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The 73rd edition of the Italian Song Festival, which took place as always in Sanremo, ended on Saturday 11 February 2023, was as always, full of moving moments, important messages, lots of politics, and a good level of music and songs .

DirectDemocracyS Italia, wants to give an opinion, of our Italian members, also representing our international users, who trust our judgments.

From the first edition, up to the one just concluded, of the Sanremo Festival, there is always discussion, both during its development and above all after.

Premise.

For anyone who criticizes anything, just for the fun of it, the Sanremo Festival, again this year, is self-financed, and has brought in a lot of money, into RAI's coffers and current accounts. IT COSTS US NOTHING, THE SPONSORS PAY FOR ALL. Because the unhealthy disease, of considering oneself a victim of theft, of one's money, because one does one's duty, paying taxes, or the RAI license fee (which, by the way, is a tax on the possession of a TV, so we would pay it with without RAI).

Also this year, the data confirm a huge success. Therefore, there is no mention of a crisis, or of financial problems.

Politics, and the Festival.

We have decided to give a general opinion, leaving our groups of experts, on politics, entertainment, music, and other important topics, the possibility of adding dedicated articles.

With a centre-right coalition which won the last political elections and which governs Italy, it is logical that some behaviors, during the various evenings, of this important singing event, have not been considered and appreciated.

To be brief, we won't talk about individual evenings, but only in general.

There is already talk of moving the Festival from Sanremo, and of changing the television company that organizes it.

Like any important event, any television channel would like to be able to organize it, and any city would like to have a week of visibility, and earnings.

Whether RAI organizes it, or another television group, whether it's in Sanremo, or in another city, is not up to us to decide. And we don't believe it is up to politics to impose or suggest who organizes it, who presents it, who broadcasts it, where it is organized, and who participates.

Politics, in order to make a good impression, can freely express an opinion, but it must not allow itself to enter, with impositions, into things that do not belong to it.

Unfortunately, we have been used to attending real "electoral rallies" for years, on topics not always related to music. It is logical that politics try to take advantage of the visibility, of the huge public, which follows this kind of demonstrations. We find it in bad taste, but we cannot condemn it.

One thing we didn't like, even though we believe Roberto Benigni, a great actor, and a professional, to pay someone a lot of money to read us, and explain to us, the general aspects, and the most important and beautiful parts, of our Constitution , or to explain Dante (on other occasions), we are talking about several hundreds of thousands of Euros, it doesn't seem right to us. In these moments of crisis, we would have had the constitution read and explained, perhaps spreading throughout the evenings, the reading and commentary of the main articles of our constitution, to young people, or the elderly, or women, or simple people, in difficulties, perhaps one article per one, dividing the fee among many people, to make a nice gesture, and help many people, in these difficult and complicated times for many. The cultural result would be the same, but the social result would certainly be better. It would make many people happy. We are giving this television format to RAI, which can use it if it wishes, as long as it is clearly stated that it was created by us, by DirectDemocracyS.

