Eurovision Song Contest 1998

Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Dates
Final date	9 May 1998
Host
Venue	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)	Ulrika Jonsson Terry Wogan
Conductor	Martin Koch
Director	Geoff Posner
Executive supervisor	Christine Marchal-Ortiz
Executive producer	Kevin Bishop Jonathan King
Host broadcaster	British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Opening act	Birmingham, Old and New
Interval act	Jupiter, The Bringer of Joviality
Participants
Number of entries	25
Debuting countries	Macedonia
Returning countries	Belgium  Finland  Israel  Romania  Slovakia
Withdrawing countries	Austria  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Denmark  Iceland  Italy  Russia
Participation map      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1998
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points	Switzerland
Winning song	Israel "Diva"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1997 • 1998 • 1999►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Birmingham in the United Kingdom, following Katrina and the Waves's win in the 1997 contest in Dublin with "Love Shine A Light". It was the UK's fifth win, and the eighth time that the UK hosted the contest, the last being in Harrogate in 1982. The UK has not won or hosted the contest since. The contest took place in the National Indoor Arena on 9 May 1998, and the arena played host to the G8 summit one week later, so much so that presenter and commentator Terry Wogan's hotel room was later occupied by Bill Clinton.^[1] Twenty-five countries participated in the contest,^[2] with Macedonia making their official début, even though they had submitted an entry in the non-televised 1996 pre-qualifying round, which failed to qualify into the televised final of that contest.^[3] Belgium, Finland, and Slovakia returned to the contest after a one-year absence. Despite having also taken part in the non-televised 1996 pre-qualifying round, in which they failed to qualify, Romania and Israel returned officially after their last participations in 1994 and 1995 respectively.^[4][5] Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, and Russia all withdrew from the contest due to the relegation rule. Italy did not return until 2011. ^[6]

There was much controversy in the lead-up to the contest, mostly surrounding the entries from Greece, Israel, and Turkey: the Greek composer, Yiannis Valvis, was unhappy with the way that the director, Geoff Posner, intended to film his song;^[7] many Orthodox Jews objected to the selection of transsexual Dana International for Israel;^[8] Turkey struggled during rehearsals to get their song within the three-minute time limit.^[7] Dana International eventually went on to win the contest, scoring 172 points,^{[N 1]} with the song "Diva", written by Svika Pick and Yoav Ginai. The singer had attracted much media attention both in Israel and Europe since she had undergone gender reassignment in 1993, being the first openly transgender performer to enter the competition.^[8]

Location

Birmingham

Locations of the host city.

The National Indoor Arena, which hosted the contest.

The United Kingdom, along with their national broadcaster the BBC, hosted the contest at the National Indoor Arena in the city of Birmingham. It was the first time since the 1982 Contest that the Eurovision Song Contest was staged in the United Kingdom,^[9] and the last to date. This was a record-breaking eighth time that the United Kingdom staged the contest, having done so for the 1960, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, and 1982 contests.^[10]

The National Indoor Arena had been used for several major events in the past, including counting no less than eight constituencies in the hall for the 1992 general election.^[11] The week after the Eurovision Song Contest, the arena was to host the G8 summit in Birmingham, with Terry Wogan vacating his hotel room to make way for Bill Clinton.^[1]

Format

Following a format change in 1997 where acts were allowed to use purely backing tracks, no less than eight countries either partially or wholly used backing tracks: Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Malta, Israel and Belgium purely used backing tracks, whilst Greece^[1] and France partially used the orchestra.

This was the first year in which televoting was used en masse: viewers were given five minutes after the end of the songs to vote for the song they wanted to win, with Terry Wogan remarking that "you'll have nobody to blame but yourself", which, ironically, was the reason that Wogan quit the commentary job ten years later.^[12] Ironically, the contest was held in an English speaking country for the last time the contest was run without the free language rule, so only the UK, Malta, and Ireland performed in English.^[13]

Postcards

The postcards continued with the opening theme of "Birmingham old and new", looking at a traditional object and then its contemporary. Finally, the flag of the country about to perform was formed, and then faded into either the conductor bowing or the beginning of the performance of the country about to perform. For example, Croatia's postcard looked at association football then and now, culminating in Temur Ketsbaia scoring a goal, before a section of the crowd held up small cards, which formed the flag of Croatia.

