Insieme: 1992

"Insieme: 1992" (inˈsjɛːme ˌmilleˌnɔveˈtʃɛnto noˌvantaˈduːe; "Together: 1992") is a song written and recorded by Toto Cutugno. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, held in Zagreb, resulting in the country's second victory in the contest.

Background

Conception

"Insieme: 1992" was written and recorded by Toto Cutugno with Italian lyrics. He sang about bringing the disparate nations of Europe together. The "1992" of the title refers to the year in which the European Union was scheduled to begin operation, thus bringing the hope of the lyric to fruition.^[2]

Eurovision

Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) internally selected the song as for the of the Eurovision Song Contest. For the song to participate in the contest, it was necessary to shorten it to fit into three minutes.^[3]

On 5 May 1990, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb hosted by Radiotelevizija Zagreb on behalf of Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Cutugno performed "Insieme: 1992" nineteenth on the evening, following 's "Som en vind" by Edin-Ådahl and preceding 's "Keine Mauern mehr" by Simone. He was accompanied on stage by a backing group of five singers from Slovenia, the group Pepel in kri –Zvezdana Sterle, Ditka Haberl, Tadej Hrušovar "Dejvi", Oliver Antauer, and Miran Rudan–, who had represented in . Gianni Madonini conducted the event's orchestra in the performance of the Italian entry.^[4]

At the close of voting, the song had received 149 points, placing first in a field of twenty-two, winning the contest.^[5] This was Italy's second victory in the contest.

Live arrangement

As Slovenian backup singer Tadej Hrušovar remembers: "The first rehearsal was a total disaster, that's why I offered to re-arrange the song by myself. Cutugno told us (backup singers) 'Let's just get over with it, nothing good will come out of this.' We rehearsed backvocals kicking intro 'Insieme, unite, unite, Europe' really poorly for quite some time. Delegations from other countries looked at us really strangely and I was really embarrassed. I had enough and told Cutugno, 'That's it, I will do an appropriate rearrangment of the song all by myself. We can't just fool around, our band (Pepel in kri) has a great reputation in Yugoslavia.' So I did correct the arrangement and studied it with the other band members. After two days we had the second rehearsal and when we 'hit' that kick intro, Cutugno turned around with his mouth open, couldn't believe how powerful it sounded. Then panic also started among the rest of the delegations, who didn't take us seriously before. Then suddenly they started coming up to us, asking who we were."^[6]

Aftermath

As the winning broadcaster, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) gave RAI the responsibility to host the of the Eurovision Song Contest. This contest, held on 4 May 1991, opened with its hosts, Cutugno and Gigliola Cinquetti, performing their Eurovision winning songs, "Insieme: 1992" and "Non ho l'età" respectively.^[7]

Track listings

CD single

1. "Insieme: 1992" – 4:00
2. "Insieme: 1992" (instrumental) – 4:00

7" single

1. "Insieme: 1992" – 4:00
2. "Insieme: 1992" (instrumental) – 4:00

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Legacy

Covers

• In 1990 Kari Tapio recorded the song in Finnish titled "Lapset suomenmaan" ("Children of the country of Finland").
• In 1990 Slovenian vocal band Pepel in kri, who also performed as Cotugno's backvocals, did Slovenian version called "Evropa '92"^[19]
• Turkish pop singer, Yasemin Kumral covered it as Birlikte ("Together" in Turkish) ^[20] in her 1990 album, Uzaylı Dostum (My alien friend in Turkish).
• In 1998, Roland Kaiser recorded a German version "Extreme".

References

1. ^ Petridis, Alexis (May 11, 2023). "All 69 Eurovision song contest winners – ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
2. ^ "Insieme: 1990 - lyrics". The Diggiloo Thrush
3. ^ "National Selections: 1990". Eurovisionworld
4. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1990". Eurovision Song Contest. JRT / EBU. 5 May 1990.
5. ^ "Official Eurovision Song Contest 1990 scoreboard". Eurovision Song Contest
6. ^ "Kako so Slovenci leta 1990 zmagali na Evroviziji" (in Slovene). Siol. 14 May 2019.
7. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1991". Eurovision Song Contest. RAI / EBU. 4 May 1991.
8. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. 11 August 1990. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
9. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Toto Cutugno". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 55. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
10. ^ "Classifiche" (in Italian). Musica e Dischi. Retrieved 29 May 2023. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Insieme: 1992".
11. ^ "Playlist Report: Italy". Music & Media. Vol. 7, no. 22. 2 June 1990. p. 12.
12. ^ "Top40 week 24 van 1990 (16-06-1990)" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
13. ^ "Top 3 Singles in Europe". Music & Media. Vol. 7, no. 35. 8 September 1990. p. VII. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 3 September 2021. – via World Radio History.
14. ^ "Jahreshitparade Singles 1990" (in German). Retrieved 2 May 2025.
15. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1990" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
16. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 of 1990". Music & Media. Vol. 7, no. 51. 22 December 1990. p. 60. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 15 January 2020. – via World Radio History.
17. ^ "Top 100 Single–Jahrescharts 1990" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
18. ^ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1990" (in German). Retrieved 2 May 2025.
19. ^ "Evropa '92". YouTube. 7 July 2008.
20. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-To7KfJWvSE Yasemin Kumral-Birlikte