Questa Notte
| "Questa Notte" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Bonaparti.lv | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Released | April 12, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format | CD | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | G.E.M. studio, Riga | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Opera | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 2:58 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Microphone Records | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Kjell Jennstig, Francesca Russo, Torbjorn Wassenius |
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| Producer(s) | Edijs Gņedovskis, Zigfrīds Muktupāvels |
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"Questa Notte" (English translation: "Tonight") was the Latvian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, sung in Italian by Bonaparti.lv.
The song was originally written with English lyrics as "Tonight" by Swedish musician Kjell Jennstig with the demo being recorded by Sandra Oldenstam: after its initial submission for Melodifestivalen 2007 consideration was unsuccessful Jennstig shopped the demo for consideration in Eirodziesma 2007, the Latvian preselection round for Eurovision, and on December 11, 2006 "Tonight" was announced as one of twenty songs in contention to become the Latvian entry in Eurovision 2007.
For its performance by a local artist - a requirement for all songs in contention to become the Latvian Eurovision entrant - it was decided to take the song in a different vocal direction than the female vocal on its demo: Platforma Records (lv) assembled a sextet of classical-style male vocalists who were dubbed Bonaparti.lv, with Jennstig's original song being customized for an operatic act by having its lyrics rendered in Italian - by Francesca Russo and Torbjörn Wassenius - and a consequent re-entitling as "Questa Notte". The song easily won the second semi-final of Eirodziesma 2007 on February 3, 2007 proceeding to become the clear winner at the Eirodziesma 2007 final of February 24, 2007: the televote tally of "Questa Notte" at the Eirodziesma 2007 final was 49,422 almost three times that of the runner-up.
On the night of the Eurovision 2007 semi-final - May 10, 2007 -""Questa Notte" performed 28th (last), following Austria's Eric Papilaya with get A Life - Get Alive. The song received 156 points, placing 5th of 28 and progressing to the final. At the final Bonaparti.lv performed 14th (following France's Les Fatals Picards with "L'amour à la française" and preceding Russia's Serebro with "Song #1") The song received 54 points, placing 16th of 24 countries competing.
"Questa Notte" is to-date the only Eurovision entrant with Italian lyrics representing a nation which does not rank Italian as an official language, all other Italian-language Eurovision entries having been submitted by Italy, San Marino, or Switzerland. (There have been two Eurovision entrants with partially Italian lyrics representing non-Italian speaking nations: specifically "Nomiza" - sung in Greek and Italian by Voice - and "Pe-o margine de lume" - sung in Italian and Romanian by Nico & Vlad Miriţă - which were respectively Eurovision entrants for Cyprus in 2000 and Romania in 2008.) "Questa Notte" is also notable as one of three Latvian entries at Eurovision not sung in English, the other two being "Dziesma par laimi" (2004) and "Probka" (2009) sung respectively in Latvian (by Fomins & Kleins) and in Russian (by Intars Busulis): of the three only "Questa Notte" qualified for performance in its competing year's Eurovision final.
The song was succeeded at the 2008 contest by Pirates of the Sea with "Wolves of the Sea".
Single track listing
- "Questa Notte" - 2:58
- "Questa Notte" (instrumental version) - 2:58
