Eurovision Song Contest 1993

Eurovision Song Contest 1993
Dates
Final date 15 May 1993
Host
Venue Green Glens Arena
Millstreet, Ireland
Presenter(s) Fionnuala Sweeney
Conductor Noel Kelehan
Executive supervisor Christian Clausen
Host broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)
Opening act The story of Eochaid and Étaín in Celtic mythology, transitioning into a video of rural Ireland today.
Interval act Linda Martin,
Johnny Logan
Participants
Number of entries 25
Debuting countries  Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Croatia
 Slovenia
Returning countries None
Withdrawing countries  Yugoslavia
Vote
Voting system Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points None
Winning song  Ireland
"In Your Eyes"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1992 1993 1994►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 15 May 1993 in Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. The presenter was Fionnuala Sweeney. Niamh Kavanagh was the winner of this Eurovision for Ireland with the song, "In Your Eyes". This was Ireland's fifth victory, and equalled the tally of five Eurovision victories achieved by France in 1977 and Luxembourg in 1983.

The location for this year's edition of the contest was unique, in that Millstreet, with a population at the time of just 1,500 people, was the smallest host town ever chosen for Eurovision, and indeed was the most remote. However, the venue, a large indoor well- equipped equestrian centre was deemed more than suitable as the location by RTÉ. With huge support from local and national authorities, plus several businesses in the region, the town's infrastructure was greatly enhanced in order to accommodate an event of this scale. It was also the largest outside broadcast ever attempted by state broadcaster RTÉ and was deemed a technical triumph for all involved. The stage was created by Alan Farquharson, who was also chief production designer two years later in Dublin.

BBC newsreader Nicholas Witchell caused controversy by remarking on the air, shortly before the contest, that it would be held "in a cowshed in Ireland."[1] He subsequently apologized.

The top two countries of this contest were the same as the top two countries in the previous year's contest, being Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Pre-qualifying round

In the run-up to this contest, the European Broadcasting Union finally started to grapple with the explosion in the number of potential participating countries, caused by the dissolution of the Eastern bloc, and also by the disintegration of Yugoslavia, which had traditionally been the only communist country that took part in the contest. For the first time, then, a pre-qualifying round was introduced, but only for countries that had either never participated in the contest at all, or in the case of former republics of Yugoslavia, had not previously competed as nations in their own right. This was, however, merely a 'sticking-plaster' measure that was plainly not a sustainable solution for future years, as it would not be seen as remotely equitable. But in the meantime, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Estonia were left to battle it out in a special competition called Kvalifikacija za Millstreet in Ljubljana on 3 April for the mere three places available at the grand final in Millstreet. After some extremely tight voting, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia edged through.

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. The voting required a jury to deliberate in the midst of the ongoing war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Warm applause rang round the hall as a voice on a crackling phone line was heard to deliver the familiar greeting, "Hello Millstreet, Sarajevo calling". During the announcement of the scores by the Dutch jury, Sweeney got carried away with the audience's cheers and declared Ireland 12 points (which were going to Portugal) when they had only been awarded 10 – which was promptly corrected. By the final few juries it became clear that either Ireland or the United Kingdom were going to win. After the penultimate jury had voted, it looked to be a lost cause for second-placed Sonia of the UK as she was eleven points behind Niamh Kavanagh.

Due to earlier technical difficulties, the final jury to announce their results was the Maltese jury. An expectant Irish crowd waited to hear Malta award anything between one and ten points to either the UK or Ireland – the result of which would have made it arithmetically impossible for Ireland to be caught. However, the name of neither country came up (the ten points instead surprisingly being awarded to Luxembourg). This of course meant that either the UK or Ireland must have failed to pick up any points from the final jury, and if it was Sonia that received the maximum twelve points, the seemingly impossible would have happened and the UK would snatch a single-point victory at the death. Instead it was Ireland that were awarded the final points of the evening, finishing with what looked in retrospect a comfortable twenty-three-point victory. 1993 was the last year that the points were announced by telephone

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous Year(s)
Tony Wegas  Austria 1992
Katri Helena  Finland 1979
Tommy Seebach  Denmark 1979, 1981

