Che sarà

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title: "Che sarà" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["josé-feliciano-songs", "songs-in-italian", "number-one-singles-in-spain", "sanremo-music-festival-songs-of-1971", "songs-with-lyrics-by-franco-migliacci", "1971-songs", "songs-written-by-jimmy-fontana", "ricchi-e-poveri-songs"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_sarà" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

Field	Value
name	Che sarà
type	song
artist	José Feliciano and Ricchi e Poveri
album	Amici miei, Che sarà
language	Italian
written	1970
recorded	1970
published	1971
released	1971
genre	Pop
length	3:30
label	Apollo Records, RCA Victor
composer	Jimmy Fontana
lyricist	Franco Migliacci
::

| 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" (; "What [it] will 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 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. 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. An English-language version titled Shake A Hand charted in Scandinavia but not in the Top Tens of the US or the UK.

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 (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. For Jimmy Fontana, who wrote the music, the song is devoted to Bernalda, his wife's home village.

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 US. In fact, the Spanish version of the song is considered by many in the Latino population to be a "migrants' hymn".

Chart positions

::data[format=table]

Version/Title°	Country	Position
IT / Che Sarà	The Netherlands	url=http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?key=98884&cat=s
IT / Che Sarà	Italy	2
IT / Che Sarà	Germany	7
IT / Che Sarà	Belgium	2
EN / Shake a Hand	Sweden	1
EN / Shake a Hand	Norway	9
::

Foreign-language versions

::data[format=table]

Country	Title	Artist
Iceland	Góða ferð	BG og Ingibjörg
Bulgaria	Spri do men	Lea Ivanova
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
Germany	Che Sara	Karel Gott
Estonia	Lootus jääb	Eesti Raadio Meeskvartett
::

References

References

1. ''... "Che Sarà", a mega-success in Europe, Asia and South America ...'', [http://www.josefeliciano.com/?page=biography http://www.josefeliciano.com, biography page].
2. (1971-06-12). "Hits of the World". Prometheus Global Media.
3. (1939-07-12). "''Hitparade - Top 10 - US 1970 bis 1972'' (in German)". Wbrnet.info.
4. [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)].
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. [http://www.goldmusicblog.com/jose-feliciano-che-sara/] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-03-04 ''José Feliciano – Che sarà'')
7. "dutchcharts.nl/". dutchcharts.nl/.
8. [https://hitparadeitalia.it/hp%20yends/hpe1971.htm Hit parade Italia 1971]
9. [[List of number-one singles on Tio i Topp. List of Nr.1 in Sweden]]
10. "José Feliciano – Shake a Hand".
11. BG ESTRADA. (28 January 2013). "Леа Иванова - Спри до мен (1971)".
12. CerrusZo. (15 June 2010). "Kovács Kati: Mit remélsz/ Csúzlis Tom/ Most kéne abbahagyni; Egyveleg 1971.".
13. (1972). "Karel Gott – Komm Zu Mir". [[Discogs]].

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