This year's edition of the
Sanremo song contest and entertainment extravaganza is to pay
homage to the late Italian singer-songwriters Mango and Pino
Daniele, festival presenter Carlo Conti said on Tuesday.
And others will be honoured as well, said Conti.
"We are considering a homage to Pino Daniele and Mango on
the first night," Conti said.
"But on the other nights we would like to pay homage to all
the greats of Italian music," he added.
The popular festival opens on February 10 and runs for five
nights in the Ligurian seaside town.
Giuseppe 'Pino' Mango, who reached the peak of his fame in
Italy in the 1980s with a unique blend of pop, folk, and world
music, died of a heart attack on stage during a benefit concert
in Policoro in the southern Basilicata region in early December
at age 60.
He was performing one of his most famous songs, Oro, first
released in 1986 on his album 'Odissea' and covered in 1994 by
iconic Italian singer Mina on her album 'Canarino mannaro', when
he collapsed.
Famed Neapolitan singer-songwriter Pino Daniele also died
from heart failure after being taken ill on the evening of
January 4 while at his vacation home in the countryside near
Orbetello in the Maremma region of Tuscany.
He had been suffering from chronic heart disease,
pathologists said.
Rome prosecutors are probing the death amid claims that
Daniele might have been saved if he had received treatment
earlier.
Investigators are looking into whether it was the
59-year-old's decision to go to Rome for treatment despite an
ambulance having been called to his Tuscan farmhouse that proved
fatal.
By the time Daniele arrived in hospital in Rome he was in
critical condition and died soon after.
On Tuesday Conti, a well-known television personality in
Italy, said singers Emma Marrone and Arisa along with actress
and model Rocio Munoz Morales would join him for the
presentation of the 65th edition of the Sanremo music festival,
which will be broadcast live from the Ariston theatre in Sanremo
by state broadcaster RAI.
Emma and Arisa have both won recent editions of the
contest.
"I couldn't turn it down," said 34-year-old Arisa who rose
to fame in 2009 after winning the 'New proposals' section of
Sanremo with her song Sincerità and won last year's champion
contest at the festival with Controvento.
"Let's just hope we don't fall down the stairs or forget
our lines," she added.
"I am truly honoured," said Emma, who won the main Sanremo
contest in 2013.
"I have chosen 20 beautiful songs," Conti said of this
year's musical line-up.
"I wanted songs that could be sung over time," he added.
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