Un po'artista un po'no - Yksin oon

It's been a while since we last heard of Lea Laven, the Cover Queen of the 70' and 80's. She recorded this "Yksin oon" (Alone am I) in 1988 for her album "Kortit kertoo kohtalomme". It was released only as an album track, even if it had some single hit potential. The original song was of Italian origin made by a couple of well-known artists. It was written by Toto Cutugno and performed by Adriano Celentano. The song "Un po'artista un po'no"(A little bit artist, a little bit not) was on Celentano's eponymous 1980 album, created during his golden years of collaboration with Cutugno between 1977 and 1980. The song was also a single hit. You can see music video made of the song, here.

Here's the pair:

Senorita - Senorita por favor

So, today is the International Women's day. To celebrate it we present truly international song about a woman. Marion Rung recorded "Senorita por favor" in 1978. It was a big hit in Finland and a minor hit in Germany (with the version in German that we present here). Marion recorded the song also in English. You can hear it, here. The song was written by the Italian singer and songwriter Toto Cutugno. As far as I know he didn't record the song himself, but the original recording was made by El Pasador, who is famous for his mega hit "Amore mio, amada mia" (finnpicked earlier, here). The song was on his 1977 album and was called "Senorita". El Pasador was the stage name of Italian singer, composer and conductor Paul Zavalloni. His characteristics were hoarse voice and a trucker's mustache. If he didn't sing many words on "Amore mio", his vocals are even more sparse on this "Senorita". The major part of the vocals is done by background singers and it's interesting to find out that the 1979 European hit for disco group Chocolat's is almost one-to-one to El Pasador's original version. Listen to it yourself ...

Here's the triplet:

Ciao Bambino, Sorry - Näin on käynyt sorry

Anneli Sari (b. Anneli Lundberg) recorded "Näin on käynyt sorry" (So it goes, sorry) in 1978 on her album "Luonnonlapsi" (Nature Child). It was not released as a single, which is a pity, becouse it would have been potential hit for Anneli. Her recording career began in 1964 when she covered the Italian Eurovision winner 'Non ho l'eta" gaining substantial success. In later years she has recorded less of schlagers and pop and more of chansons and romany music. She's also performed in various stage acts and concerts. The original song was called "Il lupo e l'angello" (Wolf and angel) and it was written by our old friend Toto Cutugno. I don't know if Toto ever recorded this himself, but the hit version was made by French legend Mireille Mathieu as "Ciao Bambino, Sorry". This was most probably the version that Anneli covered.

Updated on 12.05.2010: added Kai Hyttinen's version.

Here's the triplet:

Il Etait Une Fois Nous Deux - Sulle

After the disco thumping we will move into more romantic mood. Tapani Kansa released "Sulle" (For you) as a single in 1977. It was medium-sized hit for him and the song has become a regular part of his repertoire. The original song "Il Etait Une Fois Nous Deux" (Once there were us two), was done into an European-wide hit by famous singer Joe Dassin in 1976. It was composed by Dassin's - and our - old friend Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno, and also recorded by Cutugno's group Albatros as "Monja Monja". Joe Dassin was born in USA but emigrated later to Europe. His father was the movie director Jules Dassin. And probably partly becouse of his famous father, he secured his first recording contract in the 60's. The song "Les Champs-Élysées" was his first international hit and "Taka Takata" 1972 made him world star.

Here's the pair:

Africa - Kuusamo

Danny (see previous entry) turned from 60's pop & rock artist into more mainstream pop in the 70's. One - very succesful - example of this is "Kuusamo" released as a single in 1976. Kuusamo is a city in north-eastern Finland. It is very popular as a summer resort and in wintertime the Finns visit in hordes Ruka skiing centrum for downhill- and cross-country skiing. Danny was recently awarded Kuusamo Medal for his merits in making the city famous with this song. The song's original name was something as exotic as "Kuusamo", namely "Africa". It was co-written by Italian legend Toto Cutugno. The first recording was made by Toto's own group, Albatros. They recorded both Italian and English versions. The Italian version was called "L'estate di san Martino" which means "Indian Summer", The same title in French was used in the Joe Dassin's version "L'ete d'Indien'. It was recorded in 1975 and one of the first international hit versions of the song. The song has been covered numerous times all around the world, which only proves taht you can't keep a good melody down.

Here's the triple:

Kuusamo - Danny
Africa - Albatros
L'Ete Indien - Joe Dassin