Results

Draw Country Language[2] Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Italy Italian Enrico Ruggeri "Sole d'Europa" Sun of Europe 12 45
02  Turkey Turkish Burak Aydos "Esmer Yarim" My darling brunette 21 10
03  Germany German Münchener Freiheit "Viel zu weit" Much too far 18 18
04   Switzerland French Annie Cotton "Moi, tout simplement" Quite simply myself 3 148
05  Denmark Danish Tommy Seebach Band "Under stjernerne på himlen" Under the stars of the sky 22 9
06  Greece Greek Katerina Garbi "Ellada, Chora Tou Fotos"
(Ελλάδα, χώρα του φωτός)
Greece, country of light 9 64
07  Belgium Dutch Barbara Dex "Iemand als jij" Someone like you 25 3
08  Malta English William Mangion "This Time" 8 69
09  Iceland Icelandic Inga "Þá veistu svarið" Then you'll know the answer 13 42
10  Austria German Tony Wegas "Maria Magdalena" Mary Magdalene 14 32
11  Portugal Portuguese Anabela "A cidade (até ser dia)" The city (until dawn) 10 60
12  France French, Corsican Patrick Fiori "Mama Corsica" 4 121
13  Sweden Swedish Arvingarna "Eloise" 7 89
14  Ireland English Niamh Kavanagh "In Your Eyes" 1 187
15  Luxembourg French, Luxembourgish Modern Times "Donne-moi une chance" Give me a chance 20 11
16  Slovenia Slovene 1X Band "Tih deževen dan" A quiet rainy day 22 9
17  Finland Finnish Katri Helena "Tule luo" Come to me 17 20
18  Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian Fazla "Sva bol svijeta" All the pain in the world 16 27
19  United Kingdom English Sonia "Better The Devil You Know" 2 164
20  Netherlands Dutch Ruth Jacott "Vrede" Peace 6 92
21  Croatia Croatian, English Put "Don't Ever Cry" 15 31
22  Spain Spanish Eva Santamaría "Hombres" Men 11 58
23  Cyprus Greek Zimboulakis & Van Beke "Mi Stamatas"
(Μη σταματάς)
Don't stop 19 17
24  Israel Hebrew, English Sarah'le Sharon & The Shiru Group "Shiru" (שירו) Sing 24 4
25  Norway Norwegian Silje Vige "Alle mine tankar" All my thoughts 5 120

Pre-qualifying

Draw Country Language[2] Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian Fazla "Sva bol svijeta" All the pain in the world 2 52
02  Croatia Croatian, English Put "Don't Ever Cry" 3 51
03  Estonia Estonian Janika Sillamaa "Muretut meelt ja südametuld" Hassle-free mind and a light heart 5 47
04  Hungary Hungarian Andrea Szulák "Árva reggel" Orphan morning 6 44
05  Romania Romanian Dida Drăgan "Nu pleca" Do not go 7 38
06  Slovenia Slovene 1X Band "Tih deževen dan" A quiet rainy day 1 54
07  Slovakia Slovak Elán "Amnestia na neveru" Amnesty 4 50

Score sheet

Results
Italy 45 1 7 10 5 10 8 2 2
Turkey 10 1 2 1 6
Germany 18 8 2 3 4 1
Switzerland 148 10 12 10 7 8 5 4 6 1 12 6 7 12 8 4 10 8 2 3 6 4 3
Denmark 9 1 3 5
Greece 64 2 2 2 6 7 6 5 8 12 7 7
Belgium 3 3
Malta 69 7 5 4 7 5 5 4 2 2 4 2 4 6 4 4 1 3
Iceland 42 4 4 1 7 1 5 2 7 5 2 2 2
Austria 32 4 1 3 3 6 12 3
Portugal 60 1 1 2 2 5 8 2 4 2 1 12 12 3 5
France 121 7 4 12 3 8 7 12 8 10 6 4 1 4 3 8 10 8 6
Sweden 89 8 8 7 10 7 10 4 5 6 7 7 10
Ireland 187 12 1 5 12 6 6 2 12 3 8 6 10 12 7 12 3 8 12 10 6 10 7 5 12
Luxembourg 11 10 1
Slovenia 9 4 1 3 1
Finland 20 3 8 2 5 2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 27 3 12 1 4 4 3
United Kingdom 164 1 8 6 5 8 12 12 12 7 6 10 8 8 10 5 3 4 10 5 4 12 8
Netherlands 92 6 6 7 7 3 6 3 5 12 7 10 3 7 10
Croatia 31 3 4 5 8 1 6 4
Spain 58 5 6 5 8 2 2 10 6 7 5 1 1
Cyprus 17 2 10 5
Israel 4 3 1
Norway 120 10 10 10 12 6 10 8 5 1 3 12 7 6 12 8
The table is ordered by appearance
Due to technical difficulties Malta was the last country to vote.

