Una Voce Per SAN MARINO: Everything you need to know

Let’s start with the important reminder: The Grand Final for UNA VOCE PER SAN MARINO this year will have GlitterBeam’s official english commentary. Make sure you tune in on Saturday the 24th of February to discover who will represent San Marino at the next Eurovision Song Contest!

Casting for newcomers started in November, while 8 established artists will access directly to the final. One finalist will also be chosen with “The Sanmarinese Sessions”, with a partnership with Casperaki, that allowed artists to create a song helped by AI.

The selection of semi-finalists, also conducted by a jury, consisted of an audition phase for emerging artists between 10 November 2023 and 23 January 2024, where 129 entries qualified to the semi-finals; applications were open between 10 October 2023 and 14 January 2024, by which date over 700 submissions had been received from at least 31 countries. There were no restrictions on the nationality of the performer nor the language of the song. Established artists were instead directly invited to the final by Media Evolution S.r.l. The professional jury who selected the semi-finalists was composed of music producers Domenico ”Mimmo” Paganelli, Domenico ”Mimmo” Gallotti and Nabuk.
On 30 January 2024, SMRTV announced the names of the 129 acts that had been selected to progress to the semi-final stage, most being from Italy, as well as the semi-final they would take part in.

The Big Artists already in the final:

Aaron Sibley is an award winning Singer-Songwriter with his music being played in exciting venues in and around the UK and Europe. Aaron has had the opportunity to not only perform and write music internationally, but also work as a music producer. He has written and produced songs for National Selections for the Eurovision Song Contest throughout Europe including Moldova, Ireland, Lithuania, San Marino. In 2022, Aaron Sibley won the International Emerging Artist Song Contest in San Marino (Una Voce Per San Marino) with his song Pressure which provided him with the chance to perform in their Eurovision National Final, placing 3rd. In 2023, Aaron once again qualified as a finalist in Prides Got Talent where he was given the opportunity to perform in the Adelphi theatre in the West End, and again at Pride in London.

Aimie Atkinson is an English stage actress and singer. She is known for portraying the role of Katherine Howard in British comedy musical Six on the original UK tour and in the West End production at the Arts Theatre, Lyric Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre, portraying Vivian Ward in the West End production of Pretty Woman, as well as forming part of pop girl group SVN.

Jalisse is an Italian musical duo consisting of spouses Alessandra Drusian and Fabio Ricci. They won the “Big” category of the Sanremo Music Festival 1997 with the song “Fiumi di parole”and took part in theEurovision Song Contest 1997, where they ranked 4th.

The band La Rua was formed in Ascoli Piceno in 2004. In December 2012 it placed first in the Area Sanremo competition after passing the selection among 320 artists. In December 2018, La Rua participated in Sanremo Giovani and finished in 2nd place, becoming the artist most voted by the public, with 35% of the votes. Winning the podium, the band sets off on a world tour organized by Rai and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, playing in 5 continents and 7 cities. Upon its return, the group releases its third physical album ‘Nessuno Segna Da Solo’, released on April 26th and preceded by the single ‘Alta Velocita”.

Brother and sister Gianni and Marcella Bella made their recording industry debut together in the early 70s with hit songs such as Hai Ragione Tu (1971), “Montagne Verdi” (1972), “Io Domani” (1973), and “Nessuno Mai” (1974). The duo was introduced to Italian audiences thanks in large part to Marcellas performance at the very first Sanremo Festival, singing Montagne Verdi. The Bellas won the prestigious Gondola of Gold Award from the Mostra Internazionale di Venezia for the record “Nessuno Mai.” Her partecipations to the Sanremo Festival, notably “Senza un briciolo di testa” (third place at Sanremo 1986), “Tanti auguri” (Sanremo 1987), “Dopo la tempesta” (Sanremo 1988) and “Verso lignoto” (a duet with Gianni Bella presented at Sanremo 1990). In the 1990s she slowed her activities. In 2005, she returned to the Sanremo Festival after a fifteen-year absence with the song “Uomo bastardo”, ranking second in the “classics” tournament.

Pago is an Italian singer and television personality. Of Neapolitan origins, he was born in Quartu SantElena in the province of Cagliari, after various experiences with his first band, the “New Rose”, and after some experiences as a street artist, he decided to leave his island in search of fortune. In 2005, after many auditions sent, he obtained a contract with Carosello Records and Warner Music Italy and published multiple singles and Albums. In recent years he has been active in some Italian reality shows.

