San Marino announced yesterday its represant for Stockholm 2016 Eurovision song contest. What was said and told, who he is and what the plans are. And most of all why Serhat, a Turk? Below is a round up of what was said. Besides that Serhat was asked about the Turkish return to Eurovision and he said it's up to the national broadcaster who surely has its reasons to stay away, but he hopes his participation will reactivate the fans to ask for a return and meanwhile them and Turkish press will follow him and San Marino instead. No one mentioned it aloud but everybody's of course also thinking the huge Turkish disapora all over Europe for vote for Serhat as well :-) And once again, there will be a little bit of San Marino on stage anyways.... wait and see!
General director Carlo Romeo, Head of Delegation Alessandro Capicchioni and producer Marco Vannuzzi are in the studio with various journalists, including OGAE Italy's Cristina Giuntini and Alessandro Banti. Here is the video.
Carlo Romeo:
Video will be made in
Paris or London and will be presented in a press conference in Milan
in due time. Eurovision is not something inside San Marino, it's for
the outside. To make ourselves known and seen and present abroad in
front of 200 million people. Valentina Monetta's final place has been
a success for the whole country and now we try a new approach. It's
also a question of money. We need producers. San Marino has talent
and professional artists. We have invested a lot in Valentina Monetta
and she has repaid us 1000%. We would have Monica Hill for example
but we Eurovision is a business, it costs a lot of money and therefor
we need producers. We are a state television and we have accounts to
take care for. So our philosophy at the moment is that we participate
and bring San Marino to the world. In JESC we had this Russian girl
and with that we had the support of Russians watching so to speak. In
Italy there's Sanremo and it's a bit of a handicap. Everyone's just
interested in that. In other countries Eurovision is their Sanremo or
even bigger. That's the way it is.
And we may have a Turkish
singer but there will be a huge surprise from San Marino on stage,
too!
Alessandro Capicchioni:
We receive annually many
emails and proposals from artists, authors and producers who want to
become our represants. Often they are very young and you can see they
aren't that professional yet. And then sometimes you receive
something that stands out immediately. Like Serhat. We got interested
immediately and later found out how serious and professtional the
proposal is. We met and were stunned by the will and preparation to
do this, and accepted.
As a small country we
have always tried to find a record to break, to make us known and
remain in Eurovision's history books. We brought the same singer for
three years in a row, we are the first microstate to make the final,
we had the youngest duo ever, first country to bring an artist from
JESC to ESC in consegutive editions. Now we bring an artist who's in
Top-3 in charts before Eurovision in various European countries.
Usually this happens, if it happens, only after. Serhat is #1 in
Germany, #2 in UK, #8 in France going up, charting in
Switzerland.....
Serhat:
Why not? It's the biggest
platform in the world. Turkish singer representing San Marino with an
international team, I think it's a very good concept. I'm very
honored to be part of it. It's a big challenge. There are no borders
in music, nationality doesn't matter in music. It's destiny. All
pieces fell in the right places and here I am! It's not easy though
being a Turk for San Marino. But music is an universal language. Good
music in any language will work anywhere.
I love singing in
different languages but we haven't yet decided the language for
Stockholm. There will be for sure English and Italian versions but we
will decide once the song is ready, which one works better.
My first Eurovision I saw
was 1974, I was very small. ABBA won. I have watched ever since. I
have been a few times also in the audience! It's unique event. The
level that Eurovision has achieved since then is amazing. It has
changed so much. I don't consider myself a big fan but I know the
contest very well. I think it's a priviledge to be able to perform on
that stage that is the most modern and biggest in the world. I have
been on big stages and arenas before so I know what it is. We will be
very well prepaired and of course I want to win! Everybody there
wants to win. I'm very ambitious but I have also learned to relax a
bit. To have fun and not see things in black and white only. There's
no recipe to win or succeed. You just have to have a right song in
the right time. It must match the times we live in, have
international flavor. Copying something is no good. It must be unique
and fit your own style. And the performance is crucial: be
professional, be real and have fun. I can't imitate, I can only be
myself on stage. Even as a tv-presenter I always tried to be only
myself. (*Over 1000 episodes of Jeopardy, 12 years!). But the song is
the most important thing, all the rest; staging etc is just extra.
Marco Vannuzzi:
I have known Serhat for
several years. My production team 23Music works in Italy and abroad
with various Italian and foreign singers and we're thrilled about
this adventure. Serhat is a great professional with a lot of talent,
and we wanted to take this bet with San Marino and here we are. The
timing is right, we are very happy. It's going to be fun!
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