FORZA ITALIA!

The participants and winners of the main festival of Italian song, which has been held in the resort town of San Remo for several decades now, have been performing at the Crystal Hall. In the years it has been running the festival has discovered many gifted performers, many of whom have won huge popularity in Azerbaijan, too. They include Al Bano, Toto Cutugno, Pupo, "Matia Bazar", Riccardo Fogli, "Rikki e Poveri", Umberto Tozzi, Tony Esposito and Fiordalizo, who arrived for the meeting with their Baku fans. For people of the "Soviet generation" and the dazzling 1970s and 1980s this event was a real holiday.

Our Tural Asadov and the beautiful Italian actress Ornella Muti fronted the evening show. This was not Ornella's fist visit to Baku. She came to the Azerbaijani capital a couple of years ago and she liked Baku and its people very much. The day before the "Stars of San Remo" concert the Italian actress met with Azerbaijan's First Lady and President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva. The First Lady told her eminent guest about the work done by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation to publicize Azerbaijani culture in the world. Ornella Muti, for her part, recalled with pleasure her meetings with Azerbaijan's First Lady in Italy and stressed the importance of the work done by the foundation to promote Azerbaijani culture.

"Still going strong"

The "Stars of San Remo" concert programme was opened by Umberto Tozzi who sung several of his hits, including the famous piece "Ti Amo". Back in 1977 this song was top of the Italian hit parade for seven months and it brought Umberto Tozzi world fame. He remains one of Italy's most popular singers abroad and in his career he has sold over 45 million records.

Ivana Spagna, who celebrated her birthday in Baku, said from the stage that on the way from Heydar Aliyev airport to the centre she was able to see how beautiful Baku is. "There are some very friendly people here!" the singer said. Incidentally, the charming Ivana Spagna, who is from Verona, did not begin her music career "in Italian". Ivana sang in English. The Italians have a very reverent and zealous attitude to their native language, and so at first Ivana was received in an unjustly "cool" manner. But when the singer first sang in Italian at the San Remo festival in 1994 they straightaway started talking about her, recognizing that her vocal attributes and talent were exceptional. "My career took off after San Remo," she admitted. "This festival made real stars of us and we are pleased that people in Baku know us and love us. You have an amazing city and the most sincere people!"

Fiordalizo also professed his love for Baku, promising that he would have to come back here soon. And the no less popular Pupo sang his hit songs along with the audience. "You sang along with me so well that I am even thinking about getting together an Azerbaijani choir for San Remo!" Pupo told the audience from the stage.

Riccardo Fogli won over his fans with romantic numbers including "Storie di tutti i giorni" which the singer sang first at the San Remo-1982 festival, "wresting" victory from the superstars of the Italian stage, Al Bano and Romina Power. This song has been the artist's "visiting card" for many years and has brought him world fame. Incidentally, as Fogli admitted, he has always loved football. Since the start of his career he and another well-known performer, Gianni Morandi, have played in the Italian singers team.

The lively group "Rikki e Poveri", who are frequent visitors to Baku, kept the audience enthralled with their dance hits. You couldn't sit still as you watched the famous numbers Mamma Maria and Cosa Sei.

The romantic singer Al Bano appeared on stage without his Romina, but surrounded by three "females". The singer brought back the past with his unforgettable hits and the audience rose to accompany his still popular "Felicita". Al Bano admitted that he fell in love with Baku at first sight. "There are some very nice people here," he said, "and I am glad I visited Baku and saw your city. I particularly liked the successful blend of the past and present in this city. History and modernity live side-by-side in Baku and don't conflict."

"Sari Galin" from Toto Cutugno

The concert was brought to an end by the legendary Toto Cutugno. Incidentally, the singer won the song contest in San Remo way back in 1980 with his song "Solo noi". He not only sang his own songs but also wrote them for Joe Dassin, Adriano Celentano, Dalida, Ray Charles and other stars. Toto Cutugno included in the Baku concert programme both songs from his own repertoire and compositions he created for Joe Dassin and Adriano Celentano. And he devoted the song "Innamorata Incavolata A Vita", written especially for the film "The Taming of the Shrew", to Ornella Muti. The actress was happy to pose for the photographers, standing with Toto Cutugno on stage. He demonstrated his tribute to the memory of the unforgettable French singer who passed away so early in the form of a virtual duet of Cutugno and Dassin, singing the song "L'ete Indien (Africa)". This is another very well known song by the Italian composer. It was written by Cutugno together with the composer Vito Pallavicini in the mid-1970s. At the time Toto was not so widely known. However, it so happened that the song "Africa" attracted the attention of Jacques Plait, Joe Dassin's artistic director. The song was translated into French and given the title "L'ete Indien", which means "Indian summer". Sung by Joe Dassin, it immediately became a hit not only in France but all over the world. It paved the way for the fruitful cooperation between Joe Dassin and Toto Cutugno who wrote several more well-known songs for the French singer.

Toto Cutugno performed at the Baku concert wearing an elegant show-white suit. He spoke warmly and at length about the city and its people and shared his impressions of it. "You have such beautiful women!" Cutugno remarked. "They remind me of Italian girls."

But the high point of the concert was the surprise which Cutugno had prepared for his Azerbaijani fans. The celebrated Italian sang the Azerbaijani folk song "Sari Galin" in the Azeri language. Cutugno admitted that he took three days to learn it. "You have a difficult language," the singer remarked. "And it is amazingly melodic. Still I managed to learn the words of this beautiful song and now I would like to present it to you." And the audience received this truly dear gift with delight. Towards the end Cutugno sang his main hit "L'italiano", the singer's "visiting card". Toto Cutugno sang this song in 1983 at the festival in San Remo. The song came officially fifth, but according to the results of the "popular" Totip ballot, which was carried out immediately after the festival, "L'italiano" took first place. "L'italiano" begins with the words "Lasciatemi cantare", which means "let me sing". This is a song about everything that the Italians are accustomed to - al dente cigarettes, strong coffee, famous artists and songs about love. Only a true Italian could have written such a song, of course, but it has conquered not only Italy but the whole world.

The Baku concert was a great success. And even the frequent "disappearance" of the interpreter at the height of the monologues of the star guests could not dampen the evening. However, one could understand what the Italians were saying from the stage even without an interpreter. Most of the Azerbaijanis in the audience, who have grown up on Italian songs, knew the meaning of such words as amore, cantare, bellissimo and canzone.

The Stars of San Remo concert, which was organized with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, was a charity event. As the presenter Ornella Muti noted, the Italian artists intend to denote part of their fee to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation for precisely this purpose.