* Spotlight on the 1999 Festival di Sanremo *
The Festival of the Italian Song
February 23 - 27, 1999

Read Angelo Mazza's REVIEW of this year's Festival - with reviews of new compilations and albums

Read Angelo's preview of this year's Festival
  • Hosts
  • I Campioni
  • Le Nuove Proposte
  • Guest Stars
  • Notes about this year's Festival
  • Results
  • Last year's Spotlight on Sanremo


    • Hosting this year's Festival are Fabio Fazio and 85 year-old Nobel Prize Winner in medicine Renato Dulbecco, who emigrated to the US after WW II and returned to Italy in 1993.

  • H ere is the lineup for the 1999 edition of il Fesitval di Sanremo:
    • Al Bano, "Il viso della quiete"
    Nino D'Angelo, "Senza giacca e cravatta"
    Massimo Di Cataldo, "Come sei bella"
    Eugenio Finardi, "Amami Lara"
    Enzo Gragnaniello w/ Ornella Vanoni,"Alberi"
    Gianluca Grignani, "Il giorno perfetto"
    Nada, "Guardami negli occhi"    		 Mariella Nava, "Così è la vita"
    Anna Oxa, "Senza pietà"
    Gatto Panceri, "Dov'è dov'è"
    Marina Rei, "Io sono qui"
    Antonella Ruggiero, "Piccola luce dell'anima"
    Daniele Silvestri, "Aria"
    Stadio, "Lo zaino"
    Le Nuove Proposte
    T he New Singers Competition has produced many of the great Italian singers heard around the world today including international superstars like Andrea Bocelli, Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, and Paolo Vallesi.

    This year's contest features the following artists:
     
    Allegra, Puoi fidarti di me
    Arianna, C'e' che ti amo'
    Leda Battisti, Un fiume in piena
    Boris, Little darling
    Alex Britti, Oggi sono io
    Elena Cattaneo, Nessuno può fermare questo tempo
    Francesca Chiara, Ti amo che strano    		 Max Gazze', Una musica può fare
    Filippa Giordano, Un giorno in più
    Daniele Groff, Adesso
    Irene Lamedica, Quando lei non c'è
    Dottor Livingstone, Al centro del mondo
    Quintorigo, Rospo
    Soerba, Noi non ci capiamo
    Some reflections on these artists:  "I scanned Gazze's album and it is quite good, I did not like Battisti,  Britti had a good run this summer but the album is a bit of a disappointment, Giordano is supposed to rely on her opera background and I did not buy the Groff album on this go around."  (Angelo Mazza)

    Guest Stars

    Here is the latest schedule of the superospiti and international stars:
    Feb. 23 - Gianni Morandi, Cher (singing "Believe")
    Feb. 24 - Ivano Fossati, Skunk Anansie
    Feb. 25 - Riccardo Cocciante, REM, Robbie Williams
    Feb. 26 - Franco Battiato, Ricky Martin, Lenny Kravitz
    Feb. 27 - Alanis Morrisette, Mariah Carey

    Also, special appearances by Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren.

    A lthough there are a number of "old-timers" in this year's Festival, the line-up is much more impressive than those of the past couple of years.  Just to give you an example of the poor quality of previous "Festivals," the champions from the last two festivals, Annalisa Minetti and I Jalisse, are not represented because of very poor album sales.
    There were a number of popular artists who did not make the final cut for this year's festival.  The list includes Toto Cotugno, Marcella and Gianni Bella, Mietta, Audio 2, Loredana Berte, I Ragazzi Italiani, Barbara Cola, Vianella and Nino Buonocore.

    T here are a couple of ex-champions in this year's festival:  Antonella Ruggiero won it while lead singer of Matia Bazar with the song "...E Dirsi Ciao" in 1978 and finished second last year with "Amore Lontanissimo".  Nada finished first with Nicola Di Bari in 1971 with "Il Cuore e' un Zingaro" and third in 1972 with "Re di Denari."  Al Bano won in 1984  with "Chi' Sara" with wife Romina Power.  Anna Oxa won it in 1989 with Fausto Leali ("Ti Lascero").
    Massimo DiCataldo won 2nd in the New Singers competition in 1995 with "Che sarà di me." 


    Results

    Final Results for I Campioni

    1. Anna Oxa
    2. Antonella Ruggiero
    3. Mariella Nava
    4. Enzo Gragnaniello with Ornella Vanoni
    5. Stadio
    6. Al Bano Carrisi
    7. Marina Rei
    8. Nino D’Angelo
    9. Daniele Silvestri
    10. Nada
    11. Eugenio Finardi
    12. Gatto Panceri
    13. Gianluca Grignani
    14. Massimo Di Cataldo

    Now compare them with  the results from the first night of competition:

    1. Antonella Ruggiero
    2. Mariella Nava
    3. Anna Oxa
    4. Enzo Gragnaniello con Ornella Vanoni
    5. Eugenio Finardi
    6. Gatto Panceri
    7. Stadio
    8. Massimo Di Cataldo
    9. Al Bano Carrisi
    10. Nino D’Angelo
    11. Marina Rei
    12. Gianluca Grignani
    13. Daniele Silvestri
    14. Nada

    Once again, Oxa enjoys success at Sanremo... This is her second 1st place win (1989's Ti Lascero). She also finished second a couple of years ago and third in 1978.  Ruggiero takes 2nd place, just like last year, and Mariella Nava placed third to make it an all-woman top 3... just like last year.  Very disappointing placing for DiCataldo who went from 8th place the first night to finish in last place.  Al Bano and Nino D'Angelo were the big favorites among the audience at il teatro Ariston and most reporters felt that D'Angelo did get short-changed in the standings.
    Stay tuned to this page for post-Sanremo commentary from Angelo Mazza...


    Nuove Proposte Final Standings

    1. Alex Britti
    2. Filippa Giordano
    3. Leda Battisti
    4. Arianna
    5. Daniele Groff
    6. Elena Cataneo
    7. Francesca Chiara
    8. Max Gazzé
    9. Allegra
    10. Soerba
    11. Quintorigo (winner of critic's award)
    12. Boris
    13. Dr. Livingston
    14. Irene La Medica


    For more news on Sanremo '99, visit Italian newspaper sites such as La Stampa or sites like RAI's official Sanremo site.
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