DJ Jad is an Italian disc jockey, known for having founded Articolo 31 together with J-Ax in the nineties. Since 2006, following the dissolution of the group, he embarked on a solo career, and then joined artistically with the rapper Ciccio Pasticcio, creating the group Udite Suoni Buoni.Wlady is an Italian disc jockey and record producer. Younger brother of Article 3 member DJ Jad. Ice MC is a British rapper who started his professional music career in Italy, and released his debut single “Easy” in 1989. Hes best known for the Eurodance 1990s hit singles “Take Away the Colour”, “Think About the Way” and “Its a Rainy Day”. Zanettis music team produced Ice MC hits while also producing songs for other major Italian artists of the same decade, like Double You, Alexia, and Corona. Corona is an Italian Eurodance project. Initially as a band originally formed by the Brazilian-born singer and model Olga Maria de Souza and the producer Francesco “Checco” Bontempi (a.k.a. Lee Marrow), it found commercial success with the worldwide hits “The Rhythm of the Night” (1993) and “Baby Baby” (1995). After the second album, Bontempi left the band and was replaced by Francesco Conte and Paolo Dughero.

Loredana Berte’ is an Italian singer, songwriter and actress. In her long career she has worked with prominent Italian songwriters such as Pino Daniele, Ivano Fossati, Mario Lavezzi, Mango and Enrico Ruggeri, among others. She has experimented with different genres, from rock to reggae, from funk to pop. Bert is known for the eccentric clothing she wears onstage for her performances. She competed in theSanremo Music Festival 2024 with the song “Pazza”, finishing in seventh place but being awarded the Critics prize, named after her sister Mia Martini.

Dana Gillespie is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over 70 albums, and appeared in stage productions, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, and several films. Her musical output has progressed from teen pop and folk in the early part of her career, to rock in the 1970s and, more latterly, the blues. In the fall of 2023, Casperaki launched a public call for song drafts to be submitted to “Una Voce per San Marino” using Casperakis AI chatbots. The winning artist is Dana Gillespie, a British blues singer, who will sing “The Last Polar Bear”, a song that addresses the urgent issue of environmental pollution. The song, initially created by Casperakis AI music platform, was transformed by Dana Gillespie into a powerful environmental anthem, highlighting her commitment to global concerns through her art.

Semi-final 1 19 February 2024
In final: Daudia

Semi-final 2 20 February 2024
In final: Booom!

Sammarinese semi-final 21 February 2024
1 Alessia Felici
2 Francesco Mariani
3 Giulia B.
4 Gynevra
5 HBH Band
6 Kida
7 Why Xes

Semi-final 3 22 February 2024
1 Alessandro and Guya Canino
2 Alunno
3 Atwood
4 Camilla Rinaldi
5 Camilla Ruffini
6 Cinzia Paoletti
7 Corde Libere
8 Cristiano Cosa
9 Daiana Lou [it]
10 Daniel Marin
11 Eki & Katy
12 Elina
13 Emil Lindholm
14 Fijord
15 Ilyth
16 Karma
17 Lorenzo Postiglione
18 Malvax
19 Mark
20 Mate
21 Mhora
22 Michela Baselice
23 Noor
24 Operapop
25 Ros-Aria
26 The Atlantis
27 The Miss
28 This is Elle
29 Xada
30 Xgiove

Semi-final 4 23 February 2024

1 Auroro Borealo and Martelli
2 Bluesy
3 Brenda Novella
4 Cainero
5 Casino Moon
6 Dəva
7 Dez
8 Diego Federico
9 Effemme
10 Eklettika
11 Elis
12 Federubin
13 Flat Bit
14 Gelida
15 Junaisinsane
16 Known Physics
17 Mad
18 Mirjam
19 Myky
20 Nadine Randle
21 Only Sara
22 Prima
23 Raffi
24 Sandro Machado
25 Spiros
26 Thea
27 Veronica
28 Vincent
29 Vitania
30 Viva

The final of Una voce per San Marino will take place on 24 February 2024. Mogol and Al Bano, who chaired the jury in the two previous editions, will make an appearance as guests.