Sanremo 65 - Tutte Le Vincitrici

Sanremo is 68 by now, but I just noticed this 4CD album with coverversions of all 65 winners from 1951 up to 2015 of the Mother Of All Songcontests, the Festival Della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo.

The first Sanremo festival was in 1951 and Nilla Pizzi won with Grazie Dei Fior.
Sanremo quickly became a successful stage for Italian singers and songwriters.
The Eurovision Song Contest which premiered in 1956 was modelled on the Italian music spectacular.
The Sanremo festival became closely connected to Eurovision straight away: The winner of Sanremo went on to be the Italian Eurovision entry from 1956 to 1966.

In 1967 things changed. Sanremo winner Non Pensare A Me by Claudio Villa was disqualified because the new Eurovision regulations ruled the song had been released too early. It was replaced by Non Andare Piu' Lontano after the Eurovision rehearsals started.
After that the actual Sanremo winner only went to Eurovision on four occasions.
Sometimes the Sanremo winning artists would pick another song or someone who ended lower on the Sanremo table represent Italy in Europe. In the 70's and 80's the Eurovision choice was often Sanremo unrelated.

To celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Sanremo contest a 4CD was released by Azzurra Music in 2016. It includes all Sanremo winners recorded by new, young and upcoming artists. 15 of the 65 songs are Eurovision entries.
The 4CD is still available at Azzurra Music, but for you digital youngsters, it's also available through your favorite mp3 outlets, or if you're broke, Spotify.

These are the Eurovision songs on the Sanremo 65 Tutte Le Vincitrici 4CD:
(For the full tracklist see picture below)
Year     Title  - original artist - artist on the Sanremo 65 4CD

1956 Aprite le finestre - Franca Raimondi - Serena Carpi

1957 Corde della mia chitarra - Nunzio Gallo - Marco Tascone
1958 Nel blu dipinto di blu - Domenico Modugno - Swinger Twinger
1959 Piove (Ciao ciao bambina) - Domenico Modugno - Blues Coffee Trio ft Teresa
1960 Romantica - Renato Rascel - Animarma ft. Eniko
1961 Al di là - Betty Curtis - Carlotta ft. Olly Vincent
1962 Addio... addio - Claudio Villa - Michael Vaiasinni
1963 Uno per tutte - Emilio Pericoli - Kabaré Voltaire
1964 Non ho l'età (Per amarti) - Gigliola Cinquetti - Francesca Beccaria
1965 Se piangi se ridi - Bobby Solo - Mercoledi Notte
1966 Dio come ti amo - Domenico Modugno - Luca Bui
1972 I giorni dell'arcobaleno - Nicola Di Bari - Errequatro

1997 Fiumi di parole - Jalisse - Ibrevidiverbi

2013 L’essenziale - Marco Mengoni - Proclama
2015 Grande amore - Il Volo - S.Ma.C.K (Stefania, Carlotta, Karol)

More at Eurocovers about: Aprite Le Finestre, Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu, Piove, Romantica, Al Di La, Addio Addio,  Uno Per Tutte,  Non Ho L'eta,  Se Piangi Se Ridi, Dio Come Ti Amo.

Vice Vukov 1936 - 2008

Another goodbye this week. Croatian singer Vice Vukov died at the age of 72.
Vice Vukov entered Eurovision twice for Yugoslavia. In 1963 with Brodovi (Ships, 11th), the only entry for Yugoslavia ever chosen internally (by TV Zagreb).
In 1965 he performed Čežnja (Yearning, 12th), which was submitted by Bosnia-Hercegovina TV and won the National final.

Both songs can be found on the CD Vice Vukov - Platinum Collection.
For Čežnja it's the first time ever release, as there was no record back in 1965. The CD features the Eurovision recording polished up nicely.

EurocoversI don't know about any cover of his Eurovision entries but Vice Vukov recorded a few Eurovision songs himself.

Italy 1958 - Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare, you know it by now)
- Italian, recorded 1983, LP Bella Italia (SUZY LP 573)Italy 1959 - Piove (Ciao Ciao Bambina) also originally by Domenico Modugno)
- Italian, recorded 1983, CD Bella Italia (Perfekt music/Croatia Records CD 5553328)
Piove is not on the original LP but on the re-issued CD version only.Italy 1961 - Al Di Lá (Betty Curtis)
- Croatian as Iznad Svega, from EP More, Mandoline I Muzika, San Remo 1961 (Jugoton EPY 3102)Luxembourg 1961 - Nous Les Amoureux (winning song by Jean Claude Pascal)
- Croatian as Ja, ljubav I ti, on EP (Jugoton EPY 3108)

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Vice Vukovs Wiki Brodovi Youtube Čežnja Youtube
♫ Volare -  Ja, Ljubav I Ti

CD tip - Milana Misic - Laulumme

This week Bonnier Finland release a new CD by Milana Misic.
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Milana is the daughter of Laila Kinnunen, celebrated Finnish legend and the singer of the first Finnish Eurovision song Valoa Ikkunassa(1961) and many Eurocovers.
Two of those Eurocovers can also be found on Milana's new CD Laulumme, which features 14 songs made famous in Finland by Laila Kinnunen.
- Kaikialla (Al Di Lá, Italy 1961)
- Tanssilaulu (Dansevise, Denmarks winner from 1963)
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You can find more details an excerpts here at Playcom and the CD is available from various webshops (CDON for EU).

