Auguri, Iva! playlist

And happy birthday Iva!

Iva Zanicchi just turned 80 (on 18 January 2020): best wishes to her from all of us at the Canzone Italiana portal! Her extraordinary career, which began in 1963, has spanned five decades of the history of Italian music. To pay her homage, we dedicate a playlist which gives listeners the chance to hear one of the most intense and refined voices of Italian light music. The list includes the three songs that won her the Sanremo Music Festival award (‘Non pensare a me’, ‘Zingara’ and ‘Ciao, cara, come stai’), together with other of her greatest hits. Her flexible, airy voice is suited to a great variety of musical genres, from the songs of Aznavour (‘Com’è triste Venezia’) to those of Elvis Presley (‘Dolcemente’, from ‘Love Me Tender’), from Jewish folklore to Greek tunes. Her expressive potential – which has never been completely tapped – enabled her to confidently engage with American soul music, as the two covers from that genre prove, ‘Come ti vorrei’ and ‘Ci amiamo troppo’. In addition to Sanremo, Zanicchi has participated in the most important Italian musical competitions, from ‘Disco per l’Estate’ to ‘Canzonissima’, from the International Festival of Venice to ‘Cantagiro’. All her performances have confirmed her importance on the Italian music scene, which has always aimed to promote our own singers while remaining open to the most interesting and vital developments from beyond our borders.