented with Amadeus.
This festival is precisely a musical contest in which Italian singers and groups present new songs. The contestants aim to win the famous trophy named the “Leone d’Oro,” in English being translated as the “Golden Lion.” The trophy is a sculpture of a golden lion sitting on a palm tree, which represents the symbol of the city of Sanremo. Furthermore, the winning song represents Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest, a few months after.
This festival is divided into four nights. The first night consists of all 30 contestants presenting each one of their songs, and then at the end of that night, the press jury compiles a ranking of songs they believe were the best of the night.
This year, the co-host with Amadeus for the first night was the winner of the last edition, Marco Mengoni. The winners of the first night were Loredana Bertè, Angelina Mango, Annalisa, Diodato and Mahmood.
The second night, only the first 15 contestants perform their songs for the second time. The radio jury, this time, compiles another song ranking, including the public’s vote from home. The co-host of this year’s second night was famous Italian singer Giorgia, who previously competed in this competition before.
The winners of this year’s second night were Geolier, Irama, Annalisa, Loredana Bertè and Mahmood. International guests also appeared for this night, this year’s being American actor John Travolta, who performed the Italian famous gag of the “Chicken Dance.”
For the third night, the other 15 contestants performed their songs for the second time. The radio jury and general public voting showed a new top five ranking for this night: Angelina Mango, Ghali, Alessandra Amoroso, Il Tre and Mr. Rain. The co-host was famous Italian comedian Teresa Mannino.
The international guests for the third night included Russell Crowe, who surprisingly performed a rock and blues song and announced he will go on tour internationally, as well as famous Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti who sang his most famous song “Terra Promessa,” after performing it for the first time in the same competition 40 years prior.
The fourth night, known as “Cover Night,” consisted of all 30 contestants performing covers of an Italian or International song of their choice, with special music guests or by themselves. For this year’s edition, the ranking for cover night was: Geolier: “Medley: Strade,”Angelina Mango: “La Rondine,” Annalisa: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” Ghali: “Medley: Italiano vero” and Irama: “Quando finisce un amore.”
The co-host for this night was Lorella Cuccarini, who is a judge on popular daytime TV music contest “Amici.” The special guest was Italian singer Arisa, who performed the song that won second place at the same competition in 2012, “La Notte.”
The final and fifth night is the “finale night,” in which all 30 contestants perform their songs for the third time. The co-host for this night was Fiorello, as he and Amadeus became a beloved duo by the public.
The fifth night began with Amadeus showing the first ranking of all the contestants’ songs added all together from the previous nights. Afterwards, the contestants performed their songs one by one. There was a secondary voting round in which the public voted again, with the votes being added to the ranking from the beginning of the night.
The Superfinal voting was voted with three different criterias of matter of importance, imperative to crown the winner of this year’s edition: radio jury, press jury and public vote. The winner that will now represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest and won the Sanremo award is Angelina Mango, with the song “La Noia.”
