This year's contest features the following artists:
 

Joe Barbieri, Non ci piove *Bau, Via cosi' Marjoric Biondo, Le margherite Alessio Bonomo, La croce Davide De Marinis, Chiedi quello che vuoi Erredieffe, Ognuno per se' Laura Falcinelli, Uomo davvero *Claudio Fiori, Fai la tua vita Jenny B., Semplice sai

Luna, Cronaca *Lythium, Noel Andrea Mazzacavallo, Nord-Est Andrea Mirò, La canzone del perdono Moltheni, Nutriente Fabrizio Moro, Un giorno senza fine Padre Alfonso Maria Parente, Che giorno sarà Enrico Sognato, E io ci penso ancora Tiro Mancino and Riccardo Sanigallia, Strade

* - This three contestants were the top three finalists from the Accademia della Canzone di Sanremo.  The other participants were chosen by a jury as the top finalists at a in December 1999 Nuove Proposte competition.

If these Italian superstars are even going to bother to perform on the Sanremo stage this week, why not just be a contestant like Morandi or Tozzi?

T here are a couple of ex-champions in this year's festival:  Matia Bazar won with the song "...E Dirsi Ciao" in 1978;  Umberto Tozzi and Gianni Morandi won together in 1989 with Enrico Ruggeri ("Si puo dare di piu'"); Masini ("Perche lo fai") and Spagna ("Gente come noi") both have 3rd place finshes.
Sicilian songwriter Geradina Trovato won 3rd in the New Singers competition in 1993(?) with "Non ho piu la mia citta."

1. Avion Travel
2. Irene Grandi
3. Gianni Morandi
4. Max Gazze'
5. Samuele Bersani
6. Geradina Trovato
7. Carmen Consoli
8. Matia Bazar
9. Alice
10. D'Alessio
11. Subsonica
12. Spagna
13. Mietta
14. Amedeo Minghi and Mariella Nava
15. Marco Masini
16. Umberto Tozzi

Other critic awards:
Best Lyrics:  "Luna," Cronaca (words by Claudio Mattone)
Best Arrangement:  Avion Travel
Best Music:  Avion Travel

Here are the some of results from both the Expert Jury and the regular jury from regular Italian citizens all across Italy (just look at all the differences!)

Final Results of I Nuovi Proposti
1. Jenny B.
2. Tiromancino e Riccardo Sinigallia
3. Luna
4. Andrea Miro'
5. Davide De Marinis
6. Padre Alfonso Maria Parente
7. Lithium
8. Enrico Sognato
9. Marjorie Biondo
10. Erredieffe
11. Claudio Fiori
12. B.A.U.
13. Fabrizio Mori
14. Joe Barbieri
15. Alessio Bonomo
16. Laura Falcinelli
17. Moltheni
18. Andrea Mazzacavallo

I will always remember Sanremo 2000 for the pall of silence that descended on the press room each night as the preliminary standings were read.  What an experience to journalists turn to each other and ask if this was some cruel joke perpetrated by the crew from Striscia or Scherzi a parte.  It was a very interesting few days as the leaders after the initial public voting sought to justify themselves and their positioning, the behind the scenes efforts to swing the vote, the
mathematical formulas meant to be fair turned against some of the early leader...all this and I haven't even started to talk about the music at the festival.

Avion Travel had an excellent song.  The question that begs to be answered is whether this song is not of the usual Sanremo variety, will it sell?  Has the festival reached a svolta...will quality be the hallmark rather than popular sound guaranteed to sell records?  The debate continues.  Let's take a step back.  At the end of the first night of public voting, Gerardina Trovato lead the pack with Irene Grandi and Matia Bazar following.  The pundits were stunned. How could Gerardina be voted the top song initially?  Where was Morandi as the standings only went as far as the first three places.  A supposed voting results list was leaked to the press.  It proved to be false.  The rumors flew and the complaints mounted about the unfairness of the voting system...the calls for reform sounded remarkably like the voting
system previously in place.

Then came the final night when the 'giuria di qualita' or 'esperti' would decide the winning song.  It turns out that quite a bit of bias existed to allow Avion travel to win.  Instead of voting a song on its own merits, many jury members voted songs against their favorite, in this case Sentimento by Avion Travel.  A person has a favorite song which he votes as a high vote.  Every other song gets a minimum vote no matter how good it may be.  Not a very fair way to judge a song on its
on merits.  Press reports indicate that the jury wanted to send a message that Sanremo was changing and putting more emphasis on quality.  Maybe  a few people took themselves a little too seriously about setting trends and tastes for Italian music.  The most played song after the festival was Irene Grandi with the song La tua ragazza sempre.   I Matia Bazar were close behind in terms of airplay.  Avion Travel were not at the top of the list.

Sanremo is a difficult animal to tame.  Difficult to understand and dissect.  There were quite a number of excellent songs.  Carmen Consoli has away with words and music that make you realize the depth of her pieces.  Max Gazze' is always fun and interesting for his songs and sound.  Samuale Bersani was sublime with his song Replay which should have placed better.  But again, it a piece that requires time and patience in the listening.  Matia Bazar, Alice and Morandi presented
themselves well and should their excellence as performers.  On the other hand, I was wondering why Umberto Tozzi, Marco Masini and Spagna bothered to show up.  Especially with Tozzi, I just thought it was time think about something different.

As for the new artists, Jenny B swept the audience away at rehearsals.  You could tell by her vocal abilities that she would take the prize.  The only problem I had with listening to the new artists in rehearsal is that very few of them sounded like they later did on the screen.   I am sure they will all sound different on cds as well.

Overall, I enjoyed myself this year.  The quality of the songs and performances were generally good with the usual assortment of clunkers.  Was it my favorite of the nine I have attended?  No.  That was the one back in the early nineties that launched Pausini and Trovato as new artists.  The  two cd compilations which will be reviewed later are both quite good.  Morandi is missing on both so you will have to get his cd separately.  However, the Morandi cd is quite good and should sell well with Eros Ramazzotti producing and lending his voice and musical talents to the effort.

- Angelo