Italy

Italy: San Remo final

Today, the annual festival di Sanremo will have it’s final. Before the start of the contest, all the participants were (secretly) able to express their wish to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest. If the winner does not want to go to Liverpool, RAI selects another contestant. The show will start at 20.40 CET and you can watch it here. Anna Oxa Sali (canto dell’anima) Ariete Mare di guai Articolo 31 Un bel vaggio Colapesce & Dimartino Splash Colla Zio Non mi va Coma_Cose L’Addio Elodie Due Gianluca Grignani Quando ti manco il fiato Gianmaria Mostro Giorgia Parole dette male I Cugini Di Campagna Lettera 22 Lazza Cenere LDA Se poi domani Leo Gassmann Terzo cuore Levante Vivo Madame Il bene nel male Mara Sattei Duemilaminuti Marco Mengoni Due vite Modà Lasciami Mr. Rain Supereroi Olly Polvere Paola & Chiara Furore Rosa Chemical Made in Italy Sethu Cause perse Shari Egoista Tananai Tango Ultimo Alba Will Stupido Anna Oxa took part in SanRemo 1987 (7th), 1989 (with Fausto Leali, 1st), 1990 (4th), 1997 (2nd) and 2011. She represented Italy in the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest with “Avrei voluto”.Colapesce & Dimartino participated in 2021 and became 4th.Coma_Cose took part in SanRemo 2021 (20th).Elodie sang in SanRemo 2017 (8th) and 2020 (7th).Gianluca Grignani took part in 2015 (8th).Levante took part in 2020 and became 12th.Madame was there in 2021 and became 8th.Marco Mengoni won SanRemo 2015 and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest with “L’essenziale”.Modà took part in 2011 together with Emma Marone and was also present in 2013.Tananai became 25th in 2022.Ultimo was the runner up in SanRemo 2019.

Italy: 2nd show of San Remo

Today, we will be able to see the 2nd show of the annual festival di Sanremo in Italy. Before the start of the contest, all the participants were (secretly) able to express their wish to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest. If the winner does not want to go to Liverpool, RAI selects another contestant. The show will start at 20.40 CET and you can watch it here. Fourteen songs will be presented tonight: Will sings “Stupido” Modà sings “Lasciami” Sethu sings “Cause perse” Articolo 31 sings “Un bel viaggio” Lazza sings “Cenere” Giorgia sings “Parole dette male” Colapesce & Dimartino sing “Splash” Shari sings “Egoista” Madame sings “Il bene nel male” Levante sings “Vivo” Tananai sings “Tango” Rosa Chemical sings “Made in Italy” LDA sings “Se poi domani” Paola & Chiara sing “Furore” Colapesce & Dimartino participated in 2021 and became 4th.Levante took part in 2020 and became 12th.Madame was there in 2021 and became 8th.Modà took part in 2011 together with Emma Marone and was also present in 2013.Tananai became 25th in 2022. Note that we only mentioned the SanRemo participation in the years that RAI selected the Eurovision participant from the festival.

Italy: Festival di Sanremo starts

Tomorrow, the annual festival di Sanremo starts in Italy. Before the start of the contest, all the participants were (secretly) able to express their wish to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest. If the winner does not want to go to Liverpool, RAI selects another contestant. The show will start at 20.40 CET and you can watch it here. Fourteen songs will be presented tomorrow: Anna Oxa sings “Sali (canto dell’anima)” Ariete sings “Mare di guai” Colla Zio sings “Non mi va” Coma_Cose sings “L’addio” Elodie sings “Due” Gianluca Grignani sings “Quando ti manca il fiato” Gianmaria sings “Mostro” I Cugini di Campagna sings “Lettera 22” Leo Gassmann sings “Terzo cuore” Mara Sattei sings “Duemilaminuti” Marco Mengoni sings “Due vite” Mr. Rain sings “Supereroi” Olly sings “Polvere” Ultimo sings “Alba” Anna Oxa took part in SanRemo 1987 (7th), 1989 (with Fausto Leali, 1st), 1990 (4th), 1997 (2nd) and 2011. She represented Italy in the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest with “Avrei voluto”.Coma_Cose took part in SanRemo 2021 (20th).Elodie sang in SanRemo 2017 (8th) and 2020 (7th).Gianluca Grignani took part in 2015 (8th).Marco Mengoni won SanRemo 2015 and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest with “L’essenziale”.Ultimo was the runner up in SanRemo 2019. Note that we only mentioned the SanRemo participation in the years that RAI selected the Eurovision participant from the festival.