Voting

Each country had a televote except Turkey, Romania and Hungary, where the top ten most voted for songs were awarded the 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points, with a back-up jury in case of mistakes. A jury was used if there were exceptional reasons not to use a televote.

Participation

Macedonia, participating as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, took part for the first time, after their 1996 entry did not make it past the internal selection by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).^[3] Belgium, Finland, Romania and Slovakia all participated after their break from the previous year's contest; Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Russia and Iceland could not participate because of their low average scores from the past five years. Israel could have returned in 1997, but opted not to due to Holocaust Remembrance Day, meaning they returned for the first time in three years. The Italian broadcaster, RAI, decided to withdraw from the contest, a move that would see Italy absent from the contest for 13 years before their return in 2011.^[6]

Russia and Italy did not broadcast the event due to withdrawals. In 1998 the Russian broadcaster ORT prepared to run internal preselections, but soon organisers realised that because of low average results in previous years Russia would not qualify to compete in 1998 (though there were rumours that Channel One had planned to name Tatyana Ovsienko as their representative, performing "Solntse moyo"). Because Russia did not participate, Channel One decided not to broadcast the 1998 contest. According to other sources Channel One had expected Channel Russia to broadcast the contest.^[2]

Returning artists

Artist	Country	Previous Year(s)
Danijela Martinović	Croatia	1995 (as part of Magazin)
Egon Egemann (violinist)	Switzerland	1990
José Cid (as part of Alma Lusa)	Portugal	1980
Paul Harrington (backing singer)	Ireland	1994 (with Charlie McGettigan)

Danijela returned for Croatia after last taking part in 1995 as part of the group Magazin. Egon Egemann who was the violinist for Gunvor this year, last participated for Switzerland at the 1990 contest. José Cid part of Alma Lusa in 1980 returned for Portugal; and Paul Harrington who was a backing singer for Dawn Martin in 1998, returned for Ireland after having won the 1994 contest with Charlie McGettigan.

Results

Draw	Country	Language[13]	Artist	Song	English translation	Place[14]	Points[14]
01	Croatia	Croatian	Danijela	"Neka mi ne svane"	May the dawn never rise	5	131
02	Greece	Greek	Thalassa	"Mia krifi evesthisia" (Μια κρυφή ευαισθησία)	A secret sensibility	20	12
03	France	French	Marie Line	"Où aller"	Where to go	24	3
04	Spain	Spanish	Mikel Herzog	"¿Qué voy a hacer sin ti?"	What am I going to do without you?	16	21
05	Switzerland	German	Gunvor	"Lass ihn"	Let him	25	0
06	Slovakia	Slovak	Katarína Hasprová	"Modlitba"	A prayer	21	8
07	Poland	Polish	Sixteen	"To takie proste"	It's so easy	17	19
08	Israel	Hebrew	Dana International	"Diva" (דיווה)	—	1	172
09	Germany	German	Guildo Horn	"Guildo hat euch lieb!"	Guildo loves you!	7	86
10	Malta	English	Chiara	"The One That I Love"	—	3	165
11	Hungary	Hungarian	Charlie	"A holnap már nem lesz szomorú"	Sadness will be over tomorrow	23	4
12	Slovenia	Slovene	Vili Resnik	"Naj bogovi slišijo"	Let the gods hear	18	17
13	Ireland	English	Dawn Martin	"Is Always Over Now?"	—	9	64
14	Portugal	Portuguese	Alma Lusa	"Se eu te pudesse abraçar"	If I could embrace you	12	36
15	Romania	Romanian	Mălina Olinescu	"Eu cred"	I believe	22	6
16	United Kingdom	English	Imaani	"Where Are You?"	—	2	166
17	Cyprus	Greek	Michael Hajiyanni	"Genesis" (Γένεσις)	Genesis	11	37
18	Netherlands	Dutch	Edsilia	"Hemel en aarde"	Heaven and Earth	4	150
19	Sweden	Swedish	Jill Johnson	"Kärleken är"	The love is	10	53
20	Belgium	French	Mélanie Cohl	"Dis oui"	Say yes	6	122
21	Finland	Finnish	Edea	"Aava"	Open landscape	15	22
22	Norway	Norwegian	Lars Fredriksen	"Alltid sommer"	Always summer	8	79
23	Estonia	Estonian	Koit Toome	"Mere lapsed"	Children of the sea	12[15]	36
24	Turkey	Turkish	Tüzmen	"Unutamazsın"	You can't forget	14	25
25	Macedonia	Macedonian	Vlado Janevski	"Ne zori, zoro" (Не зори, зоро)	Dawn, don't rise	19	16

