View source for Che sarà

{{distinguish|Que sera (disambiguation){{!}}Que sera}}
{{Infobox song
| name          = Che sarà
| cover         =
| alt           =
| type          = song
| artist        = [[José Feliciano]] and [[Ricchi e Poveri]]
| album         = Amici miei, Che sarà
| EP            =
| language      = Italian
| English_title =
| written       = 1970
| recorded      = 1970
| published     = 1971
| released      = 1971
| studio        =
| venue         =
| genre         = Pop
| length        = 3:30
| label         = Apollo Records, [[RCA Victor]]
| writer        =
| composer      = [[Jimmy Fontana]]
| lyricist      = [[Franco Migliacci]]
| producer      =
}}
"'''Che sarà'''" ({{IPA|it|ke ssaˈra|lang}}; "What [it] will be") is an [[Italian language|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 è 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.<ref>''... "Che Sarà", a mega-success in Europe, Asia and South America ...'', [http://www.josefeliciano.com/?page=biography http://www.josefeliciano.com, biography page].</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wgEAAAAMBAJ&q=intitle:billboard+que+sera+jose+feliciano+%22hits+of+the+world%22&pg=PA52|title=Hits of the World|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Prometheus Global Media|date=1971-06-12|accessdate=2013-05-13|volume=83|issue=24|page=52}}</ref> An English-language version titled ''Shake A Hand'' charted in Scandinavia but not in the [[Top 40|Top Tens]] of the US or the UK.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wbrnet.info/db/US09.html |title=''Hitparade - Top 10 - US 1970 bis 1972'' (in German) |publisher=Wbrnet.info |date=1939-07-12 |accessdate=2012-03-10 |archive-date=2011-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021080158/http://www.wbrnet.info/db/US09.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The song is featured in the classic Bulgarian film from 1982, ''[[A Nameless Band]]''. In the particular scene the singer Reni (played by Katerina Evro) announces "Che sarà" as "a song for love, parting, and something more."
In 2021 [[Ricchi e Poveri]] recorded the song with [[José Feliciano]] for the album ''ReuniON'' (DM Produzioni, 19439875041), also released in Russia.
==Song==
The lyrics of the song describe the singer's sadness at having to leave his native village ({{lang|it|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.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120723155827/http://www.comunedicortona.it/istituzioni/comunicato_dettaglio.php?codice=1297 ''... Migliacci dedicated to Cortona the beautiful song “Che Sarà ...”'' (in Italian)].</ref> For Jimmy Fontana, who wrote the music, the song is devoted to [[Bernalda]], his wife's home village.<ref>''... 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)].</ref>
Coincidentally, the Cortona story echoes the personal history of José Feliciano, who was born in the hill village of [[Lares, Puerto Rico|Lares]] in [[Puerto Rico]], and who left it for New York, joining many other Puerto Rican migrants to the US. In fact, the Spanish version of the song is considered by many in the [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]] population to be a "migrants' hymn".<ref>[http://www.goldmusicblog.com/jose-feliciano-che-sara/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094600/http://www.goldmusicblog.com/jose-feliciano-che-sara/# |date=2016-03-04 }} ''José Feliciano – Che sarà''</ref>
==Chart positions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Version/Title°
! Country
! Position
|-
| IT / Che Sarà || The Netherlands || 1<ref name="Che sarà">{{cite web |url=http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?key=98884&cat=s |title=dutchcharts.nl/ |publisher=dutchcharts.nl/ |date= |accessdate=2012-03-10}}</ref>
|-
| IT / Che Sarà || Italy || 2<ref>[https://hitparadeitalia.it/hp%20yends/hpe1971.htm Hit parade Italia 1971]</ref>
|-
| IT / Che Sarà || Germany || 7<ref name="Che sarà"/>
|-
| IT / Che Sarà || Belgium || 2<ref name="Che sarà"/>
|-
| EN / Shake a Hand || Sweden || 1<ref>[[List of number-one singles on Tio i Topp|List of Nr.1 in Sweden]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=May 2024}}
|-
| EN / Shake a Hand || Norway || 9<ref>{{cite web |url=https://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Jos%E9+Feliciano&titel=Shake+A+Hand&cat=s |title=José Feliciano – Shake a Hand |website=norwegiancharts.com |access-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref>
|}
==Foreign-language versions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Title
! Artist
|-
| [[Iceland]] || Góða ferð || BG og Ingibjörg
|-
| Bulgaria || Spri do men || Lea Ivanova<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYrR2o9IMIA|title=Леа Иванова - Спри до мен (1971)|last=BG ESTRADA|date=28 January 2013|publisher=|via=YouTube}}</ref>
|-
| Finland || Toivotaan, toivotaan || [[Eero Raittinen]]
|-
| Sweden || Aldrig mer || Hootenanny Singers
|-
| Denmark || Aldrig mer || Katy Bødtger
|-
| Czech republic || Nádherná || Pavel Novák
|-
| [[France]] || Qui saura || Mike Brant
|-
| [[Vietnam]] || Đôi bờ || [[Anh Tú]], [[Lê Cát Trọng Lý]]
|-
| [[Hungary]] || Mit remélsz? || [[Kati Kovács]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVhVQKC0DkE|title=Kovács Kati: Mit remélsz/ Csúzlis Tom/ Most kéne abbahagyni; Egyveleg 1971.|last=CerrusZo|date=15 June 2010|publisher=|via=YouTube}}</ref>
|-
| Germany || Che Sara || [[Karel Gott]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Karel-Gott-Komm-Zu-Mir/release/7248831|title=Karel Gott – Komm Zu Mir|year=1972 |publisher=[[Discogs]]|access-date=August 31, 2020}}</ref>
|-
|}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Che Sara}}
[[Category:José Feliciano songs]]
[[Category:Songs in Italian]]
[[Category:Number-one singles in Spain]]
[[Category:Sanremo Music Festival songs of 1971]]
[[Category:Songs with lyrics by Franco Migliacci]]
[[Category:1971 songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Jimmy Fontana]]
[[Category:Ricchi e Poveri songs]]