Achille Lauro

© EBU/Nathan Reinds About Quick Facts NameLauro De Marinis Born11 July 1990 Nationality🇮🇹 Italian National SelectionFestival of Sanremo 2019, 2020, 2022, Una voce per San Marino 2022 In Eurovision2022 Turin SongStripper (2022) Biography Achille Lauro, pseudonym of Lauro De Marinis. is an Italian singer-songwriter. Lauro was born in Verona. He grew up in Rome and at the age of 14 he chose to go to live with his older brother Federico, former producer for the group Quarto Blocco; it is from Federico that the young Lauro derives his passion for music. Also thanks to his brother, Lauro enters the world of underground rap and punk rock. Having entered the musical circle of Quarto Blocco, Lauro decides to adopt a stage name, opting for Achille Lauro. He himself explained that this choice was motivated by the fact that many associated his name with the surname of the Neapolitan shipowner of the same name. In 2012 his first mixtape was released, entitled “Barabba”. The mixtape was an independent production, so it was made immediately available as a free download. The same goes for “Harvard”, another mixtape produced for the Quarto Blocco collective. Lauro became the leading artist of Quarto Blocco in 2013. In February of the same year the album “Achille Idol immortale” was announced, then released in February 2014 as a free download. The disc did not look like a traditional rap album, since at the end of each track there is the reading of an evangelical verse, revisited in a “Laurian” perspective, and the sounds are not typical of hip-hop. In 2015, thanks to the excellent response of “Achille Idol Immortale”, from which successful singles such as “Real Royal Street Rap” are extracted, Roccia Music invested more and more in Lauro, who released an EP entitled “Young Crazy EP”. For May 26, 2015, the release of “Dio c’e” was scheduled. The title of the album is clearly another reference to the Christian religion. The reason that prompted Lauro to abandon Roccia Music was the desire to found his own record label, the No Face Agency, which he would be able to start together with the producer DJ Pitch8, former producer of the song Young King. The new label immediately got to work on the production of “Ragazzi Madre”, the Roman rapper’s third studio album, released in November 2016. During 2017, after leaving Roccia Music, Lauro, while collaborating with leading artists of the old Italian school, approaches emerging rap artists of the new school and realizes successful songs such as “Thoiry RMX”. This year’s singles depart from the typical style of early studio albums; the wave of the “samba trap” is born. In the first half of 2018 the singles “Midnight Carnival” and “Ammò” were released, anticipating the album “Pour l’amour”, released on June 22 of the same year in collaboration with Boss Doms. Achille Lauro participated (with the collaboration of Boss Doms) in the 69th edition of the Sanremo Festival in 2019, with the song “Rolls Royce”. He ended up in the low end of the partial ranking of the opinion poll jury and in the high end of the jury result. In January 2019 he publishes his autobiography “Sono io Amleto” In 2020 he founded, together with the manager Angelo Calculli and the creative co-director Nicolò Cerioni, a new booking and management agency, MK3. At the same time he was appointed Chief Creative Director of the Elektra Records label. Achille Lauro participated in the festival of Sanremo again in 2020 with the song “”Me ne frego”. He ended up in 8th place. In July of the same year, the first project he did for Elektra Records is released: “1990”, the artist’s sixth studio album. On September 25, “1969 Achille Idol Rebirth” was released, a reinterpretation of the successful “Rolls Royce” album, which contains, in addition to all the original tracks, the singles released in 2020. In december 2020 Lauro announced the release of a new project with jazz-swing sounds: 1920 – Achille Lauro & The Untouchable Band. In 2021, he took part in the Festival of Sanremo again: not in the competition, but as a special guest. A new album, under the name of “Lauro” was released on April 16, 2021. The single “Mille”, sung with Fedez and Orietta Berti debuted at the top of the Top Singles. The song turned out to be a great success and became a real hit. In 2022, Achille Lauro performed in the festival of Sanremo for a third time. This time his song “Domenica” became 14th. However, he also took part in “Una voce per San Marino”, the San Marinese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. He won and represented San Marino in Turin. Entries Stripper Country🇸🇲 San Marino Year2022 LanguageEnglishItalian LyricsLauro De MarinisDaniele DeziDaniele MungaiDavide PetrellaFrederico De MarinisFrancesco ViscovoSimon Pietro Manzari MusicMattia CutoloMarco LanciottiGregorio CalculliMatteo Ciceroni BackingsGregorio CalculliMarco LanciottiNicola IazziRaffaele LittorioBoss Doms Results Semi Points: 50Position: 14Running order: 7 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/vCmX64N_sXM

Blanco

About Quick Facts NameRiccardo Fabbriconi Born10 february 2003 Nationality🇮🇹 Italian National SelectionFestival di Sanremo In Eurovision2022 Turin SongBrividi (with Mahmood, 2022) Biography Blanco is an Italian singer.Hewas born in Brescia to a father originally from Rome and a Lombard mother His musical carreer started in June 2020, when he published the EP “Quarantine Paranoid” on SoundCloud. He was noticed by Universal Music. They offered him a record contract. This is followed by the debut single “Belladonna (Adieu)”, while in July the follow-up “Notti in bianco” is released. He reached the 2nd place in the Italian charts with that song. In January 2021, “La canzone nostra” was made released, a collaboration with producer Mace and rapper Salmo. It came first in the Italian singles chart Several singles followed, al chart successes. In September of that year Blanco released his debut album “Blu celeste”, produced by Michelangelo. The record, which debuted directly at the top of the Italian album chart, was certified gold after one week and platinum the following week. In February 2022 he participated in the annual Sanremo Festival, in duet with Mahmood, with whom he interpreted the love song “Brividi”. The song won the competition and the duo represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin. Entries Brividi Country Country Italy Year2022 LanguageItalian LyricsAlessandro MahmoudRiccardo ‘Blanco’ FabbriconiMichele ‘Michelangelo’ Zocca MusicAlessandro MahmoudRiccardo ‘Blanco’ FabbriconiMichele ‘Michelangelo’ Zocca BackingsMichelangelo Results Semi Points: –Position: –Running order: – Results Finals Points: 268Position: 6Running order: 9 https://youtu.be/blEy4xHuMbY

Day 8: Of good voices and proper acts from the Big Five!