Special thanks to Jukka!
Milana homepage (in Finnish) and more on Milana's Bonnier page (also in Finnish)
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For more about Laila Kinnunen and her Eurocovers check this Finweeks Eurocovers post, with some great picture sleeves.

Eurocovers Brasil: Leny Eversong - Fabulosa!!!

Brasilian 50's superstar Leny Eversong (1920 - 1984) is another example of a singer whose amazing music I discovered through my search for coverversions of Eurovision songs.

The singer is big enough to fill the gap between Yma Sumac and Ella Fitzgerald and especially her international work reminds of both these singers.

Leny Eversong covered three Eurovision songs (Two from the top 10 most covered Eurovision songs) and the French entry of 1959 Oui Oui Oui Oui stands out as three minutes of luscious cool swing.


Eversong Eurocovers-------1958 Au Bleu Du Ciel Bleu (Volare sung in French)
- on 78rpm (RGE 30025) & LP A International (RGE XRLP 5034)
1958 No Azul Pintado De Azul
----------(Volare in Portuguese, with Audi Roberto)
- on 78rpm (Copacabana 5884, b-side to Geada) (audio wanted)
1959 Oui Oui Oui Oui
----------(French entry of 1959, sung in Portuguese)
- on 78rpm (RGE 10256)and LP Fabulosa!!! (RGE XRLP 5087)
1961 Muito Alèm ----(Al Di Lá, in Portuguese)
- on 1989 CD Convita para ouvir, no details on original release

------ ♫ Au Bleu / Au Bleu - Oui / Oui - Muito Alèm / Muito Alèm

A good new compilation CD is Grandes Vozes - Leny Eversong which includes both Muito Alèm and Au Bleu Du Ciel Bleu and timeless classics like Summertime, Fascination, Jezebel and Night and day. Available internationally from Sambastore and other internet shops.

You can find a fantastic 1957 Leny Eversong LP and Fabulosa! at Loronix, a highly recommended blog for all kinds of music from Brasil.

Two great Leny Eversong performances at the Ed Sullivan show are at a Sofa Entertainment DVD set Elvis - The Ed Sullivan shows. They feature the full Ed Sullivan shows on which Elvis Presley appeared. Disc 3 has both the Leny Eversong clips and you can also see them at YouTube: Jezebel and El Cumbanchero.

10.000: # 5 - Al di là - Betty Curtis (1961)

Al di là is another Italian evergreen in the top 10 of most covered Eurovision songs that started life as a San Remo winner to be ignored at the Eurovision Song Contest. 12 points and a measly 5th place for Betty Curtis in Cannes.

# 5
- Al di là
- Betty Curtis
- 268 versions listed

At the San Remo festival the song by Mogol (Giulio Rapetti) and Carlo Donida was also performed by Luciano Tajoli.
After 4 failures with a male singer from 1957 to 1960 Betty Curtis was chosen to try and wow the European juries.

Rome Adventure
But it was Emilio Pericoli who had the worldwide hit with the song when he recorded a new version in 1962 for the Rome Adventure, a hit movie with Troy Donahue and the ever gorgeous Angie Dickinson. Pericoli's single was a # 6 hit in the US charts. In 1964 a version by the Ray Charles Singers reached the US Cashbox top 100 again, peaking at # 32.

You can't say Al Di Là without thinking of Connie Francis. The American superstar's version is the finest of all the covers and even though it originally was only a b-side and a meagre # 87 hit in the US, it remains a Connie Francis live favorite until today.
She recorded many Eurovision songs in several languages including Volare, Ciao Ciao Bambina and even A Ba Ni Bi. More Connie Francis in a future Eurocovers post.

Other famous artists that recorded the song are Mario Lanza, Dean Martin, Al Martino, Xavier Cugat, Skeeter Davis, Bobby Rydell and every other Italian legend like Mina, Milva, Lucio Dalla, Nilla Pizzi and Flo Sandon's.

Many Eurovision stars have Al Di Là in their collection: first Eurovision winner Lys Assia, Dario Campeotto, Vice Vukov, Sandra Reemer, Laila Kinnunen and Claudio Villa. There are versions in 14 languages listed.

Sandra Reemer, the singer who represented the Netherlands at Eurovision on three occasions (74, 76 & 79) recorded Al Di Là when she was 11 years old. She recorded it in both Dutch (Al di la - Net als wij) and in Indonesian: Adillah tjiptjaän duniaku.

All details on versions and releases can be found in yet another Eurocovers word.doc list which you can find here.

A new Dutch version is another one of my favorites: Zeg waarom (Tell me why) by René Riva.
René Riva is a singer in the Amsterdam / Jordaan style and for those in the know: I think he's the only true successor to Willy Alberti and I don't understand why he isn't world famous in the lowlands yet. Zeg waarom is from his CD René Riva from 2005.

Last up is the English/Italian version by Toni Arden, a singer loved by Frank Sinatra, and rightfully so (but she has a lovely voice too).