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On the 18th of February 1997 Piero Chiambretti, wearing a white smoking jacket and a pair of white wings, opened the 47th Festival della Canzone Italiana, broadcast live by Eurovision and to Australia and USA as well by RAI INTERNATIONAL, which takes place in Sanremo at Teatro Ariston. Flying over the stage, he announced the official presenter Mike Bongiorno and the blonde showgirl Valeria Marini. This year, as in 1996, there wasn’t an announced front- runner, but the reporters gave the name of Patty Pravo as favourite, because her song was written by the rockstar Vasco Rossi. However, after the first round of voting, (Wednesday and Thursday) there were surprise high ratings for the newcomer duo Jalisse, Anna Oxa and the young girl Syria, winner of the New Singer’s Competition 1996. The great Anna Oxa seemed to be the only one of the famous entrant getting high votes, thanks to her modern pop song performed with good vocal skills. Well placed also were Silvia Salemi, the band O.R.O. (with a song written by Enrico Ruggeri) and the bluesy-voiced Fausto Leali (ESC 1989). It seemed clear that the list of the favourites was shortened to these six names, even if the reporters wanted a recovery of Patty Pravo, awarded with the critics’ prize. Friday was the day of the New Singers’ final. The young sisters Paola e Chiara, produced by Phil Palmer, got the prize performing the celtic ballad Amici come prima. For this category the critics awarded Niccolò Fabi, one of the eve’s favourites and great compliments was given to Alex Baroni who showed a beautiful voice. Toto Cutugno (ESC 1990 winner) opened the Saturday final followed by Syria. Massimo Ranieri (ESC 1971 and 1973) got a burst of applause by the audience as did Loredana Berté. After the performance of the guest Mireille Mathieu the result finally arrived: the winner were Jalisse with Fiumi di Parole (Rivers of Words). If they enter Dublin 1997 (no official announced has been made yet) they will be a strong contender. Their song is a rhythmic ballad where the voice of the singer (Alessandra) flies over the music. They were also the favourites of the Internet people. Anna Oxa (ESC 1989) got second place with the pop song Storie; a good success for Anna who is going to release an album in Spanish; she will certainly be one of the top sellers. Third place for Syria, with a classical good music song. So the results were: |
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1.Jalisse - Fiumi di Parole - 15325 pts 2.Anna Oxa - Storie - 14911 pts 3.Syria - Sei Tu - 14753 pts Tie for all the other entrants. |
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It was a Festival with good songs from the young performers, and many surprises. The TV audience was very high: about 15,000,000 people for the Final (68% of share): a record! My opinion is that as usual the critics were critics, but the quality was high. The jury lead by Luciano Pavarotti gave the following prizes: Best Lyrics - Maurizio Lauzi - Il capo dei giocattoli Best Voice - Alex Baroni - Cambiare and Domino - Io senza te Best Music - Patty Pravo - E dimmi che non vuoi morire Best Arrangement - Syria - Sei Tu |
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Finally here is my personal top list: 1st Anna Oxa - Storie 2nd Loredana Berté - Luna 3rd Jalisse - Fiumi di parole |
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Italy at ESC 97: welcome back! After 3 years, Italy is finally going to come back to the Eurovision Song Contest. The Italian presence, however, was missed much more by the Euro fans abroad since in the Belpaese this competition is mostly unknown. The RAI had decided to not enter in the last 3 years because the audience was very low for a prime-time show, and just the pressures by the other Eurovision channels have convinced the Italian television to compete again. Despite of the low importance given to the event, Italy has always entered with good songs and also this year the audience will be satisfied: the duet Jalisse will compete with Fiumi di Parole (River of Words) their Sanremo 1997 winner song. Not since 1972 (Nicola di Bari - I giorni dell’arcobaleno) has the Festival’s winner entered the ESC. Curiously Jalisse didn’t realise they had the right of entering the contest and it is only thanks to OGAE Italy that they decided to go to Dublin. We must say that their decision to perform their Sanremo success is absolutely right as it’s a really good entry and will certainly do well at the ESC. But who are Jalisse? Their names are Alessandra Drusian and Fabio Ricci and even if many reporters would like seeing a love story between them, the two Italian singers affirm to be just good friends. They met in 1990 when she was a chorist of the RAI and he was just an unknown songwriter. But it was only in 1992 that they begun to collaborate. After several attempts to get a contract they finally got their big chance, entering in 1996 the Newcomers competition at the Festival of Sanremo and taking 6th place performing Liberami. This year they arrived on the Festival stage with few chances but after the first evening it was forecastable that there would be a possible surprise. So their song - included on the album Il Cerchio Magico del Mondo (The magic Circle of the World) - won the contest giving to Jalisse the possibility of entering also the Eurovision. It is a uptempo (but not very fast) ballad with some Eastern sounds. Alessandra shows great vocal skills while Fabio plays guitar and sings only the refrain. Good Luck Italy!!! |
