Sarabanda is an Italian television show initially proposed as a variety and later as a musical game with prizes, adaption of the TV format Name That Tune, presented by Enrico Papi and broadcast on Italia 1 in the time slot of the access prime time from 8 September 1997 to 20 February 2004. After the first closing was resumed from 14 March to 10 April 2005 with the broadcasting of Super Sarabanda, a tournament among the most representative champions of the game. The program was re-proposed from 8 June to 30 August 2009 on Canale 5 in the pre-ward, presented by Teo Mammucari with Belén Rodríguez. The program was back on the air for a third time with three special episodes in prime time on Italia 1 from 13 to 27 June 2017 with the return to the running of Enrico Papi.
It aired from Monday to Saturday (from April 2000 to June 2001, and also on Sunday, from January 2004 only until Friday). It had a starting time between 7:40 pm and 8:00 pm even if the most common was between 7:56 pm and 7:58 pm, and an end between 8:40 pm and 9:00 pm (variable duration depending on the editions). In 2005 it was scheduled from Monday to Friday from 8:45 pm to 9:05 pm, and in 2009 from Monday to Friday from 6:50 pm to 8:00 pm. The three episodes in prime time 2017 were aired every Tuesday from 9:15 pm to midnight.
The program was produced by RTI-Mediaset, realized by Videotime S.p.A. licensed by Sandy Frank Entertainment and distributed by Einstein Multimedia from 1997 to 2004. In 2005 the Duck On Line s.r.l. has joined the Videotime in the realization. In 2009 production went to Endemol Italia, while in 2017 the production sees a co-participation of RTI and EndemolShine Italy with the format distributed by Sky Vision.
Until the sixth edition, the episodes were recorded in Studio 1 of the Centro Titanus Elios, Settecamini (Rome), while from the seventh they moved to the Teatro 3 of Cinecittà in Rome, then moved to the Teatro 9 in 2005. In 2009 the program is back to be registered at the Elios Studios. In 2017 the program was broadcast live from the historic Studio 1 of the Centro Titanus Elios.
With 1747 episodes (including 51 special) as well as 20 specials in prime time, it turns out to be the most enduring music-themed quiz on Italian television and one of the longest-running Italian television prizes in general. Considering also the first version, the program has 1757 total episodes.
On 20 May 2025, the Sarabanda Celebrity edition debuted on Italia 1 HD.
Sarabanda returned on 21 July 2025 on Canale 5 again with Enrico Papi as host.
Editions Variety version First airedLast airedEpisodesTV hostDirected by September 8, 1997 October 11, 1997 30 Enrico Papi Cesare Gigli
Game show version EditionSubtitleFirst airedLast airedEpisodesSpecials early eveningTV hostDirected by1 Il gioco della musica October 13, 1997 June 27, 1998 216 2Enrico PapiGiuliana Baroncelli Summer 1998 June 29, 1998 September 12, 1998 48 –2 September 14, 1998 June 26, 1999 244 –3 September 6, 1999 July 9, 2000 279 –4 August 28, 2000 June 16, 2001 293 35From October 29th to November 17th, 2001 it was replaced by Anello debole, the Italian version of The Weakest Link September 10, 2001 June 1, 2002 207 56 September 15, 2002 June 28, 2003 245 37 September 15, 2003 January 30, 2004 112 4Maurizio Spagliardi Scala & vinci February 2, 2004 February 20, 2004 15 – Super SarabandaIl torneo dei campioni March 14, 2005 April 10, 2005 20 –Lorenzo Lorenzini Summer 2009 June 8, 2009 August 30, 2009 48 – Teo Mammucari with Belén Rodríguez Giovanni Caccamo Special 2017 June 13, 2017 June 27, 2017 – 3 Enrico Papi Sergio Colabona Sarabanda Celebrity May 25, 2025 July 20, 2025 20Enrico PapiRoberto Cenci Sarabanda July 21, 2025 Roberto Cenci, Claudio Asquini
Format First version The first version of the program was a variety with a musical background that aired live, with phone calls to dedication and other song numbers, where Papi was assisted by Formula 3 and by imitator Gigi Vigliani, who performed in some comic sketches. The program also took part in a musical ensemble called Saraband, and an audience of about a hundred people, called "choir", who were the outline of the set design.
This formula soon proved to be a fiasco, recording low television ratings, so the authors, after just one month of transmission, decided to implement a drastic change in the format, while maintaining the same title, which referred to the variety of shows offered in a chaotic way and noisy from the cast of the broadcast in its first version.
Second version The program was thus transformed into a quiz with a musical theme, inspired by the historical Italian program by Mario Riva, Il Musichiere (broadcast from 1957 to 1960 on Programma Nazionale); as the famous program, also Sarabanda was based on the NBC format Name That Tune, created by Harry Salter in 1952 and present in many countries of the world, where competitors challenged themselves by answering questions of musical culture and, above all, guessing the titles of the reasons heard in the various games, in order to win the title of champion and, at the same time, win the final prize money. The quiz was divided into several elimination games, in number proportional to the number of participants (initially three, then four or even five in the last editions). Some of the games were modified or replaced by others during the seasons, while the final game remained unchanged. The melodies that were made to listen to the competitors were the arranged MIDI versions of the original songs (although in the first three episodes the bases were prepared by Saraband), while in the most recent edition were proposed in the MP3 version. Following this change of format, the Formula 3 and Gigi Vigliani were excluded from the cast of the transmission while both the chorus and the Saraband remained.
