Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Giacomo who? I hear you ask. Watch closely Valentina Monetta on stage in Baku and also in Copenhagen and there he is providing backing vocals. Among his other musical productions this versatile singer has had time to record and release his own Italian song book of the songs he thinks are some of the jewels of the last 40 years of Italian music.  At first glance it seems to be like any other including the usual classics from Lucio Dalla's Caruso to Gino Paoli's Il cielo in una stanza, Battisti's E penso a te and Gianni Morandi's Canzoni stonate , but then, there are some pleasant surprises like Banane e lampone by Dalla/Morandi and E non finisce mica il cielo by Mia Martini. But there's even more. Cu ti lu rissi and Lugano addio are two songs less familiar to this blogger but they are great and fit his voice perfectly. On the track list one song sticks out like Lordi in the Eurovision history: Mamma Maria , a classic 1980's Italopop by Ricchi e Pov...

A lot of information on next week's Sanremo festival was revealed today. In the city of flowers the rehearsals are on going, the press has heard the songs and excitement is rising. As we know, this year Sanremo has nothing to do with Eurovision, or at least selecting the song and/or artist for Copenhagen 2014 as Emma Marrone is already internally selected by RAI with La mia città . But let's start wit the stage designed by Emanuela Trixie Zitkowsky. It's only the second time in the 64 years of the frestival a woman has got this prestigious job. It's inspired of the beauty of Italian 18th century palace. "The dramatic theme" , she tells, "interprets the beauty of a hypothetical Italian palace, a salon that has lived its past glory, but time and neglect have been its worst enemies." . There are frescoes, big staircases, black and white chess floors.... This blogger thinks it's going to be beautiful! There was something similar in the early-m...

We know everyone's gossiping, guessing and speculating about Melodifetivalen 2013 artists. In Italy the situation is same with the Sanremo festival. Names are mentioned, denied, confirmed, withdrawn... Everyone has his or hers sure names to drop and newspapers publish lists and speculations run wild on social media.  Dove c'è musica has summed up the situation as it is now.  At the moment Nesli, Gino Paoli, Mario Biondi, Annalisa Scarrone and Marco Mengoni are given as sure names. And that would bring Mengoni's name back to Eurovision scene. Or, Mario Biondi would be a perfect continuation of Gualazzi-Zilli but then... isn't it time to change a bit? Other very possible names are Almamegretta, Fiorella Mannoia, Il Cile, Simona Molinari & Peter Cincotti and Daniele Silvestri. This blogger would love to see Raiz and Almamegretta! And Fiorella Mannoia, the lady of the Italian music would make a come back in Sanremo where she was the last time in 1988 just ...

The second artist of the 14 Big in coming Sanremo festival has been revealed (we already know Gino Paoli is supposed to be there) and it's rapper Nesli. It's not the first time we hear rap in Sanremo but it's been a while since the last one, Frankie Hi NRG's Rivoluzione back in 2008. Nesli's latest album has been a success with songs like Perdo via and Ti sposerò so let's see what he brings to the stage of Teatro Ariston in February. Nesli (Francesco Tarducci, 31) has been around since 1999 with several albums and countless collaborations. Tiziano Ferro included in his latest album a cover of Nesli's La fine so things are cooking well for him. Will Sanremo 2013 be his real crossover to the stardom and under the shadow from his big brother Fabri Fibra ?

The summer is ending even in Italy (maybe not weatherwise...) and people's favorite past time is here: gossip. And if it's about Sanremo even better. The first name given as certain to be participating in next year's festival is Gino Paoli. He's a youngster of 76. The winner of 2011 edition Roberto Vecchini (68) is a baby compared to him and he wouldn't figure out even among the Buranovskiye Babushki... This said the man has a remarkable career that covers already seven decades and one of his best known songs is from 1959, Il cielo in una stanza . Dozens of versions have been recorded ever since Mina made the song a hit until these days by Carla Bruni Sarkozy , Franco Battiato , Mike Patton of Faith No More and others. Another classic is  Sapore di sale .  This would be his sixth Sanremo following the participations of 1961, 1964, 1966, 1989 and 2002 where he came third with Un altro amore . His latest album is from 2009.  The names of ...