Penelope Cruz and Nelly Furtado will grace Italy’s best-loved pop music event, the Sanremo songfest, to give it an international feel this year.
The festival starts on Tuesday and ends five evenings later. International show-biz stars are one of the tricks organisers routinely use to boost interest and this year the biggest name on the list is Spanish-born actress Penelope Cruz, the 36-year-old muse of director Pedro Almodovar. It is not clear what Cruz will do on the Sanremo stage although a straightforward interview seems most probable.
Canadian pop star Nelly Furtado, 28, who songs such as Promiscuous and Maneater topped the billboards recently, is also likely to sing a duet with Italian combo Zero Assoluto.
In the past actor stars such as John Travolta, Hugh Grant, Will Smith and Sharon Stone have been given half-hour slots to be interviewed live on stage between sections of the song contest.
Report by Chitra Mogul
