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"Che sarà" (Italian: [ke ssaˈra]; "What will be") is an Italian song, written by Jimmy Fontana (music) and Franco Migliacci (lyrics) for the 1971 Sanremo Music Festival. Up until that year, each song was interpreted by two artists or performers to showcase the songwriters craft rather than the singers interpretations.

"Che sarà" was sung by José Feliciano and the Ricchi e Poveri group and came second to "Il cuore è uno zingaro". RCA's Italian producers saw the song and the festival as a way to bring José Feliciano, already an international star, to Italy, as he already knew Jimmy Fontana. Although Ricchi e Poveri was a new, young group, it was chosen to sing the second version after Gianni Morandi, a well known Italian singer and RCA artist, had declined to sing the song. Jimmy Fontana, reportedly, was disappointed by RCA's decision and withdrew from the music business for many years.

Recordings

Feliciano's recorded version was successful in Italy, in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Japan. It was an even greater success in Latin America and Spain in Feliciano's Spanish version, titled "Qué será". Feliciano's version peaked at number one in Spain. An English-language version titled Shake A Hand charted in Scandinavia but not in the Top Tens of the US or the UK.

The song is featured in the classic Bulgarian film from 1982, A Nameless Band. In the particular scene the singer Reni (played by Katerina Evro) announces "Che sarà" as "a song for love, parting, and something more."

In 2021 Ricchi e Poveri recorded the song with José Feliciano for the album ReuniON (DM Produzioni, 19439875041), also released in Russia.

Song

The lyrics of the song describe the singer's sadness at having to leave his native village (Paese mio che stai sulla collina, disteso come un vecchio addormentato; "Oh my village set on the hill, lying down like an old sleeping man") and were inspired by Cortona, a small town in Tuscany where the lyricist, Franco Migliacci, had lived for many years. For Jimmy Fontana, who wrote the music, the song is devoted to Bernalda, his wife's home village.

Coincidentally, the Cortona story echoes the personal history of José Feliciano, who was born in the hill village of Lares in Puerto Rico, and who left it for New York, joining many other Puerto Rican migrants to the US. In fact, the Spanish version of the song is considered by many in the Latino population to be a "migrants' hymn".

Chart positions

Foreign-language versions

References

1. ... "Che Sarà", a mega-success in Europe, Asia and South America ..., http://www.josefeliciano.com, biography page.
2. "Hits of the World". Billboard. Vol. 83, no. 24. Prometheus Global Media. 1971-06-12. p. 52. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
3. "Hitparade - Top 10 - US 1970 bis 1972 (in German)". Wbrnet.info. 1939-07-12. Archived from the original on 2011-10-21. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
4. ... Migliacci dedicated to Cortona the beautiful song “Che Sarà ...” (in Italian).
5. ... by Jimmy Fontana, one of the authors of the song played by Ricchi e Poveri and by Feliciano, the song is dedicated to Bernalda, in Basilicata, the village where his wife comes from (in Italian)].
6. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine José Feliciano – Che sarà
7. ^ "dutchcharts.nl/". dutchcharts.nl/. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
8. Hit parade Italia 1971
9. List of Nr.1 in Sweden
10. "José Feliciano – Shake a Hand". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
11. BG ESTRADA (28 January 2013). "Леа Иванова - Спри до мен (1971)" – via YouTube.
12. CerrusZo (15 June 2010). "Kovács Kati: Mit remélsz/ Csúzlis Tom/ Most kéne abbahagyni; Egyveleg 1971" – via YouTube.
13. "Karel Gott – Komm Zu Mir". Discogs. 1972. Retrieved August 31, 2020.

• José Feliciano songs
• Songs in Italian
• Number-one singles in Spain
• Sanremo Music Festival songs of 1971
• Songs with lyrics by Franco Migliacci
• 1971 songs
• Songs written by Jimmy Fontana
• Ricchi e Poveri songs