Sanremo 2014 — I vincitori! (the winners)

Saturday, February 22 marked the final night of the 64th edition of the famous Sanremo Festival— and here are the winners!





In the Campione category….

Arisa

 Controvento | Against the wind

Arisa, la vincitrice! (feminine version of vincitore— winner)
Photo via sorrisi.com

My personal favorite for this category! I loved the musical arrangement and Arisa's clear and sweet singing style.  

I'll be covering the song meaning and lyrics of Controvento in a future post, so I won't give too much away now, but check out Arisa's final night performance of the song, as well as the other Campioni competitors at rai.tv:

Check out the video of all of the "Campioni", final night performances and see how they compare!

i video su rai.tv

But that's not all…



In the Nuove Proposte category…

Rocco Hunt 

 Nu Juorno buono* | A good day 
(in standard Italian: un giorno buono)

It's easy to see why this song won a large percentage of the popular or "at home" vote.  In the face of overwhelmingly negative news and stereotypes about Southern Italy, this song emerges as a sort of "love song" to the region— acknowledging some of the challenges while emphasizing its strengths and pride in a heartfelt way. 

Watch Rocco's emotional performance/celebration after he found out he won {here} and check out the official music video: (click "Read more" to continue)

Sanremo 2014 — the first night of the Festival

The Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo, often referred to simply as "Festival di Sanremo" or even just "Sanremo" (the town where it is held) started its 2014 edition last night.  Now in its 64th year, the festival has played a part in introducing Italy and the world to new music and artists and inspiring Europe's Eurovision song contest.

The festival consists of a competition with two major categories: Campioni (Big or known artists) and Nuove Proposte (newcomers).  Both groups perform previously unreleased songs and on the final night, a winner for each category is chosen by a combination of viewer and Jury votes.  There are also guest performances and tributes from international and Italian artists alike.

Photo via repubblica.it: "Sanremo, partenza con brivido" (in italiano)

This year, Ligabue (one of my favorites) kicked off the festival with a birthday tribute to famed artist Fabrizio de André who would have turned 74, singing one of his songs "Creuza de mà".  I thought his performance was great, and it was interesting to hear the lyrics in dialect, and see the standard Italian lyrics in subtitles below as well. I also particularly enjoyed the sounds of the Bouzouki, played by co-author of the song Mauro Pagani [See the video on the Festival site.]


The official competition started with 7 of the 14 "Campioni" artists, who performed two songs each.  Through a mixed voting process, one song from each artist was chosen to continue in the competition.


The winning songs for each artist are starred…Let me know what you think! Which songs do you like/dislike?  Do you agree with the winning song votes?


(Click the song titles to link to videos of each performance)

Arisa

Lentamente (Il primo che passa)  | Slowly (The first one to pass)

*Controvento |  Against the wind

Frankie Hi-Nrg mc

*Pedala |  Pedal!

Un uomo è vivo |  A man is alive

Antonella Ruggiero

Quando balliamo |  When we dance

*Da lontano | From afar

Raphael Gualazzi & The Bloody Beetroots

*Liberi o no | Free or not

Tanto ci sei |  In any case you're there

Cristiano De André

Invisibili | Invisible

*Il cielo è vuoto |  The sky is empty

Perturbazione

*L'Unica |  The only one

L'Italia vista dal bar |  Italy as seen from the bar

Giusy Ferreri

L'amore possiede il bene |  Love possesses the good

*Ti porto a cena con me |  I'll take you to dinner with me

Links to all videos from "La prima serata" available on rai.tv

Again, I'd love to hear what you think!  Do you agree with the winning songs for each artist? Any favorite songs or artists? Comment below or you can also connect and comment via Via Optimae on Facebook if you prefer!]

Buon Ascolto!

(happy listening!)

~Alex

P.S. You can also watch the entire Prima Serata (first night) here

Song Lyrics and meaning: L'essenziale by Marco Mengoni

..

L'essenziale can be found on the 2013 album #prontoacorrere.

If you follow the Italian music competition, Sanremo, then you already know that the 2013 winner in the "Campioni" category was Marco Mengoni with his song "L'essenziale." What you may not know, however, is all the lyrics to the song and/or what they mean so let's watch a video of the song with the lyrics included. If you can, listen several times and sing along when you feel ready.

Now that you're familiar with it, let's look at the text all at once:

Sostengono gli eroi
"se il gioco si fa duro,
è da giocare!"
Beati loro poi
se scambiano le offese con il bene.
Succede anche a noi
di far la guerra e ambire poi alla pace
e nel silenzio mio
annullo ogni tuo singolo dolore.
Per apprezzare quello che
non ho saputo scegliere.

Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
io compongo nuovi spazi
e desideri che
appartengono anche a te
che da sempre sei per me
l'essenziale.

Non accetteró
un altro errore di valutazione,
l'amore è in grado di
celarsi dietro amabili parole
che ho pronunciato prima che
fossero vuote e stupide.

Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
io compongo nuovi spazi
e desideri che
appartengono anche a te.
Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
mi allontano dagli eccessi
e dalle cattive abitudini,
torneró all'origine,
torno a te che sei per me
l'essenziale

L'amore non segue le logiche
Ti toglie il respiro e la sete.

Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
io compongo nuovi spazi
e desideri che
appartengono anche a te.
Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
mi allontano dagli eccessi
e dalle cattive abitudini,
torneró all'origine,
torno a te che sei per me
l'essenziale

Text provided by angolotesti.it (they're my favorite resource for the lyrics to Italian songs!)

What words do you recognize?  Which words don't you understand?  Using a dictionary (I almost always use wordreference.com) make a list of the unknown words.  See if you can identify which part of speech each word is (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, preposition, etc.) For the verbs, can you tell which tense is used?  Any tenses you haven't studied yet?

Now, take a look at my rough English translation below. Note which words and phrases I translated literally and where I chose to change the wording a bit...  Can you think of other ways to word the expressions in English or do you see anything you would translate differently?


Heroes assert
“if the game is difficult,
then it’s to be played!”
Good for them then
if they mistake harm for good.
It happens also to us
to make war and then yearn for peace
and in my silence
I take away each one of your pains.
In order to appreciate what
I haven’t before known to choose.

While the world falls to pieces
I put together new spaces
and desires that
belong also to you
because you’ve always been to me
what’s essential.

I will not accept
another mistake in judgment
love is capable of
hiding itself behind loving words
that I said aloud before when
they were empty and stupid.

While the world falls to pieces
I put together new spaces
and new desires that
belong also to you
While the world falls to pieces
I move away from the excess
and from the bad habits,
I’ll return to the origin
I return to you because you are for me
what’s essential.

Now, listen to the song again.  Sometimes, I find that the mood of the song has changed once I understand the words more fully, is that the case with you?  Do you like the song any more or any less now?

Keep listening and singing along and stay tuned (pun intended) for more Song exercises... I promise, it's one of the best ways to learn a language!

Buon ascolto! 
—Alex

Where to find #prontoacorrere by country:

Mp3 album (or individual tracks): (uk) ~ (fr) ~ (de) 

CD #prontoacorrere: (us) ~ (uk) ~ (fr) ~ (de) ~ (it) ~ (es)