Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Irama - Melodia proibita Fred de Palma / Anitta - Un altro ballo Mario Venuti - Xdono J. Ax / jake la Furia - Salsa

Mario Venuti may not be one of the most obvious names to think when thinking Eurovision but he come to my attention thanks to his duet with Alice in Tutto appare , and has delivered goodies like Caduto dalle stelle , Fammi il piacere , Ventre della città  and Lasciati amare .  This Sicilian singer-songwriter and guitarist started his career in early 80's and found fame in group Denovo before going solo. In mid 90's he reunited various artist for a Battiato tribute album Battiato non Battiato where he covered E ti vengo a cercare . He has written for and collaborated with many other artists. He hasn't been to Sanremo for a decade, it would be nice to have him back.... and why not hav him in Tel Aviv, too. This DILF would certainly stick out. 

Mario Venuti is a name in the Italian music scene that is worth remembering in case Rai desides to select internally for Eurovision 2018 instead of Sanremo. Or who knows, maybe he will debut in Sanremo? Tutto questo mare is his latest hit and oozes summer! Omar Naber comes with Freedom and sounds completely different and a bit Enrique Iglesiasesque to say the least. A nice song for summer.  Nano may have lost in Melodifestivalen but he proves his song has staying power, and now comes with a music video, too. Finally. Hold on is still haunting and interesting piece of music. It would have been very interesting to see how it would have featured in Kyiv..... Karel Ullner and his sister Janiela aka XoJani are Finnish siblings based and raised in New York doing dance music and We get high is their latest. Have you heard of UMK, Ullners?

Alice released her Samsara album two years ago, her first album with original songs in 14 years and to the immense joy of her fans she's not taking another 14 years but the follow up Weekend will be released in a couple of weeks! Even Samsara included a cover and hommages to late Lucio Dalla and late Giuni Russo, while Tiziano Ferro and Franco Battiato among others wrote new songs especially for her. Alice herself also returned as an author (something she should do much more, if you ask this blogger as her self written songs are usually fantastic).  We know about the new album that it includes two songs by Franco Battiato - the big question is are the songs the ones she proposed to Sanremo 2014 and was not accepted? (And did she really propose after all?) The first single is out and it's another cover that fits her like a glove, almost like if it was written for her, Tante belle cose , originally by Francoise Hardy (more about that later when the video is released).  ...