The message of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelens'kyj, has been criticized both by Putin's "fans" and by those who know how to distinguish right from wrong. The former say that it is not right to let only one of the two countries involved speak, which should have given the floor, even to the Russian President. The latter, on the other hand, compete to see who is more just than the just. Many were shocked at the late hour when President Zelensky's message was read. In fact it was about 02.15, Italian time, but in defense of the organizers, the fundamental and best symbolic moment to communicate the message, was close to the announcement of the winner. Many are scandalized that Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who spoke on video, live, at other important events, all over the world, and in San Remo, an excited presenter, has read his message, leading some to believe that there it was censorship. The important fact, in our opinion, is having allowed the President of an unjustly invaded country to be able to express his message. The President of the "bully" country, who among other things is a dictator, a liar, who does not hesitate to physically eliminate, or, to imprison his opponents, had no right to reply, and to send his own message, because one must be able to distinguish between good and evil. We have talked about the terrible and senseless invasion of Russia in Ukraine in various articles. We are always on the side of those who defend themselves, and never, and for no reason, on the side of those who attack, even if they were the United States itself, or other countries. There are no valid reasons to bomb and invade another country. Not even, the export of our partial "democracy", or for revenge, of vile aggressions, and terrorist attacks. Of course, all those responsible must be punished. Those who know us, know very well that we love the Russian and Ukrainian people, exactly, in the same way, but the policy of the 2 countries is completely different, one, the vile, slimy, false Russian one, the other, the Ukrainian one partially democratic. The Budapest Memorandum, for us, is a commitment, which Russia has not kept, and the United States, and Western countries, which were the guarantors of this Memorandum, which provided for the defense, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of 'Ukraine, which in exchange would have transferred its more than 1,900 nuclear warheads to Russia. Had Ukraine kept its 1,900 nuclear warheads, no country would ever have attacked it. Current Russian policy is cruel, and despicable, but it's not completely crazy, it would never attack a country with such nuclear assets. In 2014, the West left defenseless Ukraine alone to have Crimea stolen, limiting itself to some tepid protests. They should have reacted, all together, to prevent Russia from any violent action, by preventing it. But you know, all current world politics is dominated by finance and economic interests. The old weapons were used to produce and sell new ones to the countries that use them. Construction companies and building materials manufacturers are eager to rebuild Ukraine, and they wish for more damage, to have more profits. Unfortunately, as always, only the innocent, the civilian population, and the military, who have sworn to kill, lose out. Politics, in which the strong decide who governs the weak countries, will end soon, and whoever has allowed all this, will be able to receive a just "reward", and we will have to be ruthless, exactly as they were.

Italian politics never misses an opportunity to be able to give each other lessons on what is right or wrong in a sleazy way, taking advantage of any motivation to demonstrate one's limits and problems. Even many political experts do not miss the opportunity to blame and criticize, after all it's their job, they can't do anything else.

Musical tastes, like aesthetic and sexual tastes, cannot be discussed. There are no right or wrong choices, the various cultures and traditions can influence certain choices, often in a decisive and negative way. We are the only political force that does not impose behaviors on people that do not depend on precise choices, but on nature, on one's preferences, on one's own organism. We also leave the task of deciding specific rules to the various countries and peoples, basing them on our rules of logic, common sense, and mutual respect for all people.

We, with a relatively young average age, are not surprised by certain musical rhythms, and certain song lyrics, not exactly similar to those of the old Sanremo Festival. The old songs were catchy, and technically well performed, while the young, with current music, focus on content, diversified, and expressed, in a free way.

Like any art, even in music there is no best or worst, even if people always try to create generational conflicts, or between one genre and another.

We repeat: tastes are not discussed, and it is certainly not our job to convince someone which artist is the best. Music is varied, and fortunately every person can choose, buy, and follow the genre and artists they prefer.

Never say: it was better once. Because it wasn't better, it was just different. Then, as now, appearances, selling one's "product", and the relationship with the fans count a lot.

Making fun of, or believing oneself superior, because one listens to "cultured" or ancient music is a stupid generalization. Just as all the generalizations come from superficial and ignorant people, some of which are nice (for example the well-known avarice of the Scots), others are profoundly unjust and wrong (for example the Italians are all considered mafiosi). Too often, superficial and ignorant people play important roles in the old, failed politics.

The same goes for preferences of all kinds. Judging people, for their work, and for their respect for the rules, and not for the type of food one eats, or the type of music one listens to, is a rule of logic, common sense, and mutual respect.

