Live Aid – 1985.

Wembley Stadium, London – 72,000 people.

John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia – 90,000 people.

An amazing collaboration of artists for one cause.

But 16 years prior, there was no Live Aid.

Woodstock Festival – 1969.

3 days – 400,000 people.

One of the most important musical moments in history.

But 18 years prior, there was no Woodstock…

Sanremo Music Festival

1951 – Sanremo, Liguria, Italy.

The first Italian “national music day”.

The first winner:

The Sanremo Festival has become a sort of a national holiday ever since.

Every year, every person in Italy watches the festival.

Think it’s a joke?

Most people in Italy back in the day considered not letting prisoners listen in to be too cruel and inhumane.

Yeah, the people who created the mob.

They even made fun of themselves about it:

The festival was popular not only in Italy, and just like western music, it influenced the rest of the world.

The Soviet Union liked the festival so much, that it in fact allowed and promoted Italian songs because of it.

Which is why most of us who have roots from there have heard these songs before.

And unlike Mel, these are the songs I grew up listening to.

Here are some examples:

Adriano Celentano

The winner of 1970. His winning song:

Frankly, I prefer his movies over his songs.

Toto Cutugno

The winner of 1980. His winning song:

Wait, what? Why is there a Hebrew song here?…

Oh, that’s why 🙂

Another taste of the magnificence that is Toto Cutugno:

Riccardo Fogli

The winner of 1982. His winning song:

An amazing singer which has disappeared later on…

But not before giving us this beauty:

Al Bano & Romina Power

The winners of 1984. Their winning song – I love this song:

But this one is my favorite:

Yeah, I like them – sue me…

Ricchi e Poveri

The winners of 1985. Their winning song:

Personally not a big fan of this song…

This one’s better:

Umberto Tozzi, Enrico Ruggeri, & Gianni Morandi

The winners of 1987. Their winning song:

Even though Gianni Morandi was a solo singer:

Andrea Bocelli

The winner of 1994. His winning song:

And of course, one of my favorite performances of all time:

Oh yeah, he also sang with this woman… What’s her name?

Oh right! Céline Dion:

A few years back my parents made me watch Adriano Celentano’s 2012 concert – I regret nothing:

Hey, look! Another gem:

I hope some of these songs sparked your love for Italian songs, just as my parents did to me all those years back.

And to finish this off, here’s someone who wasn’t in the festival, but I just couldn’t leave him out of this.

I present the Italian child with a golden voice:

Robertino Loretti

Some prefer Caruso’s version of Ave Maria, and some prefer

Luciano Pavarotti’s.

They’re all wrong:

Thank you.