With this new formula the program found the popularity and success, so as to put in serious difficulty the programs of other networks broadcast at the same time, including the 8:00 pm edition of the TG1 and TG5 news programs.
Games Canzone in maschera (Song in the mask): it was the first ever game of Sarabanda. The competitor had to guess a song of his favorite singer, widely revisited by Saraband in such a way as to make it difficult to guess. Three songs were performed (one for each competitor). If the competitor guessed, he earned a point, otherwise it remained at zero. Any earned points were retained for the next game. It was present only in the first episode of the first edition.
Fuori uno (Out of one): it was introduced a couple of weeks after the start of the program. In this game the elimination of one of the competitors was immediately foreseen, replaced by the current champion. It was composed of individual questions of musical culture (the competitors had only three seconds to answer), where those who first committed three errors were rejected (the non-answer to a question was considered an error). It was present only in the first edition and for the first part of the summer one, until 1 August 1998.
Spaccasecondo: replaced Fuori uno from August 24, 1998; the competitors, one at a time, had to guess two melodies in the shortest possible time on a limit of five seconds each. The game was therefore structured in two series of melodies to listen and try to guess; after the first series (called "first round of music" by Papi) was shown the provisional ranking and proceeded to the second series starting from the first in the standings to the last. The competitor, once booked, had five seconds to say the title; in the event of an expired response time or an error, five seconds of penalty were given. The "slower" competitor was eliminated, that is, the one that took the most time to guess his two reasons, replaced by the champion who took his position. From January 2002, he also saw the current champion busy (thus losing the preliminary game feature) which always took place in the post furthest from the presenter. This game, to avoid frequent parity situations, presented an approximation of 0.05 seconds until the fourth edition, 0.02 seconds in the fifth edition and 0.1 seconds in the sixth edition. On 13 March 2003 it was canceled due to the shortening of the duration of the program. It is resumed in the special edition of 2017, returning to an approximation of 0.02 seconds.
Countdown: introduced in the 2003-2004 edition in progress and present from October until the end of the edition. The participants, including the champion, were involved together and had to guess three songs in 1 minute and 30 seconds, without time stopped (only the conductor could stop him), to pass the turn. The competitor, once booked, had five seconds to give the answer. The game ended when three out of four competitors guessed three tunes each, eliminating what had not yet arrived. In case the time was up, if two or more competitors did not guess the three tunes necessary to pass the turn, went to the play-off whatever their score had been.
Extracanto: used in the 2009 edition, it provided for the broadcasting of a video where a foreign tourist visiting a city in Italy sang a song he was listening to on headphones; at the end of the registration the first competitor who booked could try to guess the title of the song, qualifying for the next round if he had guessed. In case he had not guessed, he could no longer give the title by allowing others to book. The last competitor still in the race was eliminated and replaced by the current champion. It was present from the beginning until July 24.
Non c'è due senza Teo (There is no two without Teo): the competitor had to answer a multiple choice question. The correct answer was worth three points, if he was not sure of the given answer he could choose a second one, thus having a point in case one of them was correct; the wrong answer made a point lose. After a certain number of questions the competitor with the lowest score was eliminated and replaced by the current champion. He replaced the Extracanto from 24 July 2009 until the end of the season.
Pentagramma (Music pentagram): through a series of questions, riddles and songs performed by Saraband, associated with the notes to choose, which in turn corresponded to a letter, were composed the words of a phrase taken from a famous song, which you could try to guess only after having answered the single question addressed to all competitors, by reservation. The competitor who answered the question correctly, after discovering the letter (on the model of the famous game Wheel of Fortune), then, had five seconds to give the verse of the Pentagram or could continue to choose the remaining notes. In the event of an expired response time (five seconds) or incorrect response, the competitor could no longer answer the question by allowing others to make a reservation. If no one gave the correct answer or the time ran out, a letter was found, but the point was not assigned to anyone, as no one could give the answer and the next note was chosen by the competitor who had chosen the previous one. The first note of the game was always chosen by the champion. The solution of the sentence was worth five points and sanctioned the end of the game. In the fifth edition were made small changes to the game: who was wrong to answer the question, gave a point to opponents and the solution of the verse was worth three points and no more than five. In the first edition, with a three-way formula, this game was immediately accessible to the final: the winner of the Pentagramma had to wait from behind the scenes who among the two remaining competitors won the next game, that is the Asta musicale. From August 1998 only the competitor with the lowest score was eliminated. This game, present from the first edition, was canceled during the fifth edition and replaced by the game of Gong. It is shown in the special edition of 2017.
Gong: