contest
Pop duo Mahmood & Blanco wins Sanremo Music Festival
The pop duo Mahmood & Blanco wins the Sanremo Music Festival. Photo: Matteo Rasero/LaPresse via ZUMA Press/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The winners of the Sanremo Music Festival will sing for host Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest: the duo Mahmood & Blanco prevailed against 24 other artists.
Singers Mahmood & Blanco have won the Sanremo traditional music festival and will represent hosts Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin in May.
The pop duo prevailed against 24 competitors in the 72nd edition of the competition with the song “Brividi” late on Saturday evening. The participants performed on five evenings this week, and a jury and the audience chose the winner at the end.
Last year the band Måneskin won the festival in Sanremo and also the Eurovision Song Contest. The four Romans then took off internationally and most recently impressed with appearances in the USA, for example in TV shows or as the opening act for the Rolling Stones.
Popular festival
The festival at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo is an Italian institution and extremely popular. This week, the state TV broadcaster Rai, as the organizer, recorded very high viewing figures: 64.9 percent of television viewers watched the broadcast of the final on Saturday, which is the highest figure for the festival in 22 years.
In addition to the performances of the musicians, Sanremo also offers other personalities a stage, for example as co-moderators or special guests: This year, for example, the writer Umberto Saviano made an appearance. He commemorated the victims of the mafia, especially the judges and mafia hunters Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were killed in devastating attacks 30 years ago.