Italian language pop and San Remo hits

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by AndrewK, Jan 25, 2020.

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  1. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    What are your favorite Italian songs? Lately I've been listening to singer Annalisa who appeared in San Remo with Una Finesstra tra le Stelle (2015). I don't speak Italian, but enjoy her pop songs

    Also I enjoy Anna Tatangelo and Gigi D'Alession who writes some songs for her

    From classic San Remo artists, I love Al Bano/Romina Powers, Ricchi E Poveri, Riccardo Fogli, Loretta Goggi, Meccano, Umberto Tozzi, Toto Cutugno, Flavia Fortunato...
     
  2. Maccaroni

    Maccaroni Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Sorry I can't contribute more meaningfully but as the son on Italian immigrants in Sydney on the 1970s, I saw most of those acts named in the San Remo section.

    The local community would band together for the Festa for some or other saint and they would band together through fundraising efforts and the like to play at rugby league fields in front of a couple of thousand migrants.
     
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  3. folkfreak

    folkfreak The cold blooded penguin

    Location:
    Germany
    I don't think it was a hit, but it was a hit for me when I was a child for sure.
    My dad is italian and I had the single and played it to death...
     
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  4. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    I thought quite a few 80's San Remo songs were commercial success in Germany also? They were also successful in former Soviet Union too.
    I forgot to mention Raf.... same one that sang Self Control, however he had some nice Italian songs too into the the 90's (Ti pretendo, Senza Respiro, Interminatamente)
    I also like Nek (Laura No Esta, La Vita E)..... Eiffel 65 remix of La Vita E was also fun Italo dance...
     
  5. folkfreak

    folkfreak The cold blooded penguin

    Location:
    Germany
    Could be, but it was not known then that they where from San Remo. At least I didn't know as I was aged between 8 and 18 in the 80's I also didn't know it for La Puntura until I found the clip on youtube, it was just a single that I loved to hear when i visited my dad every second weekend ...

    Another single I loved at those times was Furia cavallo del west...(the original version, not the abnormalities one finds on youtube today)
     
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  6. GyroT

    GyroT Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    Lucio Battisti
    Franco Battiato
    Mina are all top drawer. San Remo is less relevant for the music these days as music itself is not the force it once was, however the event itself is a reminder of the social cohesion the country once enjoyed when from North to South families gathered around wireless sets, then tvs to watch the grande kermesse and express an opinion about the eventual winner. I will watch because of the bitter sweet feeling of nostalgia for a less globalised Italy when italianicity was palpable, visible, and 3rd rate sushi was not the order of the day. We are even about to have our own poor man's Donald Trump which gives you some idea of the state of play. Anyway we live in hope and who knows, we may even get a decent song or two.
     
  7. phillyal1

    phillyal1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    philadelphia, pa.
    I really like this :
     
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  8. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    one of my favorites from Umberto Tozzi.... co-written by one of my favorite composers of Italian pop Giancarlo Bigazzi :)

    Gli Innamorati

     
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  9. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    Since you specifically mention "pop" in the thread title, I will leave out my favorites from the RPI (rock progressive italiano) and the Italian Disco scene this time.

    A classic: Riccardo Fogli - Storie Di Tutti I Giorni (1982)
     
  10. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Riccardo Fogli is great, I love his Buone Vibrazione, Oggi Ci Sto, Torna A Sorridere, Amore di Guerra, Voglio Sognare...... among others :)
    you can post RPI, interpret pop loosely
     
  11. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    I am not too familiar with other Gianna Nannini songs, but this song is quite special, so much emotion in melody and singinig

    Gianna Nannini - I Maschi (1987)
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2020
  12. folkfreak

    folkfreak The cold blooded penguin

    Location:
    Germany
    If you like the poppy Nannini, then Maschi or the Profumo Album is great, if you want to listen to the more rocky and bluesy Nannini, listen to her masturbation hymn America
     
  13. Mulderre

    Mulderre 60s and 70s Music Lover

    Sanremo is somewhat a 20th Century show in the 21st Century. I mean, the 4 (5?) serate are still very much viewed around Europe (don't forget that it is the pre-selection for Eurovision) and of course, Italy. For the newcomers, those who hadn't never seen it, it is a hard first watch, It is long, it is somehow tedious, it is stereotypically Italian, with loads of interval acts, and tens of commercial breaks.

