At the final of the Sanremo Festival 2026, Ermal Meta led once again Little star with a new name sewn onto his suit. A gesture that, night after night, became an integral part of the performance.
The name had appeared in the early evening Amalwhich in Arabic means “hope”, in the second evening another name, Aisha, different, always belonging to a Palestinian girl. During the cover evening the ritual was repeated, with the name Layla
And even in the final there was a new name, that of Hind Rajab, the five-year-old Palestinian girl, killed by the IDF in Gaza, to whom the film acclaimed in Venice is dedicated.
View this post on Instagram
One name at a time
Meta explained that he chose the names of Palestinian girls who died in the bombs. Every evening a different name, to save those lives from anonymity. Not a slogan, not a sign. Just a sewn-on detail.
Little star talks about a little girl with no name, but precisely for this reason capable of representing them all: Aysha, Amal, Layla, Nour, Hind. «No one’s daughters, everyone’s daughters», said the artist.
The song comes from an intimate moment – the daughter repeating the nursery rhyme – but expands to a broader reflection on denied childhood. The lullaby thus becomes a request for spring, for the end of wars, for a return to serenity.
Finally, coherence
Carrying this gesture until the last evening means reiterating that it was not a temporary effect. It was a consistent choice from the beginning to the end of the Festival. Tonight’s dedication is “to all the children silenced by war”.
In a context dominated by the race and the ranking, Ermal Meta transformed a silent detail into a narrative line. One name at a time, to remember that behind the news there are precise lives, even when they are only written in small print.
View this post on Instagram
