The Sanremo Music Festival 1998 (), officially the 48th Italian Song Festival (), was the 48th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo in late February 1998 and broadcast by (RAI). The show was presented by Raimondo Vianello, supported by Eva Herzigová and Veronica Pivetti.
According to the rules of this edition, the winner and the two runners-up of the Newcomers section were allowed in the final night to compete in the Big Artists section; Annalisa Minetti was eventually able to win both the competitions with the song "Senza te o con te". Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel won the Critics Award with the song "Dormi e sogna", while the duo Eramo & Passavanti won the Critics Award for the Newcomers section. For the newcomers, only the winner was revealed; for the big artists section, initially only the first three positions were announced, while the complete final ranking was disclosed only several weeks after the end of the festival.
The "quality jury", responsible for rewarding best music, best lyrics and best arrangements, consisted of composer Michael Nyman, singer-songwriter Roberto Vecchioni, writer Vincenzo Cerami, record producer Celso Valli and vice-president of Rome-Europe Foundation Monique Vaute.
After every night, Piero Chiambretti and Nino D'Angelo hosted DopoFestival, a talk show about the festival with the participation of singers and journalists.
Participants and results Big Artists
+ Big Artists section Song Artist(s) Songwriter(s) Rank Notes "" Annalisa Minetti 1 Winner of the "Big Artists" section "" Antonella Ruggiero 2 "" Lisa 3 "" Paola Turci 4 "" Silvia Salemi 5 "" Mango featuring Zenîma 6 FIMI Award for Best Song "" Luca Sepe 7 "" Niccolò Fabi 8 "" Ron 9 "" Andrea Mingardi 10 "" Alex Baroni 11 "" Spagna 12 "" Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel 13 Mia Martini Critics Award Volare Award for Best Music Volare Award for Best Arrangement "" Sergio Caputo Sergio Caputo14 "" Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare 15 "" Paola e Chiara 16 "" Enzo Jannacci Enzo Jannacci17 Volare Award for Best Lyrics
Newcomers
+ Newcomers section Song Artist(s) Songwriter(s) Notes "" Annalisa Minetti Winner of the Newcomers' section - Admitted to the "Big Artists" competition "" Lisa 1st Runner up - Admitted to the "Big Artists" competition "" Luca Sepe 2nd Runner up - Admitted to the "Big Artists" competition "" Paola Folli Francesco Rapaccioli "" Percentonetto "" Costa Marco Costantini "" Taglia 42 Saverio Grandi "" Alessandro Pitoni "" Nitti e Agnello "" Luciferme "" Serena C "" Eramo & Passavanti Mia Martini Critics Award Newcomers Section Best Vocal Performance Award "" Federico Stragà Daniele Fossati "" Liliana Tamberi
Guests +Guests Artist(s) Song(s) Madonna"Frozen" Robbie Robertson"Unbound" All Saints"Never Ever" Michael Bolton"Nessun dorma" Shola Ama"You're the One I Love" Backstreet Boys"As Long as You Love Me" "All I Have to Give" Álvaro Scaramelli"Soy tal qual soy" Ricky Martin"La Copa De La Vida" Jimmy Page & Robert Plant"Most High" Celine Dion"The Reason" "My Heart Will Go On" Aqua"Doctor Jones" Bryan Adams "Back to You" José Feliciano"Che sarà" "El Americano"
References