Jalisse
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Jalisse () is an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
musical duo consisting of spouses Alessandra Drusian (born 18 May 1969) and Fabio Ricci (born 5 September 1965). They won the "Big" category of the Sanremo Music Festival 1997 with the song " Fiumi di parole" and took part in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1997 The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and presented by C ...
, where they ranked 4th.


Career


Beginnings

The two met for the first time in 1990 in the studio of a record company. Drusian in that period competed with numerous victories in musical competitions in
Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...
and
Friuli–Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and abo ...
; Ricci was the singer and keyboardist of a group called Vox Populi, with whom he had released a maxi-single entitled "I'm So Bad" and presented himself as a songwriter to the record companies. From 1990 to 1993 Drusian, after being launched by
Pippo Baudo Giuseppe Vittorio Raimondo "Pippo" Baudo (born 7 June 1936) is one of the most famous Italian television presenters, with a career spanning six decades. He is often nicknamed "Superpippo" (referencing the Italian name of Super Goof). Baudo ha ...
in the TV program ''Grand Premio'', made a series of appearances on television broadcasts. In 1992 she found herself with Ricci: the two decided to work together and two years later they formed Jalisse, taking their name from a character in the television series ''
The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom created by (along with Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson) and starring Bill Cosby that originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 half-hour e ...
''. The poet Younis Tawfik later revealed ''jalisse'' ( ''jalīs'') in Arabic means "diner who knows how to entertain in the tale of fables and music: sit and listen". In 1995 the duo participated in ''Sanremo Giovani'' (the
Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...
competition for emerging artists) with the song "Vivo" ("Alive"), finishing third in the second evening and acquiring the right to participate in the Sanremo Festival proper the following year, where they ranked sixth in the "New proposals" section with the song "Liberami" ("Set Me Free").


1997 Sanremo Festival and Eurovision Song Contest

In
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
they participated again at the Festival, once again by right, thanks to the rule, introduced two years before and present for the last time, which allowed the non-winning finalists of the "New Proposals" section of the previous edition to compete for 4 places among the "Champions". The song, " Fiumi di parole", passed the selection and ranked first in the event, getting the Jalisse two prizes: the Golden Lion as winners of the Festival and the Silver Lion as authors (Alessandra Drusian and Carmen Di Domenico for the lyrics, Fabio Ricci the music). This victory turned out to be among the most debated in the history of the Festival, for the controversial aftermath that followed. The song bore resemblance with " Listen to Your Heart" by
Roxette Roxette is a Swedish pop rock duo originally consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, both of whom were already established musicians in Sweden prior to the band's formation. Fredriksson had released a number of successful solo albums, ...
, but no actions were taken in this regard because plagiarism was non-existent. During the 1997 Sanremo week, the duo's debut album, ''Il cerchio magico del mondo'' ("The Magic Circle of the World"), was released. The result in terms of sales (50,000 copies) was below expectations, but due to the fact that the two had reached the Sanremo victory as unknown artists and with an unreleased album. Two months later they took part in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1997 The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and presented by C ...
in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
with the same song, reaching the fourth place; there were speculations of boycott from the national broadcaster
RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...
, which revamped in 2009 when Gigi Vesigna, in his book ''Vox Populi'', stated that the defeat of Jalisse at the event had been driven by RAI: if the duo had won, the Italian public TV would have had to organize the 1998 edition, an operation deemed commercially disadvantageous given the scarce interest of the Italian audience for this event. Italy withdrew from the musical competition until 2011. The following year, Jalisse submitted to the Sanremo Festival commission the song "Le cime del Tibet" ("The Tops of Tibet"), written and composed by
Maurizio Fabrizio Maurizio Fabrizio (born 16 March 1952) is an Italian composer, conductor, arranger, producer, musician and singer-songwriter. Life and career Born in Milan, after studying at the conservatory in 1969 Fabrizio became a member of the La Scala or ...
and Guido Morra, but it was discarded. Soon the duo was labeled as a "meteor" in Italy and belittled by the mass media which, among other things, played on the alleged plagiarism of "Fiumi di parole". In fact, thanks to the good placement at the Eurovision Song Contest, they began a series of concerts and tours abroad, including the
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(
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),
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,
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(
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) and
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(
Viña del Mar International Song Festival The Viña del Mar International Song Festival () is an annual international music festival held every third week of February in Viña del Mar, Chile. Started in 1960 it is the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America, and one of the long ...
). In the meantime, the duo's record was included in the programming of
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and chosen by
Fred Bronson Fredric M. "Fred" Bronson (born January 10, 1949) is an American journalist, author and writer. He is the author of books related to number one songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and other books related to various music charts as well. He ...
for ''
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'' as one of the most interesting albums of 1997.


