Eurovision Song Contest 1983

Eurovision Song Contest 1983
Dates
Final date 23 April 1983
Host
Venue Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle,
Munich, West Germany
Presenter(s) Marlene Charell
Conductor Dieter Reith
Director Rainer Bertram
Executive supervisor Frank Naef
Host broadcaster Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rundfunkanstalten Deutschland (ARD)
Opening act Marlene Charell introducing each act and calling all of them on stage together.
Interval act Marlene Charell
Participants
Number of entries 20
Debuting countries None
Returning countries  France
 Greece
 Italy
Withdrawing countries  Ireland
Vote
Voting system Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points  Spain
 Turkey
Winning song  Luxembourg
"Si la vie est cadeau"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1982 • 1983 • 1984►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, on 23 April 1983. The presenter was Marlene Charell. Corinne Hermes was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, "Si la vie est cadeau". This was Luxembourg's fifth victory in the contest which equalled the record set by France in 1977. It was also the second year in a row where the winning entry was performed last on the night and the second year in a row in which Israel won 2nd place.

The set that year was a quite small, arc-shaped stage surrounding the orchestra section, and a large background resembling giant electric heaters, which lit up in different sequences and combinations depending on the nature and rhythm of the songs. This year's contest was the first to be televised in Australia, via Channel 0/28 (now SBS Television) in Sydney and Melbourne. The contest went to become a very popular show in Australia and in 2014 SBS took part in the show by sending a singer for the intverval act in the second semi-final. In 2015 Australia was invited to participate in the contest for the first and only time. Previous winners ABBA and Bucks Fizz had been successful in Australia, to which many Europeans had emigrated. Ireland was not in the contest because RTÉ was in strike action at that time.[1]

Voting

Toward the end of the voting, it became evident that Luxembourg was going to win, but early on, Germany, Sweden, and Yugoslavia all threatened to take Luxembourg's lead, which they earned halfway through the jury vote. At one point, murmurs and boos arose from the crowd at the Greek jury's decision to give host country Germany only one point. And that was the only occasion that Greece didn't award any point to Cyprus.

Language troubles

Due to Charell's choice to announce points in three languages instead of two, the voting went on for nearly an hour, stretching the Eurovision contest past three hours for the first time ever.[2] In addition, Charell made 13 language mistakes throughout the voting,[2] some as innocuous as mixing up the words for "points" between the three languages, some as major as nearly awarding points to "Schweden" (Sweden) that were meant for "Schweiz" (Switzerland).

The language problems also occurred during the contest introductions, as Charell introduced Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as "...Johannes...Skorgan...",[3] having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductor's name.

Song success

Ofra Haza from Israel, who took the second place, had an enduring success with her song "Hi" (חי) which became a hit in Europe, launching her career. This year also marked the first performance of Sweden's Carola Häggkvist, who took the third place and went on to win the contest in 1991 and represented her country again in 2006 (coming fifth). Her song, "Främling", became very popular in Sweden and in various other European countries. In the Netherlands, the song reached the top five, coupled with a Dutch-language version ("Je ogen hebben geen geheimen") which was performed by Carola herself. The 4th placed "Džuli", also became a hit in Europe. Singer Daniel released an English-language version as "Julie".

Nul points

This year's nul points were shared by Spain and Turkey. Spain's Remedios Amaya presented a song which was a stark departure from pop tastes and conventional perception of melody and harmony as it was a flamenco one, a style traditionally tied with the international image of Spain. Additionally, she sang her song barefoot. Some olés were heard from the present audience when she ended her performance. Turkey's entry, Opera, performed by Çetin Alp & the Short Waves, could on the other hand be said to fit in well with the spirit of Eurovision of that time. Nevertheless, the overinterpretation of the theme of the song, as well as the fact that the lyrics of the song consisted for the most part of the often-repeated word "opera" and names of well-known operas and composers, and Çetin's breaking into operatic "lay lay la", prompted extensive derision of the song, including the usual sardonic words from BBC commentator Terry Wogan ("a nicely understated performance there").

Interval act

The interval show was a dance number set to a medley of German songs which had become internationally famous, including Strangers in the Night. The host, Marlene Charell, was the lead dancer.

