Italy: Voices for a change of venue for the Sanremo Festival!

In an interview on Non Stop News on RTL 102.5, the CEO of FIMI, Enzo Mazza (Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana), addressed some critical issues arising from the latest Sanremo Festival, including the inadequacy of the Ariston Theater to host the event and the need for audience renewal. “The first hot spot is the Teatro Ariston, which is a vintage ‘tool’,” said Mazza.

He then added:

“Certainly important for the country and what it represents. But absolutely inadequate to host an event like Sanremo. Consider that this year there were 30 artists. Additionally, on Friday’s cover night, there were guests of the 30 artists, and the situation, even in terms of security, was indeed very concerning. Everyone was at the Ariston Theater, it’s a gem from the 1950s. It has its own set of characteristics that today, with everything revolving around the event and the people involved in the Festival, make it a difficult place to manage.”

Enzo Mazza also discussed the logistical problems in the city of Sanremo during the Festival days.

“Furthermore, there is all the disorganization of the city. Hotels, traffic, the impossibility of bringing artists to rehearsals. All of this explodes in a year that has seen a great deal of participation even outside the Ariston, around the stage where events take place, in front of the radio stands. But you can imagine what happens to those who have to work there.”

Regarding the reimbursement of expenses to the record companies, Enzo Mazza pointed out:

“As for the expense refunds for the artists, these are expense contributions to the record companies. So they are not fees for the artists. They perform in exchange for a reimbursement to the record companies, which is about 55,000 euros. Plus some additional reimbursement such as for Friday night, which is certainly paltry compared to the commitments undertaken by the record companies. Because Friday night is a show event but not a record event.

“We are not asking the city to change, but we are asking the city for interventions that have been necessary for 30 years,” he continued.

“As long as I have been attending the festival, there has been talk of a new structure, and this never happens. The city of Sanremo receives 5 million euros a year from Rai for an agreement, it is not known where they go because there are no city renovations, the new hall for events does not exist. So we wonder where this flow of money goes if it is not used to make the city more attractive. This would be the first step; there have been 15,000 ticket requests for just over a thousand seats available. There would also be an audience that follows this event and would give further visibility.”

Despite recent generational changes in the artists and target audience thanks to Amadeus’ valuable work, Enzo Mazza noted that the same cannot be said for the audience in the room.

“If we also look at it from a demographic point of view, the boos at Geolier came from an audience mainly made up of adults, and that is the audience of Sanremo, and probably the boos would not have come if there had been a younger audience under the stage. Think of Eurovision or X Factor, which are innovative events and have a dimension that can appeal to the audience. Everyone has been renewed here. The record industry has been renewed, radio has been renewed, Rai has been renewed, the only thing that is not renewed is the Sanremo Festival,”Enzo Mazza concluded.

It remains to be seen whether Enzo Mazza‘s concerns will be taken into account and whether something will be changed in the way the great celebration of Italian music is conducted.

The big winner of this year’s Sanremo Festival was Angelina Mango with the song “La Noia“, who will represent Italy at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Malmö in May.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates regarding Italy’s participation in Eurovision 2024 in Malmo!

Source: RTL Italia