It was a break from the Campioni competition tonight as all artists performed covers of famous Italian or foreign songs. The best cover performance, as chosen by an equal combination of votes from a press jury and a public televotes, were Stadio and were awarded a special prize.
The third night of Sanremo featured the twenty Campioni artists,all of which performed cover versions of either Italian songs or international hits of their choice. The competing acts also had the option to perform the cover together with a guest artist.
Tonight was also the last two semi-final duels for the artists competing in the Newcomers’ section. The two winners of these duels will proceed to the category’s final on the fourth evening. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers were Pooh and Hozier. Other guests for the show were the actor Guglielmo Scilla and author and director Marc Hollogne.
The songs
Click on the names of the artists and the songs to watch the tonight’s performances from Teatro Ariston.
Group 1
- Dear Jack – Un bacio a mezzanotte (Quartetto Cetra)
- Giovanni Caccamo & Deborah Iurato – Amore senza fine (Pino Daniele)
- Noemi – Dedicato (Loredana Berté)
- Zero Assoluto – Goldrake (Actarus)
Group 2
- Patty Pravo – Tutt’al piú (Patty Pravo)
- Alessio Bernabei – A mano a mano (Riccardo Cocciante)
- Dolcenera – Amore disperato (Nada)
- Clementino – Don Raffae’ (Fabrizio De André)
Group 3
- Arisa – Cuore (Rita Pavone)
- Rocco Hunt – Tu vuo’ fa’ l’Americano (Renato Carosone)
- Francesca Michielin – Il mio canto libero (Lucio Battisti)
- Elio e Le Storie Tese – Quinto ripensamento (Walter Murphy)
Group 4
- Neffa – O’ sarracino (Renato Carosone)
- Valerio Scanu – Io vivró (Senza te) (Lucio battisti)
- Irene Fornaciari – Se perdo anche te (Gianni Morandi)
- Bluvertigo – La lontananza (Domenico Modugno)
Group 5
- Lorenzo Fragola – la donna cannone (Francesco De Gregori)
- Enrico Ruggeri – ‘A canzuncella (Alunni del sole)
- Annalisa – America (Gianna Nannini)
- Stadio – La sera dei miracoli (Lucio Dalla)
The results
Campioni
The winning cover version was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the covers initially competed in five groups consisting of four entries each. The winning cover for each group qualified to the second round where the winner was determined. The results in all rounds of voting were determined by a combination of public voting (50%) and votes from the press jury (50%).
The winners in the first round of voting in the five competing groups were:
- Noemi
- Clementino
- Rocco Hunt
- Valerio Scanu
- Stadio
After the second round of voting between the 5 artists mentioned above the winner of the cover night was Stadio
5th was Rocco Hunt, 4th Noemi, 3rd Clementino and 2nd Valerio Scanu
Newcomers
Today, we also saw the last two duels of the Nuove Proposte (Newcomers) section. The four participants were paired in two groups for the duels. The winner of each pair qualified for the Nuove Proposte final which will be on the fourth night of Sanremo, tomorrow evening, along with yesterday’s quallifiers.
Miele – Mentre ti parlo Vs Francesco Gabbani – Amen
Mahmood – Dimentica Vs Michael Leonardi – Rinascerai
Tonight’s two qualifiers for the Nuove Proposte Final were:
- Francesco with 50,8% and
- Mahmood with 67%
Sanremo and Eurovision Song Contest
The Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo is the most popular Italian music festival, held annually in the city of Sanremo. Usually referred to as Festival di Sanremo, or outside Italy as Sanremo Music Festival. It was the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The first edition of the Sanremo Music Festival, held between 29 and 31 January 1951, was broadcast by RAI’s radio station Rete Rossa and its only three participants were Nilla Pizzi, Achille Togliani and Duo Fasano. Starting from 1955 all the editions of the Festival have been broadcast live by the Italian TV station Rai 1.
From 1951 to 1976, the Festival took place in the Sanremo Casino, but starting from 1977, all the following editions were held in the Teatro Ariston, except 1990’s one, held at the Nuovo Mercato dei Fiori.
The festival has been used as the way of choosing the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest from 1956 to 1966, in 1972, 1997, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015. It has also launched the careers of many very famous Italian singers, including Andrea Bocelli, Paola e Chiara, Giorgia, Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, and Gigliola Cinquetti.
Below you can watch Fiumi Di Parole (Italy’s entry at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest) as it was performed by Jalisse in Sanremo 1997 Music Festival.
