The first music festival (musica leggera) for popular music took place in Italy in the city of San Remo. The war had ended a few short years earlier and the city wanted to reinvigorate the economy. San Remo was also famous for its flowers and known as la citta’ di fiori. The flowers that are grown around the hills of San Remo since 1800 have always been exported all over the world. The City of Flowers is located 10 miles from the French Riviera. The climate is temperate all year round and creates an ideal environment to grow flowers. San Remo is known as the Capital of the Riviera with its beautiful architecture, landscape and flower filled parks and piazzas.
A local flower entrepreneur, Amilcare Rambaldi, proposed an idea to promote a flower show along with a music festival to attract tourists. Giulio Razzi the conductor of the RAI orchestra performed as the opening act along with three singers. The venue chosen was the San Remo Casino, which was a favorite haunt of King Farouk of Egypt, Italian film director Vittorio de Sica, and the princess of Monaco, Philadelphia’s own Grace Kelly. Consequently, in 1951 Festival Della Canzone Italiana was born. It is the longest-running music show in the world and also the inspiration of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Unlike the Grammys, which began in 1959 and lasts three hours, San Remo Festival is a five-day cultural and musical extravaganza. (This year’s event was scheduled for Feb. 6 through Feb. 10.)
The year 1958 was a seminal year in the history of the festival. Domenico Modugno, who is considered an Italian icon and the first Italian cantautore (singer/songwriter), was awarded Leone D’oro in the best song category for his international classic hit “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu.” Most people know this as “Volare,” which was popularized in the United States by Dean Martin (Dino Crocetti).
This exchange of musical culture between the United States and Italy has continued over the years.
Some of these songs you may know. Just follow the bouncing ball. Lucio Battisti was a singer-songwriter during the 1960s and was above all responsible for this fruitful musical exchange. His music defined the 1960s in Italy. Together with his lyricist Mogul they wrote the soundtrack for teenagers who knew all the songs by heart. The duo wrote modern melodies, witty lyrics about love and daily life with folk rock undertones. They simply became the Italian version of the Beatles. They broke down traditional pop barriers like their British counterparts and created their own style.
Battisti was often recognized as a great influence to David Bowie and Pete Townshend of The Who. One of his hits “Scende la Pioggia” was redone as the song “Eleanor” by The Turtles in 1968. Battisti’s Song “Balla Linda” was interpreted by the Grass Roots as “Bella Linda.” In addition, The Hollies in 1967 sang “Non Prego per Me” (“Don’t Pray for Me”) another song from this prolific cantautore. The song “Gloria,” which was popularized by Laura Brannigan in the 1980s, was originally written and sung by cantautore Umberto Tozzi in 1979. Lastly, a one-hit wonder song by Crispian St Peters called “The Pied Piper” released in 1966 was sung by Gianni Pettenati in 1967 as the Italian version “Bandiera Gialla”.
Adesso lo sa.
Lou Thomas was born and raised in Philadelphia, in a family with origins in Abruzzo. He is a Temple graduate who has been teaching Italian for 20 years at all levels. He attained a master’s degree in teaching Italian from Rutgers University. The sounds of Vivaldi and Jovanotti fill his classroom. His
favorite quote is “Il vino e’ la poesia della terra.”