Lineup for 65th Sanremo presented

(ANSA) - Rome, December 15 - Organisers have presented the lineup for the 65th Sanremo song competition and televised prime-time entertainment extravaganza, which will take place February 10-14.
    The five-evening RAI broadcast from the Ariston theatre in the seaside resort town of Sanremo will be hosted for the first time by television show host Carlo Conti. In another first, the show will broadcast competition debutants during high audience, prime-time slots. But Sanremo is hardly taking chances, having fished "emerging" stars from a pool of proven television contest veterans, like Lorenzo Fragola - the latest winner of the Italian version of the X Factor - Dear Jack, Chiara and Annalisa, who all been champions of the hit TV talent programs. Dear Jack has already become a top pop band among Italian teens, after featuring on the Amici show. Chiara and Annalisa are now noted vocalists.
    Multilingual Belgian-Italian singer Lara Fabian is returning to the festival after an eight-year absence for an encore duet with Italian singer Gigi D'Alessio, with whom she performed at Sanremo in 2007. The soprano, known for her French songs and Canadian hits, sings in French, English and Italian, but has also performed in seven other languages. Fabian has been compared to one of her muses, the Egyptian-Italian singer Dalida, who sang in more than 10 languages before passing away in 1987 at the age of 54.
    In the category of established, big talent, Sanremo participants Marco Masini, Nek, Anna Tatangelo will be pitted against Italian pop stars vying for comebacks like Alex Britti, Irene Grandi, Raf and Gianluca Grignani. Musical genres will range from hip hop star Nesli to the operatic music trio Il Volo. Singer Bianca Atzei is entering the contest among the established talents, although she is still considered by many to be "emerging", prompting some to speculate that Sanremo is banking on her future success. Italian pop music will be not only venerated, but possibly parodied, with performances by comedians from the Italian sitcom I Soliti Idioti (The Usual Idiots) and the Italian drag queen entertainer Mauro Coruzzi-Platinette.