Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Dates
Final date 3 May 1997
Host
Venue Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Presenter(s)
Conductor Frank McNamara
Executive supervisor Marie-Claire Vionnet
Executive producer Noel Curran
Host broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)
Interval act Ronan Keating, Boyzone
Participants
Number of entries 25
Debuting countries None
Returning countries
Withdrawing countries
Vote
Voting system Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points
Winning song
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1996 • 1997 • 1998►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1997, was the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest and it was held at the Point Theatre Dublin, Ireland, on 3 May 1997. Carrie Crowley and Boyzone member Ronan Keating were the presenters of the show.[1] Twenty-five countries took part in the 1997 Contest, which saw Italy return after a three-year absence,[2] along with Denmark, Germany, Hungary, and Russia, who last took part in the 1995 Contest, despite having taken part in the non-televised 1996 pre-qualifying round in which they failed to qualify and therefore were absent.[3] Belgium, Finland, and Slovakia withdrew from the contest due to the relegation rule.[1] The United Kingdom won the competition, thanks to Katrina and the Waves, making it the second time that the British won the Eurovision on Irish soil.[1]

Location

For more details on the host city, see Dublin.
Locations of the host city.

Ireland hosted the contest for the fourth time in five years after winning the 1996 Contest in Oslo. Dublin was chosen to be the host city, making it the sixth time that the Eurovision Song Contest was staged in the Irish capital. The venue for the contest was the Point Theatre located on the North Wall Quay of the River Liffey, amongst the Dublin Docklands. The theatre previously hosted the 1994 and 1995 contests.[1]

Format

After the controversy over the 1996 pre-qualifying round, the European Broadcasting Union introduced a new system for 1997: countries with the lowest average scores over the previous four years would be excluded from the 1997 contest, and those with the lowest averages over the previous five years would be excluded from future contests (save that every country so excluded for one year would automatically be allowed to participate the following year), with so many countries being omitted as would reduce the number of participants each year to 25.[1]

Israel declined to participate, as the Contest was held on its Holocaust Remembrance Day, granting a reprieve to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would otherwise have been excluded owing to its low point average over the previous four years.[1] RTÉ once again produced a highly spectacular show, with a stage that had a smaller performance space for the artists than in previous years. This was the third Eurovision set to be designed by Paula Farrell, who had previously been involved with the 1988 and 1994 contests.[1]

There was a wide array of different styles this year. Denmark brought a rap song, Croatia came with their version of the Spice Girls and Sweden brought a mid-1980s style boy band. The music was in general more modern than before, and for the first time in six years, an up-tempo song won.[1] This year, televoting was tested in five countries: Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The results of the televoting countries were, in some cases, different from those that used a jury. Iceland received 16 of its 18 points from these five countries.[1]

Also, for the first time in Eurovision history, there was a country where not one, but two spokespeople gave votes- France. Television reporter Frédéric Ferrer and 1977 Eurovision winner Marie Myriam each took turns at giving results from that country. Long-time Irish conductor Noel Kelehan was not the host conductor this year, the duty being fulfilled by Frank McNamara. However, from this year entrants were allowed to use singback without orchestra accompaniment, and in 1999, the orchestra would be abolished completely.[1]

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous Year(s)
Alma Čardžić  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1994
Maarja-Liis Ilus  Estonia 1996
Şebnem Paker  Turkey 1996

Alma Čardžić returned for Bosnia and Herzegovina after last representing the nation in 1994.[4] Maarja-Liis Ilus and Şebnem Paker both returned for a second-consecutive year representing Estonia and Turkey respectively.[5][6]