    But, after seeing two years in a row (2020 will be my third), an Eurovision fan such as me cannot miss this: it has a lot of controversy (last year with Loredana Bertè, other years with Emmanuele Filiberto, a long story), live orchestra (something missed by Eurofans) and that charm that other festivals lack nowadays
     
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  14. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member

    Location:
    moscow
    San Remo, italo pop, italo disco or "italians" as they were called here is arguably the most popular pop music genre in the Soviet Union in the early 80's. The retro stations still play the italo pop hits 24/7. If you switch on Retro FM Moscow you can be forgiven to think you're in Italy. The play 2 or 3 italo pop songs per hour!
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2020
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  15. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    This statement would be exactly what Matteo Salvini - our right wing "sovranist" version of Trump - would say about Sanremo.

    I don't watch Sanremo, it's just pure TV trash, recently colonized by talent shows and not by chance.
    It was home to some great songs in the past, but that is long gone.
     
  16. In the 60's also steangers singers went to Samremo in the Festival, not as guest I mean... Rolling Stones for example...
     
  17. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    The Smiths came in the 80s and Blur in the 90s. But they were all in playback.
     
  18. Yes... also McCartney, Queen, Springsteen, Adele... but they come as GUESTS... in the 60's strangers singers (also Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong...) come in the official competition to win The Festival in couple with an italian singer and singing in italian
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2020
  19. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    Oh, sure. It has to be said that many of that duets were rather embarrassing, but it was certainly in fashion back in the day.
     
  20. Yes, I werw too young then to remember but looking at some videos they are really embarassing! But also the playback of the big stars was. Remember that I saw McCartney in Sanremo and also if I were very happy to see him I were disappointed by the playback
     
  21. Picca

    Picca Forum Resident

    Location:
    Modena, Italy
    San Remo... We watch it just to post trashy comments on Facebook. It’s the real italian carnival, a sort of annual ritual, a brain holiday.
     
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  22. elgreco

    elgreco Groove Meister

    One more vote for Franco Battiato, whose pop albums are very stylish and beautifully crafted. I could recommend nearly every pop album that he made over the years. He started to go 'pop' circa 1979, but had a few more prog/avant garde releases prior to that. These can also be of interest if you like that kind of music.

    Recommending Battiato also leads me to my favourite Italian singer Alice (pronounced A-li-chee, real name Carla Bissi), who won the San Remo festival in 1981 with the Battiato-penned song Per Elisa ('For Elise'):



    Both artist represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest of 1984 with a song that's one of the best entries ever IMO - the Battiato-penned I treni di Tozeur:

    Franco Battiato & Alice - I Treni Di Tozeur (live 1984)

    Surprisingly, it didn't even win the contest, but it did chart in several EU countries.
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2020
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  23. Fudge

    Fudge Unknown to most people

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    Sanremo festival every year is proud to remember all the famous singers that take part in the contest in the past years. But they always forgive to remember that they were, in the vast majority quite unknown at the time. Lucio Battisti, Mina, Lucio Dalla and others never went back to Sanremo after reaching notoriety. Only Adriano Celentano did it, but he's a special case.
     
  24. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Adriano Celentano and his movies were also popular in Soviet Union. I've seen several of his comedies with Ornella Muti translated into Russian and in German too, they're fun and goofy comedies :)

    here is one of my favorites with Adriano and his beautiful wife Claudia Mori, a lite catchy pop tune

    Adriano Celenatno & Claudia Mori - Non Succedera Piu
     
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  25. Picca

    Picca Forum Resident

    Location:
    Modena, Italy
    San Remo is for beginners in search of fame or old relics looking for a second (or a third, fourth, fifth...) chance. Established artists stay away from that stage, mainly because it's a contest, too risky.
     
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