Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

A lot of speculation, polemics and outrage last night in Sanremo after the definitive eliminations of four Big, as they all turned out to be real grand old glories (except La Ferreri of course).  Al Bano has been maybe the most gracious in his comments:  "They kicked out my song. But then again, this is called Festival della canzone Italiana so I suppose they didn't like my song. But it's not the end. They didn't kick me out" Then he continues listing many songs and artists who came last or didn't make the final over the decades and became later even international hits and evergreen from Celentano to Vasco Rossi to Zucchero.  Giusy Ferreri can only comment with fa talmente male (it really hurts). But she declares happy she had the opportunity to present her new album and it's a game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  Ron was apparently already furious he had to face the second chance, now... I don't even want to know! In his Faceboo...

Gigi D'Alessio (49) is at his 5th festival and he has always finished in top-10. He last participated in 2012 in duet with Loredana Berté . Some readers might know him only as Anna Tatangelo's hubby but he has sold over 20 million records being one of the biggest names in Napoletan music scene. Gigi got involved with music at very young age, and at 12 starts studying music and piano seriously. At 23 he's already conducting orchestra and in 1992 he releases his first album. His 17th album will be released right after the festival, titled 24 febbraio 1967 , his date of birth as he turns 50. It includes also his entry La prima stella (The first star)

Marco Mengoni takes another crown before this incredible 2013 is over for him: his concert from Rimini on New Year's eve will be broadcasted live on Canale 5. The big New Year's eve variety shows have been a battle by RaiUno and Canale 5 for years and usually Canale 5 has lost it. I suspect they won't this year! The concert starts at 10pm in Rimini's Piazza Fellini and will lead Italians to 2014. As a warm up his concert #prontoacorrerelive from Taormina, Sicily this summer will be broadcasted on Italia1 on December 20, 2013. After New Year's he will retire from the spotlight to work in his next album. RaiUno is having a Carlo Conti conducted show live from Courmayeur with guests, including musical acts Moreno, Gigi D'Alessio, Anna Tatangelo, Karima, the Voice winner Elhaida Dani and Paola Iezzi (of Paola & Chiara). It seems like a battle lost.... :-)

Things are cooking also in Sanremo and it looks like Tamara Ecclestone is not going to be one of the hostesses due to her demands and unprofessionalism (I never thought a day like this would come! Hooray, there is someone RAI isn't putting up to!), and the two songs breaking the releasing date in one way or the other are both kept in the line up, namely the Loredana Bertè duet with Gigi D'Alessio, and Chiara Civelli. The Latest news is Ell/Nikki would be present in the final on February 18, 2012 and award the one and only that goes to Baku Eurovision 2012. And maybe they get to mime their song one more time? And more. Once again it seems the Italian entrant will be selected amongst the artists of one record label only, juts like Sugar last year. But it's not going to be Sugar this time around.... Confused yet? More news as they happen.... Right here.

Here we go. As soon as the song titles and artists were confirmed for Sanremo 2012 problems were here. The song by Chiara Civelli, Al posto del mondo , was already presented for the newcomers selection two years ago sung by Daniele Magro . His manager prompted to put the song online now so Chiara's song is no longer a new one. And risks disqualification. But more attention is paid to the one Respirare by Gigi D'Alessio and Loredana Bertè. They both had a snippet of 30 seconds of the song online in their respective Facebook earlier this month for a moment before they were informed that actually they were accepted to Sanremo. So, in theory this is to be disqualified as well. This follows La Berté's previous Sanremo affair four years ago when she was disqualified with her Musica e parole as it was discovered during the festival the music of the song had already been released in 1988 with different lyrics. There's also a precedent for these 30 second snippets affairs. In ...

Sal Da Vinci (39) gets to Sanremo for the very first time. He was born in New York as Salvatore Sorrentino but took the stage name after his father, Mario Da Vinci, a famous napoletan artist. Sal starts as an actor in theater at the age of 14 and in films at 16. Then he moved on to music and tries pop career in early 90's winning Festival Italiano 1994, releasing 3 albums and scoring a few hits. After a break he returned to the napoletan scene, headlines a success musical, sings with the big ones in Napoli and now tries again to make it big in the rest of the Italy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_NMzlehYwU , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mBUTxy8DDQ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WamwjY-FMl0