Results

Draw Country Language[7] Artist Song English translation Place[1] Points[1]
01  Cyprus Greek Hara & Andreas Konstantinou "Mana Mou" (Μάνα μου) Motherland 5 98
02  Turkey Turkish Şebnem Paker & Grup Ethnic "Dinle" Listen 3 121
03  Norway Norwegian Tor Endresen "San Francisco" – 24 0
04  Austria German1 Bettina Soriat "One Step" – 21 12
05  Ireland English Marc Roberts "Mysterious Woman" – 2 157
06  Slovenia Slovene Tanja Ribič "Zbudi se" Wake up 10 60
07   Switzerland Italian Barbara Berta "Dentro di me" Inside of me 22[8] 5
08  Netherlands Dutch Mrs. Einstein "Niemand heeft nog tijd" No one has time anymore 22 5
09  Italy Italian Jalisse "Fiumi di parole" Rivers of words 4 114
10  Spain Spanish Marcos Llunas "Sin rencor" Without rancour 6 96
11  Germany German Bianca Shomburg "Zeit" Time 18[8] 22
12  Poland Polish Anna Maria Jopek "Ale jestem" But I am 11 54
13  Estonia Estonian Maarja-Liis Ilus "Keelatud maa" Forbidden land 8 82
14  Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian Alma Čardžić "Goodbye" – 18 22
15  Portugal Portuguese Célia Lawson "Antes do adeus" Before goodbye 24 0
16  Sweden Swedish Blond "Bara hon älskar mig" If only she loves me 14 36
17  Greece Greek Marianna Zorba "Horepse" (Χόρεψε) Dance 12[8] 39
18  Malta English Debbie Scerri "Let Me Fly" – 9 66
19  Hungary Hungarian V.I.P. "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" Why do you have to go? 12 39
20  Russia Russian Alla Pugacheva "Primadonna" (Примадонна) – 15 33
21  Denmark Danish Kølig Kaj "Stemmen i mit liv" The voice in my life 16 25
22  France French Fanny "Sentiments songes" Dream feelings 7 95
23  Croatia Croatian E.N.I. "Probudi me" Awaken me 17 24
24  United Kingdom English Katrina & The Waves "Love Shine a Light" – 1 227
25  Iceland Icelandic Paul Oscar "Minn hinsti dans" My final dance 20 18
1.^ The Austrian entry also featured some lyrics in English.

Scoreboard

Each country had a jury that awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for their top ten songs, or a televote, where the top ten most voted for songs were awarded the 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points. Iceland got most of its 18 points from the 5 countries that used televoting. Ireland was ostensibly the best scoring country across the televoting countries, except they were able to score points from all 5 televoting countries. The United Kingdom was only eligible to receive points from 4 of them, since they couldn't vote for themselves. In fact, the UK received 12 points from all the other televoting countries except Germany, from whom they received 10 points: in other words, the UK earned 46 of 48 possible televote points that year; Ireland earned 47 of 60 possible televote points—including their only 12 from the UK.[9]

Voting procedure used:
Red: Televote.
Blue: Jury.		 Voters[9]
Cyprus 98 2 3 4 4 10 4 10 5 1 3 12 7 1 7 4 4 5 12
Turkey 121 7 2 6 2 7 12 12 6 12 5 6 7 10 6 4 6 4 7
Norway 0
Austria 12 3 1 5 3
Ireland 157 8 6 3 10 1 7 4 10 6 8 7 8 8 10 10 8 5 10 10 6 12
Slovenia 60 2 10 2 4 7 4 3 5 10 7 3 3
Switzerland 5 2 3
Netherlands 5 1 4
Italy 114 6 5 1 1 10 10 7 8 4 8 6 12 3 5 3 7 4 10 3 1
Spain 96 10 4 6 5 8 6 3 2 4 8 6 12 10 8 2 2
Germany 22 3 5 5 3 1 5
Poland 54 4 8 7 1 1 2 6 3 4 2 1 7 5 3
Estonia 82 1 6 8 3 12 4 7 6 1 1 1 4 8 8 10 2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 22 8 4 2 3 4 1
Portugal 0
Sweden 36 8 5 6 6 7 4
Greece 39 12 5 7 6 2 7
Malta 66 5 12 10 7 6 1 5 8 3 1 8
Hungary 39 3 4 5 5 2 5 2 8 5
Russia 33 1 5 12 8 7
Denmark 25 7 1 7 2 2 6
France 95 3 2 12 10 2 3 5 12 12 3 6 2 4 2 6 1 10
Croatia 24 4 1 3 2 5 8 1
United Kingdom 227 7 7 6 12 12 8 12 12 8 5 10 10 10 10 7 12 10 1 12 12 12 12 12 8
Iceland 18 2 2 8 6

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12-point in the final:[9]

N. Contestant Voting nation
10 United Kingdom Austria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden
3 France Estonia, Poland, Norway
Turkey Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Spain
2 Cyprus Greece, Iceland
1 Estonia Italy
Greece Cyprus
Ireland United Kingdom
Italy Portugal
Malta Turkey
Russia Slovenia
Spain Malta

