The Sanremo Music Festival 1997 was the 47th annual
Sanremo Music Festival
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...
, held at the
Teatro Ariston
The Ariston Theatre ( it, Teatro Ariston) is a cinema in Sanremo, Italy. It has been the venue of the annual Sanremo Music Festival
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the ...
in
Sanremo
Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...
,
province of Imperia
The Province of Imperia ( it, Provincia di Imperia, french: Province d'Imperia, Ligurian: ''Provinsa d’Imperia'') is a mountainous and hilly province, in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the L ...
, in the late February 1997 and broadcast by
Rai 1
Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...
.
The show was presented by
Mike Bongiorno
Michael Nicholas Salvatore Bongiorno (; May 26, 1924 – September 8, 2009) was an Italian-American television host. After a few experiences in the US, he started working on RAI in the 1950s and was considered to be the most popular host in Italy ...
(in his eleventh and final hosting of the Festival), supported by
Piero Chiambretti
Piero Chiambretti (born 30 May 1956) is an Italian television presenter.
Biography
Born on 30 May 1956 in Aosta to Felicita Chiambretti, an 18-year-old single mother, he grew up in Turin. He later moved to Bologna, where he studied Arts, Music ...
and
Valeria Marini
Valeria Marini (born 14 May 1967) is an Italian actress, showgirl and entrepreneur.
Biography
Born in Rome, to a Sardinian mother and a father from Rome, but raised in Cagliari, Valeria's first cinematographic appearance was in 1987 in the fi ...
. Composers
Pino Donaggio
Giuseppe "Pino" Donaggio (born 24 November 1941) is an Italian musician, singer, and composer of film and television scores. A classically-trained violinist, Donaggio is known for his collaborations with director Brian De Palma, and for his work i ...
and
Giorgio Moroder
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...
and lyricist
Carla Vistarini
Carla Vistarini (8 July 1948) is an Italian lyricist, writer, playwright and scriptwriter.
Born in Rome, she has written songs for various major Italian artists such as Mina, Ornella Vanoni, Mia Martini, Patty Pravo, Riccardo Fogli, Peppin ...
served as the artistic directors.
The winners of the Big Artists section were the pop duo
Jalisse
Jalisse () is an Italian musical duo consisting of spouses Alessandra Drusian (born 18 May 1969) and Fabio Ricci (born 5 September 1965).
In 1997 they won the Sanremo Festival, "Big" category, with the song "Fiumi di parole" and took part in the ...
with the song "
Fiumi di parole
"Fiumi di parole" (literally "Rivers of words") is a song recorded by the Italian duo Jalisse. The song was written by Fabio Ricci, Carmen Di Domenico and Alessandra Drusian. It is best known as the entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, hel ...
". As a result, the duo was eligible to represent Italy in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1997
The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and prese ...
, in which they eventually ranked fourth. It was a surprise return for Italy after having sat out the contest since , as well as the first Italian entry chosen through Sanremo since . They would withdraw following the 1997 contest and wouldn't return until .
Paola e Chiara
Paola e Chiara is an Italian pop music duo consisting of Paola Iezzi and Chiara Iezzi, two sisters, born in Milan. They are the best selling female Italian group with over 35 million records sold.
Their national career began when the manager o ...
won the "Newcomers" section with the song "Amici come prima", and
Patty Pravo
Patty Pravo (born Nicoletta Strambelli on 9 April 1948) is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in popularity in the followin ...
won the
Mia Martini
Mia Martini (; born Domenica Rita Adriana Bertè ; 20 September 1947 – 12 May 1995) was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician.James Christopher MongerMia Martini allmusic.com
For the newcomers, only the winner was revealed; for the big artists section, initially only the first three positions were announced, while the complete final ranking was disclosed only several weeks after the end of the festival.
In this edition, a "Quality Jury", responsible for rewarding the best music, best lyrics and best arrangement, was introduced. The 1997 jury was headed by
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
and consisted of
Bill Conti
William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...
,
Gino Paoli
Gino Paoli (; born 23 September 1934 in Monfalcone) is an Italian singer-songwriter. He is a seminal figure who has written a number of songs widely regarded as classics in Italian popular music, including: " Il cielo in una stanza", "Che cosa ...
,
Nicola Piovani
Nicola Piovani (born 26 May 1946) is an Italian light-classical musician, theater and film score composer, and winner of the 1998 Best Original Dramatic Score Oscar for the score of the Roberto Benigni film ''La Vita è bella'', better known to ...
and
Mario Missiroli
Mario Missiroli (13 March 1934 – 19 May 2014) was an Italian stage, television and film director.
Born in Bergamo, at a young age Missiroli moved to Milan with his family. Later. he graduated in direction from the Accademia d'Arte Dramma ...
(who replaced
Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores (born 30 July 1950) is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter.
Biography
Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directe ...
, who suffered a flu).
Starting from the second night, the journalist
Bruno Vespa
Bruno Paolo Vespa (born 27 May 1944) is an Italian television and newspaper journalist.
A former director of the Italian state-owned TV channel Rai Uno's news program TG1, Vespa is the founding host of the program ''Porta a Porta'' (English:"Door ...
hosted ''DopoFestival'', a talk show about the Festival with the participation of singers, politicians and journalists.