Scoreboard

Voting procedure used: Red: Televote. Blue: Jury.		Voters
	Croatia	131		5	8	1	5	10	6	10	10	10		12	3	2		2	7	4	3	5	3	6	3	4	12
	Greece	12																	12
	France	3																	1								2
	Spain	21	1		4		6			3									4			3
	Switzerland	0
	Slovakia	8	8
	Poland	19			2						5		2				10
	Israel	172		10	12	10	10		10		7	12		7	6	12	7	5	10	6	5	10	10	3	7	5	8
	Germany	86		3		12	12							8	8	10	6	6		12		7	1		1
	Malta	165	7	6	6	5	8	12	8	7	8		7	3	12	5		12	5	8	6	8	5	12	5	10
	Hungary	4			1												1							2
	Slovenia	17	3	2													5						4			3
	Ireland	64	2				2	4	2		2	6	6	1		1	8	8			1			4	2	8	7
	Portugal	36		1	10	6		2		2		2							2			1				6	4
	Romania	6								6
	United Kingdom	166	12	7	3	3	3	1	7	12	1	8	10	5	5	6	12		8	7	7	6	8	5	8	12	10
	Cyprus	37	4	12				5		1		1	1			4	4	3				2
	Netherlands	150	10	8	5	4	7	6	5	8	6	7	12		10	7		10			8	12	7	8		7	3
	Sweden	53							3			4	8		2			1		5			6	10	12	2
	Belgium	122		4	7	7	4	7	12	5	4	3	3	6	7	8		7	6	10	2			7	6	1	6
	Finland	22																			10			1	10		1
	Norway	79				8	1		4	4	3	5	5	10	4	3		4	3	3	12	4	2		4
	Estonia	36				2		8	1				4	2	1					2	4		12
	Turkey	25	5								12						2			1							5
	Macedonia	16	6					3						4			3

12 points

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

Incidents

Miscalculated result

Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark - 12 points - instead of receiving nul points, as in the broadcast. The mistake was corrected after the contest and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received one point less than indicated during the broadcast. Originally Estonia, Cyprus and Portugal tied for 11th place with 37 points but because Portugal and Estonia received one point less than indicated during the broadcast, Cyprus was placed 11th over Estonia and Portugal.^[2]

Dramatic finish

With just one country left to vote, it was anyone's guess as to who was going to prevail, with Israel and Malta locked in battle and the United Kingdom just a few points behind. When Macedonia came to award the decisive points, Israel was the first of the three contenders to be mentioned, receiving eight points. That was enough to knock the UK out of contention for victory, but left plenty of room for Israel to be overtaken by their principal rival, Malta. Next, the ten points went to the UK, nudging them into what looked like being an extremely fleeting spell in second place, since most of the audience assumed the twelve points were destined for Malta. Instead, there were gasps as Macedonia sent the final points of the evening to fellow Balkan nation Croatia, handing Israel their first win in the contest since "Hallelujah" in 1979. It is also noteworthy that Israel only received points from 21 of the 24 other countries, whereas the United Kingdom received at least one point from every country, but finished second. Furthermore, whilst Israel received three sets of 12 points compared to Malta and the United Kingdom who both received four sets of 12 points, Israel received seven sets of 10 points to help seal the win.

