Toto Cutugno – RIP

Being so close to Italy, Malta has always followed Italian music, soccer, culture, entertainment and art. Many song competitions are held annually and many Maltese have followed them over the decades, through radio first, then TV and also lately attending their live concerts. Many of them have come to Malta to perform. I too have followed Italian songs until 1981 when I left for the USA. But over the past 40 years, somehow one other singer was a little different than the others and I liked his songs, a little upbeat and with very melodious tunes. He is Toto Cutugno and sadly he passed away yesterday at the age of 80. Born on July 7, 1943 he won many competitions including the famous Sanremo Contest twice, in which he participated 15 times. He also won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990 with the song ‘Insieme -1992’ (Together – 1992.) He was also a great entertainer as this little video shows in a concert he gave in Russia in 2016, singing ‘L’Italiano’ (The Italian.) My American friends may not understand the Italian language, but at least listen to the music. Notice the thousands of Russians cheering for him - I had no idea Russians loved Italian music that much!