On popular song, Italian style

I've been thinking recently about how we are exposed to the sound of the moment, the new "ish" so to speak. Word of mouth is always a reliable stand-by, as is what the radio tells us to like, and - of more recent vintage - the incidental music that plays in an Apple ad/movie trailer. But what if your popular music was delivered to you in the form of a yearly festival?

As should be obvious to a regular reader of this blog, I tend towards liking older music, particularly that made in the 1960s and 70s. I'm especially interested in the music made in this era that originated from outside the United States, especially (for reasons likely due to limited exposure) music made in Europe and South America. Whenever I go on a YouTube binge of the music from this time and place, I'm struck by how it seems always to be performed as part of a music festival with a live orchestra before a very polite audience (OK, the Brazilian audiences at the Festival de Música Popular Brasileira were not as staid but definitely appreciative!) In Europe, the proliferation of these festivals was due to the creation of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, a festival/contest which spawned worldwide imitators and necessitated developing some kind of method for choosing a national entry for member countries. (Fun Find: the earliest recordings of ABBA as a group come from these festivals, as this clip - sound only - from Sweden's Melodifestivalen, the qualifier for Eurovision, demonstrates). But even Eurovision wouldn't have been created but for the Sanremo Music Festival.

Begun in 1951 in an Italy still rebuilding itself after World War II, the San Remo Festival grew to become arguably the most important of these song festivals in the 1960s, introducing acts that would become huge European pop stars. Recordings of the artists, some of whom were not Italian though they had to sing in Italian (i.e. Roberto Carlos from Brazil who won in 1968) sold internationally. I know this as I recovered my parents' old San Remo records a few years back in my grandmother's attic in Tel Aviv! More interestingly, from 1956 to 1971, the songs selected for the San Remo Festival would be sung by the artist in competition, and then again, as an encore by a global superstar. Thus, you can see performances of Italian pop songs, sung in Italian, by the likes of Wilson Pickett, Eartha Kitt, The Cowsills, Shirley Bassey, Bobbie Gentry, Paul Anka, Louis Armstrong, and one of my personal favorites, Stevie Wonder:



Most of the songs introduced at San Remo (or Sanremo as it's rendered for the festival) are largely unknown in the United States with the possible exception of Volare, first performed there, then placing 3rd in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 and still later turned into a hit by Dean Martin. But here are two of my personal favorites. First, Cuore Matto, a rocking tune with some solid bass done by Little Tony which was a competitor in 1967:



Next, Ma Che Freddo Fa, from 1969, by a 16-year-old named Nada, who would later be way bigger in Italy and Europe generally:



The idea that an annual song festival would basically set the pop music landscape fascinates me. What would have happened - or what would happen NOW - if America took to this distribution method? It has something to recommend it. For one, some of the artists in these festivals came out of nowhere and hadn't even been signed to recording contracts (although a more common path was for an established national artist to release their new single through these festivals). Also, it would basically end the annual debate over what was the summer jam that year, since you'd have already voted for it in May. On the other hand, this kind of state centralization of music can lead to the creation of absolute garbage. And let's not get into the comparison to American Idol, which is actually what modern Eurovision song competitors have tended towards in recent years, Lordi notwithstanding

Sanremo is still hugely important in Italy for introducing new music but is significantly less influential throughout Europe as Italy has bowed out of Eurovision for the past couple of years, and generally failed to produce quality pop music (The Crookers excepted). Still, imagine a competition where Souljah Boy and Lady Gaga donned formalwear and performed with a full orchestra for your vote. Fuck American Idol, more of that.