Sanremo: “Festival and Rai are inseparable”
Two in one: tomorrow evening, December 18th, “Sarà Sanremo” will take place: an important stage in the approach to the Sanremo Festival: a “partial” final of the young people and the presentation on stage of the “Big”.
The 6 young people who survived the previous episodes of the “talent” in the late evening on Rai2 arrive on Rai1, in prime time, from the Casino, to compete for 3 of the 4 places available for the competition for new proposals in February.
4th place will be up for grabs for one of the two artists from the Sanremo area. Alessandro Cattelan will host the evening, while the musical commission, composed of Ema Stokholma, Carolina Rey, Manola Moslehi, Enrico Cremonesi and Daniele Battaglia, together with Carlo Conti and Claudio Fasulo (off air), will judge. The young people competing: Angelica Bove, Alex Wyse, Mew, Selmi, Settembre, Vale LP and Lil Jolie, who will face each other in direct clashes – with seeded draws. Etra and Maria Tomba participate from Area Sanremo.
The Bigs (with the 31st joke…)
The other theme of the evening will be the presentation of the Bigs competing in February, introduced by Carlo Conti with the announcement of the song titles. Conti, during today’s press conference at the Casino Theatre, anticipated that tomorrow the name of Big number 31 will be revealed: an unprecedented couple, he says. From how it was told, Conti hinted that it will be a joke – even mentioning “Amici mia”. We’ll find out tomorrow – it’s certainly not Jalisse (“who in some way will still be present because they are mentioned in the lyrics of a competing song”), in all likelihood it will be someone promoting something.
“I wanted to reintroduce the separate race for young people, because in my previous Sanremos I was lucky enough to discover talents like Mahmood, Gabbani and Irama, and also Serena Brancale, who this year I find in the Bigs,” said Conti. Among the other announcements of the press conference, there is the presence of Selvaggia Lucarelli as a commentator at the Dopofestival, invited by Cattelan.
Sanremo, RAI and TAR
In addition to the mystery of the alleged 31st Big, what took center stage for a good part of the press conference was the question of the relationship between the Municipality of Sanremo and Rai, called into question by the TAR of Liguria, which decreed the need to tender the next edition of the Festival through an expression of interest. Both the Rai management and representatives of the Municipality were present at the press conference, all agreeing to underline how the relationship between the city and the broadcaster is inseparable.
The mayor of Sanremo, Alessandro Mager, explained: “The Liguria TAR has established that, from the next edition, the Festival will have to be assigned through an expression of interest, which will evaluate and assign it to whoever presents the most suitable proposal. I am a lawyer, I respect judges’ decisions even when I don’t agree with them, as in this case. We have set up a working group, because by next summer we will have to know who will organize the Festival. However, we appealed, because we claim the correctness of how we acted in recent years, collaborating with Rai”.
This is echoed by Marcello Ciannamea, Director of the Prime Time Entertainment Department: “Rai is also preparing an appeal to the Council of State. The idea that the relationship with the Municipality must continue is acceptable: Sanremo and Rai are inseparable”.
Finally, Carlo Conti added: “As a spectator I cannot imagine Sanremo without Rai. If there were no Rai, most of this discussion and these controversies would not exist. This too is Sanremo.”
Tony Effe
Finally, a note on Tony Effe, at the center of controversy for having been first invited and then excluded from the Roman New Year due to accusations of sexism in the lyrics of his songs. Conti and Rai have confirmed that there is no intention to exclude Tony Effe from the Festival, adding that his song will “amaze” the audience when it is heard on stage.
