Sanremo Music Festival 1972

Voting system

A new voting system was implemented for this edition. The vote in each show was conducted by two different juries: a jury representing the twenty regions of Italy and a jury representing three different communities. A computer in Milan was in charge of choosing three hundred telephone numbers in each of Italy's twenty regions following a mathematical formula to draw them at random for each show. The telephone number lists were then sent to editorial offices belonging to eight different newspapers: Il Secolo XIX, Corriere della Sera, Il Piccolo, Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione, Il Messaggero, Il Mattino, Giornale di Sicilia, as well as the Centro Univac Torino, at which telephone operators called each number and chose fifty people to be jury members for each region. The computer also chose three different communities from a list of two hundred across Italy, including various schools, barracks and retirement homes among others, where another fifty jury members from each community were selected. In the semi-finals, jury members representing both their regions and communities voted for three different songs. For the final, regional jury members were limited to voting for only one song, while communal jury members continued to vote for three songs. A backup jury composed of fifty randomly drawn spectators in the venue was to vote for seven songs during the semi-finals in the event the results from the other two juries were not deemed sufficient in determining the seven finalists.^[11][12][13]

For the first time, the voting results in the final were presented sequentially, displayed electronically by a computer and projected onto the Eidophor screen on stage.^[4][13]

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 24 February 1972 at 21:15 CET.^[20] Fourteen artists performed their songs and seven were selected for the final.^[25]

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 25 February 1972 at 21:15 CET.^[26] Fourteen artists performed their songs and seven were selected for the final.^[27]

Final

The final took place on 26 February 1972 at 21:00 CET.^[12]

The winning song was "I giorni dell'arcobaleno" performed by Nicola Di Bari, written by Di Bari with Dalmazio Masini and Piero Pintucci. Di Bari had also won the festival in 1971, making him the fourth artist after Nilla Pizzi, Domenico Modugno and Johnny Dorelli to win twice in a row. "Come le viole" performed by Peppino Gagliardi, written by Gagliardi with Gaetano Amendola achieved second place, and "Il re di denari" performed by Nada, written by Claudio Mattone and Franco Migliacci, achieved third place.^[8][28] The top three songs were performed again at the end of the show.^[13]

"Jesahel" written by Ivano Fossati and Oscar Prudente, performed by the band Delirium, received a prize for the best lyrics among the competing songs. The band also received the Giorgio Berti award given to the best performer.^[8]

Local broadcast

The final was broadcast on Programma Nazionale (television) and Secondo Programma (radio) beginning at 21:00 CET,^[12] while the semi-finals were broadcast on Secondo Programma (television) and Secondo Programma (radio) at 21:15 CET.^[20][26]

International broadcast

Part of the final was broadcast via the Eurovision and Intervision networks in other countries.^[8] The festival was reportedly aired by broadcasters in Monaco, France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and Greece via Eurovision, in the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary via Intervision as well as in Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and Canada.^[8][13][27] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

International broadcasters of the Sanremo Music Festival 1972

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Chile	UCTV	Canal 13[a]		[29][30]
Japan	NHK	NHK[b]	Yutaka Ishida	[31]
Spain	SER	Radio Barcelona		[32]
		Radio Girona		[33]
		Radio Huesca		[34]
		Radio San Sebastián		[35]
		Radio Zaragoza		[36]
United States	WNJU-TV[c]			[37]
Yugoslavia	JRT	TV Beograd 1, TV Zagreb 1		[38][39]
		TV Koper-Capodistria		[40]
		TV Ljubljana 1		[39]

Controversy

The decision made by the festival's song selection commission to allow only nine artists to submit a second song was the result of controversy in the lead-up to the event. During a press conference on 4 February, one of the commission members Roberto Moroni explained the decision: "Regarding Gianni Morandi's song—the committee's opinion was negative. However, the opinion on the singer's performance wasn't negative, hence the decision to grant the possibility of an appeal. For Orietta Berti, however, the negative opinion on the song was followed by a negative opinion on her performance".^[15] Reports from the commission meetings, made public on 11 February, clarify the commission held a vote to determine which artists received a second submission request.^[24][41]

Berti's record company Phonogram Inc. filed a legal request to invalidate the work of the festival's commission and suspend the event. The request claimed irregularities in the application of the rules during the song selection process—primarily with an article of the regulations authorizing the commission to allow extended deadlines for artists to submit songs replacing ones that were rejected "for proven and justified artistic reasons". The request claimed other rules were violated, such as the rule prohibiting commission members from having ties to the pop music industry, of which they claimed commission members Gino Peguri and Benedetto Ghiglia had.^[42] Gian Piero Simontacchi, president of the record label Società italiana fonografica (SIF) on behalf of the artist Piero Focaccia, who's submission was placed on the list of reserves, also filed a legal request to suspend the festival due to irregularities by both the commission and Sanremo's municipal council.^[23][43] Other requests against the municipality were filed by the Libera associazione cantanti e orchestrali italiani di musica leggera (LACOIM) and the artist Rosalino.^[44] On 18 February, all requests were rejected by the magistrate of the Sanremo court.^[44][45]

On 5 February, the Sanremo city councillor Danilo Bregliano resigned from the executive committee in charge of organising the festival due to alleged illicit pressure influencing its management, also claiming the festival was "dirtier than others".^[16][24] The mayor of Sanremo, Piero Parise, accused Bregliano of defamation and filed a court complaint against the councillor.^[24]

On 21 February, the Confederazione italiana sindacati artisti dello spettacolo (CISAS) called a national strike of pop music singers, ensembles and conductors in protest of the festival, with the aim to postpone the event due to alleged violations of the festival's regulations during its organisation, as well as the choice to invite French conductor Frank Pourcel to the event rather than a conductor of Italian origin.^[46] On 23 February, twelve artists competing in the festival signed a declaration of solidarity with the unions' decision, although rehearsals commenced as usual. Two artists, Milva and Donatello, revoked their signatures after the declaration failed to gain support from all competing artists. Later that day, a meeting between representatives of the municipality of Sanremo and CISAS took place, in which an agreement was reached to work with RAI to secure the production of a television special featuring Italian artists and conductors. A press release following the meeting then confirmed CISAS would suspend the strike.^[47][48]