Nul points

For the second year in a row, at least one country went home empty-handed; Switzerland's Gunvor Guggisberg with her composition "Lass Ihn" failed to score a single point.

Guildo Horn

Other notable participants were Germany's Guildo Horn, whose shocking comedic act culminated in his climbing the scaffolding on the side of the stage. Controversially chosen to represent Germany, he was criticised for his lack of seriousness by the German press. However, after winning by 60% of the vote, the German people were firmly on Horn's side. "Guildo-Fever" spread throughout Germany during the weeks leading up to the contest, with Horn becoming front-page material in Germany. He was also noticed in countries around Europe, and the early criticism that had existed in Germany arose in those countries. Even though his 7th place was disappointing, to some Germans it was a revival for the contest in Germany, and was the beginning of 4 consecutive top-ten finishes.

Greece

After the first rehearsals, the Greek composer, Yiannis Valvis, was unhappy with the way that the director, Geoff Posner, intended to film his song, specifically a series of six heavily-emphasised chords accompanied by six dance moves which Valvis felt the director was not placing enough emphasis upon. After a meeting where Valvis attempted to ask for the Greeks to have full control over their performance and this request was rejected, Valvis launched a formal protest at the Greek press conference. After making no progress, Valvis protested more actively at the dress rehearsal, standing on the stage during the Greek song, claiming that he was supposed to be playing bass but had not been given an instrument.^[7]

This proved to be the final straw for the EBU, the BBC, and ERT: Valvis was refused entry to the arena on the date of the contest. In response, ERT threatened to withdraw from the competition, which would promote France to second in the running order and reduce the number of entrants to twenty-four. However, minutes later, they reversed their decision. Greece earned only 12 points in the end, all of which came from Cyprus, ranking Greece 20th by the end of the broadcast, her worst result till 1998. (Greece would again be ranked 20th in 2014's edition at Denmark with 35 points.) Watching from a hotel room, Valvis accused the BBC of favouritism, as "Diva" had similar chords and moves, which had been given emphasis by the BBC.^[7]

Dana International

Orthodox Jews were unhappy with the fact that Dana International, the first singer at the contest ever to have undergone gender reassignment surgery in 1993, was representing Israel, due to religious obligations.^[7][8]

Turkey timing issues

After the first rehearsal, the Turkish conductor was found to be playing the tempo too slowly, and so the Turkish song exceeded three minutes, with the first rehearsal performance being three seconds too long. The next rehearsal performance was, alarmingly, even slower, with the Turkish conductor claiming to a camera that due to a series of "hemi-demi-semi-dim-dams" it was impossible for him to play the song quicker. The third performance came in at 3:07, leading to speculation that Turkey would be disqualified from the contest. The conductor then said that a metronome would be useless due to a number of tempo changes in the song. The final performance on the night was timed at 2:59, which was enough to keep Turkey in the competition.^[7]

Ulrika Jonsson ageism row

In a BBC interview, future Eurovision entrant Nicki French said that one of her most memorable Eurovision moments was Jonsson's infamous faux pas during the voting. On hearing that the Dutch lady announcing the Netherlands' votes had previously been a contestant in Eurovision, Jonsson replied, "A long time ago, was it?" which was followed by much laughter from the audience.^[16] In fact Conny van den Bos who sang for the Netherlands in 1965 said that she had gone to the contest many years ago; unfortunately for both van den Bos and Jonsson, this wasn't heard above the noise of the audience.^[16] What was heard, however, was Jonsson's seemingly insulting comment.^[2]

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

Commentators

Notes and references

Footnotes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eurovision Song Contest 1998.