(7 February 2017) An award and a social media campaign to promote Italian music are the two initiatives put forward by the Dante Alighieri Society for the 67th Sanremo Music Festival. Both initiatives are sponsored by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. With the “Adopt a song” campaign on the Italian language network ‘Beatrice’ (www.beatrice.ladante.it), users are invited to ‘adopt’ one of the 1,600 plus songs from the Sanremo Festival from the first edition to 2016 and also to contribute to the content to promote the particular song they choose to adopt. The maintenance of www.beatrice.ladante.it will give life to #AdottaUnaCanzone (Adopt a Song) with games and initiatives for who has a passion for the Italian language through music. The award “Dove il Sì Suona (#DoveilSìSuona) (‘where the ‘Sì’ doth sound’ from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno), organised in collaboration with ITALS Ca’ Foscari, will go to one of the songs from the 67th Sanremo Festival with the most original lyrics and that best conveys Italian values and style to the public. Since the beginning, Sanremo has been a symbol of “Italianness” and a means of expression that marries melody and lyrics that has rendered Italian music famous around the world. In addition, Italian language teaching to foreign students has a great resource: ITALS Ca’Foscari, in collaboration with #AdottaUnaCanzona has rendered its experience and didactic tools from its laboratory available on www.edulink.it. The Jury of “Dove il Sì Suona” consists of prominent members of the linguistics and language teaching field: Luca Serianni (President), Paolo Balboni, Giuseppe Antonelli, Fabio Caon, and Gabriella Cartago. The criteria are: originality understood as the ability to modulate and inflect traditional themes in Italian music in a new way; the awareness with which the richness of our language is used – in the choice of words, in the search for images and sound effects; the harmony that exists between lyrics and the music; the presence of important current social and cultural themes in Italy today which show relevance in transmitting Italian values style abroad. The winning song will be announced on February 12 during the closing press conference. (Red)
