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Che sar
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Wikipedia article
"'Che sar'" (; "What will it 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 sar" was sung by Jos Feliciano and the Ricchi e Poveri group and came second to "Il cuore uno zingaro". RCA's Italian producers saw the song and the festival as a way to bring Jos 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.'... "Che Sar", a mega-success in Europe, Asia and South America ...', [http://www.josefeliciano.com/?page=biography http://www.josefeliciano.com, biography page]. It was an even greater success in Latin America and Spain in Feliciano's Spanish version, titled "Qu ser". 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 sar" as "a song for love, parting, and something more."
In 2021 Ricchi e Poveri recorded the song with Jos 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 (; "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.[https://archive.today/20120723155827/http://www.comunedicortona.it/istituzioni/comunicato_dettaglio.php?codice=1297 '... Migliacci dedicated to Cortona the beautiful song Che Sar ...' (in Italian)]. For Jimmy Fontana, who wrote the music, the song is devoted to Bernalda, his wife's home village.'... 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)].
Coincidentally, the Cortona story echoes the personal history of Jos 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".[http://www.goldmusicblog.com/jose-feliciano-che-sara/] 'Jos Feliciano Che sar'
Chart positions
Foreign-language versions
References
Category:Jos Feliciano songs
Category:Italian-language songs
Category:Number-one singles in Spain
Category:Sanremo Music Festival songs
Category:Songs with lyrics by Franco Migliacci
Category:1971 songs
Category:Songs written by Jimmy Fontana
Category:Ricchi e Poveri songs
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