Sanremo 2023 will undoubtedly be remembered for the great homage that the good presenter and artistic director Amadeus paid to the history of Italian music. From the first to the last day, almost all the great interpreters of Italian music took to the stage of the Ariston Theater, who, albeit with an advanced age, were able to excite the audience in the hall, on the radio and on TV. Congratulations for this recognition, before losing them forever, because for them it is important, fundamental, to rediscover the relationship with their audience. We have to thank them, because they have been, together with their music, the soundtracks of the lives of our parents, our grandparents, and they are an example for young people, who they will be able to pass on to future generations. All the negative comments, which mocked them, from ignorant, cruel, and heartless people, will never scratch the stories of these protagonists of music. When they are gone, they will be remembered and loved for eternity, for their contribution to Italian musical history, while the comments of envious people with useless lives, which will not make them remember, will disappear forever. from their relatives. How many frustrated people are around, always ready to let everyone know their ignorance.

Congratulations to the legendary Gianni Morandi, who played an important role as presenter and made his experience available to young artists.

Congratulations to the presenters, who have been able to carry out their task intelligently, without ever being banal, touching on important topics. Dress provocatively, yet elegantly.

There are people who don't understand that the Festival must be talked about for it to work. Some provocation, wanted or unwanted, serves to increase success, even in the inevitable controversies.

The good singer Blanco, who controversially broke some vases of flowers, served to wake up those who had already fallen asleep. Immediately the usual imbeciles began to offend a young boy, "guilty" of having lost his mind. Breaking flower pots is a provocative gesture in the city of flowers. A single criticism, to the production, a few more vases of flowers, to wait for spring with a little color and optimism.

Doing the Sanremo Festival, after a natural disaster, such as the terrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria, was not easy. Unfortunately, many people have lost their lives, have been injured, have lost relatives, friends, or suffer, due to hunger, thirst, cold, lack of medicines, and the absence of health services. Many children have been orphaned, many parents have lost their most precious possession, the only thing that really matters to them, their children. And there are countries, which out of pride, thirst for power, avarice, and cruelty, do not allow aid to arrive in Syria, because they are against the policy of the second country seriously affected by the earthquake. Not being able to help people who are suffering and in difficulty is not the behavior of human beings. The "strongest" countries will soon stop deciding the fate of the weakest peoples, just give us the time to make ourselves known, and to let the peoples, and not politics, conquer all the power.

We are tackling a topic, which certainly shouldn't be a "taboo", in 2023, but which many consider scandalous. The passionate kiss, between 2 artists, one on stage, the other in the front row of the audience. Rosa Chemical, during the performance, came down to the audience, and first mimed a sexual act, and then kissed the singer, father of the family, Fedez, under the eyes of the latter's wife, who was presenting the Festival. As with the choice of musical, artistic, or food preferences, we do not like to judge, or influence, the sexual behaviors, and preferences, of our users, and of all people. Love, in all forms, is the most powerful force in the universe. Politics does not have the right to enter people's intimate and private lives. Politics, and other people, don't even have the right to judge such behavior. Ours is not open-mindedness, not even modernity, it is simply: logic, common sense, and mutual respect, of all people. 2 men, 2 women, kissing, for show, or for love, in a studied or spontaneous way, shouldn't upset anyone. Today's youth often have access to, and know details, that their parents, and their grandparents, didn't know. So it seems useless to add anything else, you know how we think about freedom, and we leave, even in this case, to the various countries and peoples, the freedom to decide, while making all our basic rules apply to everyone.

Finally, our congratulations, to all the artists, singers, composers, musicians, authors, technicians, producers, presenters, and all the staff, a sincere wish, for personal and professional results, which fill your hearts with happiness.

To Marco Mengoni, who finished first, with the beautiful song "two lives", masterfully interpreted, our congratulations.

To those who didn't win, we remind you that Vasco Rossi, Zucchero, and other great singers and musicians finished last, or penultimate, but they made, and still make, incredible successes. They fill stadiums, sports halls, with their concerts, and sell a lot. Therefore, they must not despair, nor be sad. Sanremo is certainly a good starting point for everyone, but it is certainly not the point of arrival.

The important thing is to live it in the best way, also trying to transmit polemical messages, to change and improve the mentality, even of people who do not understand certain moments of entertainment, because they are too busy defending their bigoted positions, sincerely , indefensible.