Conductors

Host conductor in bold

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Guy Bonnet  France 1970
Jahn Teigen  Norway 1978, 1982
Anita Skorgan (Part of Jahn Teigen) 1977, 1979, 1981 (As part of Finn Kalvik), 1982

Results

Draw Country Language[4] Artist Song English Translation Place Points
01  France French Guy Bonnet "Vivre" Living 8 56
02  Norway Norwegian Jahn Teigen "Do Re Mi" Do Re Mi 9 53
03  United Kingdom English Sweet Dreams "I'm Never Giving Up" - 6 79
04  Sweden Swedish Carola Häggkvist "Främling" Stranger 3 126
05  Italy Italian Riccardo Fogli "Per Lucia" For Lucia 11 41
06  Turkey Turkish Çetin Alp & the Short Waves "Opera" - 19 0
07  Spain Spanish Remedios Amaya "¿Quién maneja mi barca?" Who sails my boat? 19 0
08   Switzerland Italian Mariella Farré "Io così non ci sto" I don't like it this way 15 28
09  Finland Finnish Ami Aspelund "Fantasiaa" Fantasy 11 41
10  Greece Greek Christie Stasinopoulou "Mou Les" (Μου λες) You tell me 14 32
11  Netherlands Dutch Bernadette "Sing Me a Song" - 7 66
12  Yugoslavia Serbo-Croatian Danijel "Džuli" Julie 4 125
13  Cyprus Greek Stavros & Constantina "I Agapi Akoma Zi" (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) Love is still alive 16 26
14  Germany German Hoffmann & Hoffmann "Rücksicht" Consideration 5 94
15  Denmark Danish Gry Johansen "Kloden drejer" The planet's spinning 17 16
16  Israel Hebrew Ofra Haza "Hi" (חי) Alive 2 136
17  Portugal Portuguese Armando Gama "Esta balada que te dou" This ballad that I give to you 13 33
18  Austria German Westend "Hurricane" - 9 53
19  Belgium Dutch Pas de Deux "Rendez-vous" Meeting 18 13
20  Luxembourg French Corinne Hermès "Si la vie est cadeau" If life is a gift 1 142

Voting structure

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for their top ten songs.

Score sheet

Results
France 56 3 10 10 6 7 2 3 4 4 1 3 3
Norway 53 5 3 6 8 1 8 4 6 3 7 2
United Kingdom 79 5 5 12 2 5 8 5 5 6 3 5 2 10 6
Sweden 126 6 12 8 8 7 2 5 10 10 3 1 7 12 10 8 4 8 5
Italy 41 7 2 4 3 1 2 8 1 6 7
Turkey 0
Spain 0
Switzerland 28 1 7 1 7 6 1 5
Finland 41 1 2 6 3 4 8 7 7 2 1
Greece 32 3 12 5 12
Netherlands 66 2 7 1 6 4 2 12 3 5 5 2 4 3 4 2 4
Yugoslavia 125 8 12 1 12 10 12 6 7 8 6 12 10 1 12 8
Cyprus 26 4 1 6 5 1 5 4
Germany 94 10 10 7 8 6 2 4 1 10 3 8 7 6 12
Denmark 16 2 7 1 4 2
Israel 136 8 6 10 5 3 6 7 7 3 12 10 10 7 10 12 10 10
Portugal 33 4 1 5 6 2 6 2 7
Austria 53 3 4 5 10 4 4 4 3 6 2 5 3
Belgium 13 4 8 1
Luxembourg 142 12 10 12 8 7 3 8 12 1 12 10 8 2 12 12 5 8

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N. Contestant Voting nation
6 Luxembourg France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Yugoslavia
5 Yugoslavia Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Turkey, United Kingdom
2 Greece Cyprus, Spain
Israel Austria, Netherlands
Sweden Germany, Norway
1 Germany Luxembourg
Netherlands Switzerland
United Kingdom Sweden

Commentators

Television

Radio

Spokespersons

Each country announced their votes in the order of performance. The following is a list of spokespersons who announced the votes for their respective country.[19]

National jury members

References

  1. ↑ "Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest". Best Irish Facts. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eurovision 1983 facts
  3. ↑ Boom-Bang-a-Bang: Eurovision's Funniest Moments, BBC-TV, hosted by Terry Wogan
  4. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1984". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Christian Masson. "1983 - Munich". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  6. ↑ "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? - Debattforum". Nrk.no. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  7. ↑ Eurovision Song Contest 1983 BBC Archives
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  9. ↑ "FORO FESTIVAL DE EUROVISIÓN • Ver Tema - Uribarri comentarista Eurovision 2010". Eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  10. ↑ KleinReport.ch. "Ehemalige «SF-DRS-Stimme Englands» Theodor Haller gestorben - Klein Report - News, alles über Kommunikation und Medien". KleinReport.ch. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  11. ↑ "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  12. ↑ "Η Μακώ Γεωργιάδου και η EUROVISION (1970-1986)". Retromaniax.gr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  13. ↑ "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Forside". esconnet.dk. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Comentadores Do ESC - escportugalforum.pt.vu | o forum eurovisivo português". 21595.activeboard.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
  19. ↑ "Cast in credits order". Eurovision Song Contest 1983. IMDb. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  20. ↑ Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
  21. ↑ "Remedios Amaya actúa en séptimo lugar en el Festival de Eurovisión | Edición impresa | EL PAÍS". Elpais.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  22. ↑ Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
  23. ↑ "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  24. ↑ "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 1999-09-13. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  25. ↑ "000webhost.com - free web hosting provider". Eurofestival.host22.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.