San Marino deadline

This year's liliput debutant, San Marino, has passed its deadline for submission of entries. Anyone could send in suggestions to the tiny broadcaster, and a jury will select the first Sammarinese entrant ever in a closed voting. Just thinking of the fact that San Marino will take part makes the butterflies fly like crazy all around my belly. But it is very happy and positive butterflies.

I have always, since I was very young, had a soft spot for the microstates of Europe, and I wanted them all in Eurovision (but had to content myself with only Luxembourg for quite a few years). Now Andorra and Malta are there on a regular basis and Monaco at least popped its nose back in for a few years. And here we go with San Marino, a state with a population smaller than the 2001 live audience at the ESC in Copenhagen. Groovy.

What thrills me the most is the secret hope that some Italian record label may have understood the benefit of pan-European exposure. Let's face it - Italian music is no longer the highly attractive export it once was. If this is unfair or not is irrelevant, but way fewer Italian acts make their way out into the international limelight anymore. What if some star hopes for European stardom with a little help from the ESC?

Well, at least Jalisse entered a song. How nice of them. But I would hope for someone slightly hotter to do the job, in all honesty. I loved "Fiumi di parole" back in 1997. But Jalisse never made it big. And I want big.

Despite the fact that San Marino is really, really small.



Jalisse - Fiumi di parole - Italy 1997
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