Winners

Katrina and the Waves, representing the United Kingdom, were the winners of the contest with the song "Love Shine a Light", written by that band's lead guitarist Kimberley Rew, and Marc Roberts from Republic of Ireland came second with "Mysterious Woman". Despite being the runner-up, it remarkably received only one 12-point score, which came from the United Kingdom. The UK spokesman Colin Berry remarked: "You're going to like this one: Ireland, twelve points!" causing Terry Wogan to reply: "Well, tit for tat!" The winning song scored an unprecedented 227 points; it received points from all participating countries, including five sets of 10 points and a record-breaking ten sets of the maximum 12 points. "Love Shine a Light" is still regarded as one of the most successful Eurovision winners,[N 1] and was the closing song in the medleys that opened the 50th anniversary show "Congratulations" in Copenhagen in 2005, and the ESC 2006 semi-final in Athens. With this victory, the United Kingdom has five Eurovision wins and it is to date the country's last win in the Contest.

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

The order in which each country announced their votes was determined by order of performance in the contest. The spokespersons are shown alongside each country.

Commentators

National jury members

Notes

  1. ↑ As noted on a TOTP2 Eurovision special, it ranks third in the rankings of points achieved as a percentage of maximum available with 227 out of 288 or 78.81%, behind Nicole's "Ein bißchen Frieden" in 1982 (161 out of 204 or 78.92%) and Brotherhood of Man's "Save Your Kisses for Me" in 1976 (164 out of 204 or 80.39%). For comparison, Elena Paparizou's 2005 win took 230 points out of a possible 456, or only 50.04%.
  2. ↑ After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia last participated in 1992. RTS2 broadcast the show, although Yugoslavia did not participate.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 "Eurovision Song Contest 1997". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 May 1997. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "Italy 1993". esc-history.com. ESC History. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1996". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 18 May 1996. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "Bosnia & Herzegovina". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Estonia". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Turkey". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1997". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Eurovision Song Contest 1997 | Year page | Eurovision Song Contest - Baku 2012". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Eurovision 1997: Scoreboard". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Comentadores Do ESC - escportugalforum.pt.vu | o forum eurovisivo português". 21595.activeboard.com. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  14. ↑ "Εκφωνητές της ΕΡΤ για τις ψήφους της Ελλάδας στην EUROVISION - Page 3". Retromaniax.gr. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Forside". esconnet.dk. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  16. ↑ "Concours Eurovision de la Chanson • Consulter le sujet - Porte-paroles des jurys des pays francophones". Eurovision.vosforums.com. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  17. ↑ "Pogledaj temu - SPOKESPERSONS". Forum.hrt.hr. 29 February 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ "Song Contest mit Stermann & Grissemann". wien ORF.at. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  20. ↑ "Hasselt 2005: Jarige André Vermeulen verzorgt commentaar met Ilse Van Hoecke –". Eurosong.be. 25 October 2005. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Christian Masson. "1997 - Dublin". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  22. ↑ "Pogledaj temu - POVIJEST EUROSONGA: 1956 - 1999 (samo tekstovi)". Forum.hrt.hr. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  23. ↑ "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  24. ↑ "Dr. Peter Urban kommentiert - Düsseldorf 2011". Duesseldorf2011.de. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  25. ↑ "Thomas Mohr: Mit Dschinghis Khan im Garten". Eurovision.de. 14 May 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  26. ↑ "Η Δάφνη Μπόκοτα και η EUROVISION (1987-2004)". Retromaniax.gr. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  27. ↑ "Dagblaðið Vísir - DV, 03.05.1997". Timarit.is. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  28. ↑ "Jalisse Fiumi di parole Eurofestival 1997". YouTube. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  29. ↑ "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  30. ↑ "Alt du trenger å vite om MGP - Melodi Grand Prix - Melodi Grand Prix - NRK". Nrk.no. 27 May 2003. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  31. ↑ "FORO FESTIVAL DE EUROVISIÓN • Ver Tema - Uribarri comentarista Eurovision 2010". Eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  32. ↑ "Article Window". Letempsarchives.ch. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  33. ↑ "XLII Edición del Festival de Eurovisión (Año 1997)". eurofestival.tk. Retrieved 9 August 2012.

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