It’s the end of the individual rehearsals every year: those of the Big Five. And every year it is the disappointment of a group of countries that seem to be unable to bring anything good to the stage. Last year there was already a noticeable change in this, but this year the countries really surprise! Rehearsals Big Five FRANCE: For the first time since 1996, the Breton language can be heard at the Eurovision Song Contest. Back then France finished at the bottom. That won’t happen now, but the act made quite a messy impression during rehearsals. The points will really have to come in thanks to the song and enthusiasm of Alvan and Ahez. ITALY: The performance of Italy, now that Blanco is around, is rather disappointing. This is mainly due to the poor vocals of both. Mahmood is dressed in black, Blanco in white and there is a lot of light. But that doesn’t help much if the vocals remain as bad as they are now. However, our friends from songfestivalweblog.nl remember that Mahmood did not excel during the rehearsals in 2019 either, but when it came to the jury final and the final, he really showed his best. Perhaps that will happen again three years later. UNITED KINGDOM: Sam Ryder stands amid scaffolding singing his song. And that is all he needs for this song. His strong voice seems to be enough for a very high score, something for which the British have to go way back. The British will also finally experience that you can end up high with a good song. SPAIN: We remember the act, in which singing and dancing are combined, from the Spanish national final. This usually has an effect on the singer’s voice. Not so with Chanel. Because with this performance she proves that she is more, much more than an average pop singer. Like the British, the Spaniards can look forward to the festival with confidence. GERMANY: With guitar and drum machine Malik Harris manages to show an act that is not bad at all. As far as vocals go, Malik continues to do well. The act is not directly in the top-5 with the bookmakers, and the song is perhaps just a bit too anonymous for that. One thing is certain: Germany is also out of the lower regions this year. Conclusion: unlike in previous years, the Big Five seem to be doing reasonably well this year and there is even a potential winner. Has Måneskin’s win brought new impetus to these five countries? Who’ knows…?

Day 6: The Big Five

And then we have the Big Five; we hadn’t heard or seen anything about it until now. So today that has changed. FRANCE: Lots of green on stage with Alvan and Ahez’s French entry. The group members are dressed in black and gold. Eurovision.tv reports very solid bass. Lots of flashes of light and, to the beat of the song, Pyrotechnics can be seen coming from two pots on either side of the stage. ITALY: We see Mahmood, but instead of Blanco there is a stand-in. The grand piano plays a part in the act. Mahmood is dressed in a long black coat. He wears white sunglasses. Mahmood and hist stand-in (Blanco in the next rehearsal) are standing face to face. UNITED KINGDOM: Sam Ryder performs in a huge scaffold that appears to be made of steel. Lots of flashing light on Sam, who is wearing a black jumpsuit. Eurovision.tv praises the strong vocals of the sympathetic singer. SPAIN: Chanel wears a matador outfit, but entirely in silver. The song requires a lot of dancing and there is. Three men and two women, dressed in black, complete the dance act. GERMANY: Malik Harris is featured separately with just his guitar. He wears black pants and a white shirt. Only when the rap part can be heard, everything looks slightly different: according to eurovision.tv there is a big contrast with the rest of the act.

Culinary Turin – the best places to visit during Eurovision 2022

Last week we told you all about the highlights and must sees. This week, we’re taking a deep dive in all things foods and drinks. In doubt about where to go after a long day of exploring the city? Or looking for a place to dance the night away after watching the Eurovision show? Look no further, we’ve got you covered!

41 countries in 2022 Eurovision Song Contest

41 countries will take part in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. That is what EBU announced today. In comparison with the 2021 contest, Armenia and Montenegro return. The full list is here: Albania Australia Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia Lithuania Malta Moldova Montenegro North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland The Netherlands Ukraine United Kingdom France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom will directly be placed in the final, to be held on may 14. The other countries will have to qualify through a semifinal on may 10 or 12. As one of the ‘big five’ was this year’s winner, there will only be 25 countries in the final.

Turin is the host city!!

The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Turin. The EBU announced this news today. The contest will be held at 10, 12 and 14 may in PalaOlimpico. Marcus Österdahl (Eurovision’s Executive Producer) said: “Turin is the perfect Host City for the 66th Eurovision Song Contest. As we saw during the 2006 Winter Olympics, PalaOlimpico exceeds all the requirements needed to stage a global event of this scale and we have been very impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment from the City of Turin who will welcome thousands of fans next May. This will be the first Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Italy in 30 years and, together with our Host broadcaster Rai, we are determined to make it a special one.” The host city was announced by this video today: Italy hosted the Eurovision Song Contest twice before: in Napoli in 1965, in Rome in 1991.