12 points

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

N. Contestant Voting nation
7 Ireland Italy, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
4 United Kingdom Austria, Belgium, Iceland, Israel
3 Norway Croatia, Finland, Greece
Switzerland France, Germany, Luxembourg
2 France Denmark, Portugal
Portugal Netherlands, Spain
1 Austria Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina Turkey
Greece Cyprus
Netherlands Ireland

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

  1.  Italy – Peppi Franzelin
  2.  Turkey – Ömer Önder
  3.  Germany – Carmen Nebel
  4.   Switzerland – Michel Stocker[3]
  5.  Denmark – Bent Henius[4]
  6.  Greece – Fotini Giannoulatou[5]
  7.  Belgium – Anne Ploegaerts
  8.  Iceland – Guðrún Skúladóttir
  9.  Austria – Andy Lee
  10.  Portugal – Margarida Mercês de Mello[6]
  11.  France – Laurent Romejko[7]
  12.  Sweden – Gösta Hanson[8]
  13.  Ireland – Eileen Dunne
  14.  Luxembourg – TBC
  15.  Slovenia – Miša Molk
  16.  Finland – Solveig Herlin[9]
  17.  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Senad Hadžifejzović
  18.  United Kingdom – Colin Berry
  19.  Netherlands – Joop van Os
  20.  Croatia – Veljko Đuretić[10]
  21.  Spain – María Ángeles Balañac[11]
  22.  Cyprus – Anna Partelidou[12]
  23.  Israel – Danny Rup[13]
  24.  Norway – Sverre Christophersen[14]
  25.  Malta – Kevin Drake[15] [N 1]

Commentators

National jury members

Notes and references

Footnotes

  1. Due to earlier technical difficulties, the final jury to announce their results was the Maltese jury
  1. The Times (25 August 2005). "Witchell caught in off-air spat on VJ Day interview". London. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Eurovision Song Contest 1993". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  3. Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Forside". esconnet.dk. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  5. "Εκφωνητές της ΕΡΤ για τις ψήφους της Ελλάδας στην EUROVISION – Page 3". Retromaniax.gr. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Comentadores Do ESC – escportugalforum.pt.vu | o forum eurovisivo português". 21595.activeboard.com. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  7. "Concours Eurovision de la Chanson • Consulter le sujet – Porte-paroles des jurys des pays francophones". Eurovision.vosforums.com. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  9. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  10. "Pogledaj temu – SPOKESPERSONS". Forum.hrt.hr. 29 February 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  11. "María Ángeles Balañac". Imdb.es. 1 May 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
  13. "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 13 September 1999. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  14. Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
  15. "Malta eighth in Eurovision contest", The Sunday Times, 16 May 1993
  16. "Enrico Ruggeri Sole d'Europa Eurofestival 1993". YouTube. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  17. "Eurovision Song Contest 1993". Ecgermany.de. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  18. "Η Δάφνη Μπόκοτα και η EUROVISION (1987–2004)". Retromaniax.gr. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  19. "Hasselt 2005: Jarige André Vermeulen verzorgt commentaar met Ilse Van Hoecke –". Eurosong.be. 25 October 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  20. 20.0 20.1 Christian Masson. "1993 – Millstreet". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  21. "Dagblaðið Vísir – DV, 13.05.1993". Timarit.is. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  22. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  23. Julkaistu To, 29 April 2010 – 10:19 (29 April 2010). "YLE Radio Suomen kommentaattorit | Euroviisut | yle.fi | Arkistoitu". yle.fi. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  24. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  25. "Pogledaj temu – POVIJEST EUROSONGA: 1956 – 1999 (samo tekstovi)". Forum.hrt.hr. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  26. "FORO FESTIVAL DE EUROVISIÓN • Ver Tema – Uribarri comentarista Eurovision 2010". Eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  27. "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? – Debattforum". Nrk.no. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  28. "XXXVIII Edición del Festival de Eurovisión (Año 1993)". eurofestival.tk. Retrieved 10 August 2012.

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