(by Catherine Hornby).
Italy's Sanremo Music
Festival proved its popularity on its second night on Wednesday,
attracting an average of 10.748 million viewers and winning
49.91% of the TV audience share for State broadcaster RAI.
Highlights included an interview with Oscar-winning movie
star Nicole Kidman and a performance by Italian pop singer Eros
Ramazzotti, 30 years after he won the festival competition.
Italian pianist and composer Ezio Bosso, who suffers from
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive
neurodegenerative disease, also put in a moving performance.
It was the best second-night showing for the much-loved
music festival, which was launched in 1951, since the 2005
edition presented by Paolo Bonolis, which attracted 52.8% of the
share on night two.
Wednesday's show opened with head-to-head competitions
between young singers. Many performers again appeared on stage
with LGBT rainbow ribbons in a show of support for a civil
unions bill currently before the Italian Senate that would
extend to gay couples some of the rights and protections
heterosexual married couples currently enjoy.
Prominent artists who displayed the ribbon at the event
include Dolcenera, Patty Pravo and Ramazzotti.
"Children make a family, and family is fundamental,
whatever type of family it is," said the pop star, describing
his ribbon as "important".
"Everyone brings up their children in their own way: the
fundamental thing is to give them the right education, the right
teaching," said Ramazzotti, who has three children.
The display of support for the bill at Sanremo met with
harsh criticism from rightwing, anti-immigrant Northern League
leader Matteo Salvini on Thursday.
"If you don't sing with a rainbow ribbon they don't let you
sing," Salvini said during a visit to Cagliari in Sardinia.
"I respect everyone, but a child needs a mother and a
father," he added.
RAI chief Antonio Campo Dall'Orto has defended the
performers' choice to wear the ribbons in the face of criticism
from conservatives, saying they are not "aggressive or
disrespectful".
Kidman arrived notably behind schedule but made an
impressive entrance in an elegant long black Armani dress.
During an interview with presenter Carlo Conti, she also
opened up about what her 10-year marriage and family with
musician Keith Urban mean to her.
"The family is the most simple thing that exists and
holding your children close to you in bed is the sweetest thing.
I like to share everything with them. Anyone who has children
knows what I'm talking about," she said.
Other guests at Sanremo on Wednesday night included British
singer Ellie Goulding, the Hamburg quartet Salut Salon and
Italian actor Nino Frassica.
The 2016 Festival also won almost half of Italian viewers
on its opening night Tuesday, when Elton John and Laura Pausini
were among the performers.
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