Che sarà

"Che sarà (What will be?)"
Song by José Feliciano and Ricchi e Poveri
English title	Shake a Hand
Published	1971
Composer	Jimmy Fontana
Lyricist	Franco Migliacci
Recorded by	many artists; see Cover versions

Che sarà (Italian: [ke ssaˈra]; English: "What will (it) be?") is an Italian song, written by Jimmy Fontana (music) and Franco Migliacci (lyrics) for the 1971 Sanremo Music Festival. Up until that year, each song was interpreted by two artists or performers to showcase the songwriters' craft rather than the singers' interpretations.

Che sarà was sung by José Feliciano and the Ricchi e Poveri group and came second to Il Cuore E' Uno Zingaro. RCA's Italian producers saw the song and the festival as a way to bring José Feliciano, already an international star, to Italy, as he already knew Jimmy Fontana. Although Ricchi e Poveri was a new, young group, it was chosen to sing the second version after Gianni Morandi, a well known Italian singer and RCA artist, had declined to sing the song. Jimmy Fontana, reportedly, was disappointed by RCA's decision and withdrew from the music business for many years.

Recordings

Feliciano's recorded version was successful in Italy, in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Japan.^[1] It was an even greater success in Latin America and Spain in Feliciano's Spanish version, titled Qué será. Feliciano's version peaked at number one in Spain.^[2] An English-language version titled Shake A Hand charted in Scandinavia but not in the Top Tens of the USA or the UK.^[3]

Song

The lyrics of the song describe the singer's sadness at having to leave his native village (Paese mio che stai sulla collina disteso come un vecchio addormentato; Oh my village set on the hill, lying down like an old, sleeping man) and were inspired by Cortona, a small town in Tuscany where the lyricist, Franco Migliacci, had lived for many years.^[4] For Jimmy Fontana, who wrote the music, the song is devoted to Bernalda, his wife's home village^[5]

Coincidentally, the Cortona story echoes the personal history of José Feliciano, who was born in the hill village of Lares in Puerto Rico, and who left it for New York, joining many other Puerto Rican migrants to the USA. In fact, the Spanish version of the song is considered by many in the Latino population to be a migrants' hymn.^[6]

There exist versions in other languages, for example Góða ferð by BG og Ingibjörg from Iceland, Aldrig mer by Hootenanny Singers from Sweden, or Nádherná from Pavel Novák from the Czech republic.

Curiosity

Concerning music, there is a song composed by Caetano Veloso around 1971 (London, london) that is identical, at least in the verse.

Chart positions

Version/Title°	Country	Position
IT / Che Sarà	Italy	2,[7][8]
IT / Che Sarà	The Netherlands	1 [9]
IT / Che Sarà	Austria	1
IT / Che Sarà	Germany	7
IT / Che Sarà	Belgium	2
SP / Qué Será	Spain	1
SP / Qué Será	Argentina	2[10]
SP / Qué Será	Puerto Rico	7[10]
EN / Shake a Hand	Sweden	1 '[10]
EN / Shake a Hand	Denmark	1[10]
EN / Shake a Hand	Norway	9[10]
FI / Toivotaan	Finland	9[10]

References

1. ... "Che Sarà", a mega-success in Europe, Asia and South America ..., http://www.josefeliciano.com, biography page.
2. "Hits of the World". Billboard (Prometheus Global Media) 83 (24): 52. 1971-06-12. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
3. "''Hitparade - Top 10 - US 1970 bis 1972'' (in German)". Wbrnet.info. 1939-07-12. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
4. ... Migliacci dedicated to Cortona the beautiful song “Che Sarà ...” (in Italian).
5. ... by Jimmy Fontana, one of the authors of the song played by Ricchi e Poveri and by Feliciano, the song is dedicated to Bernalda, in Basilicata, the village where his wife comes from (in Italian)].
6. José Feliciano – Che sarà
7. "www.hitparadeitalia.it". www.hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
8. "www.hitparadeitalia.it". www.hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
9. Steffen Hung. "dutchcharts.nl/". dutchcharts.nl/. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
10. "Jose Feliciano Charts" (in Italian). FantasticFeliciano.too.it. Retrieved 2012-03-10.