Decline and independent projects

In 2001–2002 Drusian debuted as an actress in the musical comedy ''Emozioni'' ("Emotions") directed by Sergio Japino. In the meantime, Ricci decided to leave the vocal parts of the songs to his wife and devoted himself to their small independent label, the Tregatti Produzioni Musicali. In the spring of 2005, the album ''Siedi e ascolta'' ("Sit and Listen") was released in
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,
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and
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, containing two unreleased tracks and some tracks from the previous album totally revisited, including a Spanish version of "Fiumi di parole" titled "Ríos de palabras". The record was promoted in Northern Europe and some extracts from it were included in compilations in
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, the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
and
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. In
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, they reached third place at the Baltic Song Contest in
Karlshamn Karlshamn () is a locality and the seat of Karlshamn Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden. It had 13,576 inhabitants in 2015, out of 31,846 in the municipality. Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles ...
. The German magazine ''Für Sie'' distributed 600,000 copies with the compilation attached. After the 2007 announcement of San Marino's first participation in the Eurovision Song Contest the following year, Jalisse immediately said they were ready to return by representing the country, and subsequently presented a song for internal selection to
San Marino RTV Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino, commonly known as San Marino RTV (abbreviated SMRTV), is the public service broadcaster of San Marino. On 13 June 2011, San Marino RTV changed its name to SMtv San Marino. In November 2013, the ...
, which failed to be selected. The pair also took part in the selections for the
Sanremo Music Festival 2007 The Sanremo Music Festival 2007 (), officially the 57th Italian Song Festival (), was the 57th Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo between 27 February 2007 and 3 March 2007 and broadcast by (RAI). The contest was present ...
, but their song "Linguaggio universale" ("Universal Language"), inspired by an essay by the Nobel Prize winner
Rita Levi-Montalcini Rita Levi-Montalcini ( , ; 22 April 1909 – 30 December 2012) was an Italian neurobiologist. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor ( ...
, was rejected. In September 2007, they released the album ''Linguaggio universale'' attached to the book ''Istruzione, chiave dello sviluppo'' by the Rita Levi-Montalcini Foundation, published by Baldini & Castoldi. In November 2009, the duo collaborated with the Greek site ''Oikotimes.com'', analyzing the entries of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest of that year. They played the role of themselves in
Fausto Brizzi Fausto Brizzi (born 15 November 1968, in Rome) is an Italian screenwriter, producer and film director. Biography Fausto Brizzi got a Degree in directing at the "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia" in July 1994. After several theatrical ex ...
's film '' Many Kisses Later'', performing their signature song "Fiumi di parole". In 2012 they released the single "Tra rose e cielo" ("Between the Roses and the Sky"), written together with the Italian-Iraqi poet Younis Tawfik, who had escaped from the regime of
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
. Two other singles were released later: "E se torna la voce" ("And If Voice Returns") in March 2013 and "Dove sei" ("Where You Are") in June 2013. On 26 March 2014, Drusian presented herself to ''
The Voice of Italy ''The Voice of Italy'' is a reality singing competition and Italian version of the international syndication '' The Voice'' based on the reality singing competition launched in the Netherlands, created by Dutch television producer John de Mol Jr ...
'' but failed to be blind-chosen by any of the coaches. In December 2016, ''The Best of Jalisse'' was released, with all of the duo's singles, and promoted it throughout 2017. In 2018, they were among the competitors of the TV program ''Ora o mai più'', broadcast on
Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...
and presented by Amadeus, where they won the third episode (out of its four) and came second overall. In the autumn of 2018, Alessandra Drusian took part in the eighth edition of ''Tale e quale show'' and the seventh edition, its tournament edition, ranking second in both. On 3 May 2019, the single "Cavallo bianco" ("White Horse") was released, a cover of the 1976
Matia Bazar Matia Bazar () is an Italian pop band formed in Genoa in 1975. The original members of the group were Piero Cassano (keyboards), Aldo Stellita (bass), Carlo Marrale (guitar, vocals), Giancarlo Golzi (drums), and Antonella Ruggiero (vocals ...
song, with the collaboration of Carlo Marrale. Their new album, ''Voglio emozionarmi ancora'', was released on 17 March 2020. In February 2024, they were selected to compete in the final of '' Una voce per San Marino 2024'', the Sammarinese national selection for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...
.


Discography


Studio albums

* ''Il cerchio magico del mondo'' (1997) * ''I'll Fly'' (2000) * ''Siedi e ascolta'' (2006) * ''Linguaggio universale'' (2009) * ''Voglio emozionarmi ancora'' (2020)


Compilations

* ''The Best of'' (2016)


Singles

* "Vivo" (1995) * "Liberami" (1996) * " Fiumi di parole" (1997) * "6 desiderio" (2004) * "Non voglio lavorare" (2009) * "Tra rose e cielo" (2012) * "E se torna la voce" (2013) * "Dove sei" (2013) * "L'alchimista, per sempre tuo cavaliere" (2014) * "Faro de estrellas" (2015) * "Ora" (2018) * "Cavallo bianco" (2019) * "Non aver paura di chiamarlo amore" (2020) * "Voglio emozionarmi ancora" (2020) * "Speranza in un fiore" (2021)


Television


References

{{Authority control Sanremo Music Festival winners Italian musical duos Participants in Italian reality television series Eurovision Song Contest entrants