Eurovision Song Contest 1979

Eurovision Song Contest 1979
Dates
Final date	31 March 1979
Host
Venue	International Convention Center, Jerusalem, Israel
Presenter(s)	Daniel Pe'er Yardena Arazi
Conductor	Izhak Graziani
Executive supervisor	Frank Naef
Host broadcaster	Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
Interval act	Shalom '79 (Peace '79)
Participants
Number of entries	19
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	None
Withdrawing countries	Turkey
Participation map      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1979
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points	None
Winning song	Israel "Hallelujah"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1978 • 1979 • 1980►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 31 March 1979 in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's win at the 1978 edition. The event was staged at the International Convention Center. The presenters were Daniel Pe'er and Yardena Arazi.

The winner was Israel with the song "Hallelujah", performed by Gali Atari and Milk and Honey. Therefore, this was Israel's consecutive second win, and overall second win, in the contest. 19 countries participated, the 20 countries that took part at the previous 1978 Contest, except for Turkey which was also going to participate but eventually withdrew its entry for political reasons. Yugoslavia, that missed the 1978 Contest, also didn't want to take part nor transmit the 1979 show for political reasons. As well as being broadcast live in the 19 competing countries, the contest was broadcast in Turkey, Romania, Hong Kong and Iceland.

Format

The venue of the contest, International Convention Center in Jerusalem

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. This was the last year in which the points were announced via order of appearance, as opposed to order of preference.

The voting was extremely close. Israel gained a good lead in the early stages of the voting, but Spain eventually caught up and took a good lead themselves. At the close of the penultimate jury's votes, Israel were one point behind Spain, and only the Spanish jury had yet to give their votes. Spain ended up giving Israel 10 points, causing the crowd to erupt into enormous cheers.

Participating countries

At one point before the contest Turkey was going to participate. The country would have appeared 11th on stage (between Israel and France), represented by Maria Rita Epik and 21. Peron with the song "Seviyorum" ("I'm Loving"). However Turkey was forced to retire from the contest under pressure from Arab states who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in a contest held in Israel,^[1] but they however took part in Jerusalem 20 years later.

Returning artists

The contest saw the return of four artists who had participated in previous editions of the contest: France's representative Anne-Marie David was the winner for Luxembourg in 1973, Netherlands' Xandra represented the country in 1972 and 1976, Norway's Anita Skorgan represented the country in 1977, and Switzerland's Peter, Sue and Marc represented the country in 1971 and 1976.

Conductors

For each nation's performance, the orchestra was conducted by the following:

Results

Draw	Country	Language[2]	Artist	Song	English translation	Place	Points
01	Portugal	Portuguese	Manuela Bravo	"Sobe, sobe, balão sobe"	Rise, rise, balloon, rise	9	64
02	Italy	Italian	Matia Bazar	"Raggio di luna"	Moonbeam	15	27
03	Denmark	Danish	Tommy Seebach	"Disco Tango"	—	6	76
04	Ireland	English	Cathal Dunne	"Happy Man"	—	5	80
05	Finland	Finnish	Katri Helena	"Katson sineen taivaan"	I'm looking into the blue of the sky	14	38
06	Monaco	French	Laurent Vaguener	"Notre vie c'est la musique"	Our life is music	16	12
07	Greece	Greek	Elpida	"Sokrati" (Σωκράτη)	Socrates	8	69
08	Switzerland	German	Peter, Sue, Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri	"Trödler und Co"	Dawdler & co	10	60
09	Germany	German	Dschinghis Khan	"Dschinghis Khan"	Genghis Khan	4	86
10	Israel	Hebrew	Gali Atari and Milk and Honey	"Hallelujah" (הללויה)	—	1	125
11	France	French	Anne-Marie David	"Je suis l'enfant soleil"	I'm the sun-child	3	106
12	Belgium	Dutch	Micha Marah	"Hey Nana"	—	18	5
13	Luxembourg	French	Jeane Manson	"J'ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux"	I've already seen that in your eyes	13	44
14	Netherlands	Dutch	Xandra	"Colorado"	—	12	51
15	Sweden	Swedish	Ted Gärdestad	"Satellit"	Satellite	17	8
16	Norway	Norwegian	Anita Skorgan	"Oliver"	—	11	57
17	United Kingdom	English	Black Lace	"Mary Ann"	—	7	73
18	Austria	German	Christina Simon	"Heute in Jerusalem"	Today in Jerusalem	18	5
19	Spain	Spanish	Betty Missiego	"Su canción"	Your song	2	116

Scoreboard

		Results
	Portugal	64		6			2	5		4	4		10	5	3	3	3	6		7	6
	Italy	27	8				8											3			8
	Denmark	76				2		3	12	1	10	12	6	7	4	8	1		3	3	4
	Ireland	80	5	5	5		6		10	6	6	3		10	7		8	5	4
	Finland	38		7					7	8	5		5		6
	Monaco	12	1	2	4								3								2
	Greece	69	10		1	4		7		7	2	10	4	1	5	7	2			2	7
	Switzerland	60			7	1	10	2	2		7	4	7					8		12
	Germany	86	2	1	12	5	3	12				6	12	4	1	2	6		8		12
	Israel	125	12		6	12	12	8	4	5			1	2	8	1	12	12	12	8	10
	France	106	6	10			1	10	8	10		5		6	12	12	5	7	6	5	3
	Belgium	5			2						1								2
	Luxembourg	44	7			3	4	4	5	3			2			4		2	10
	Netherlands	51			8	10	5		3		3	7		3			4	4		4
	Sweden	8				6			1			1
	Norway	57	3	3		8		6				2		8	2	6	10		7	1	1
	United Kingdom	73	4	8	10	7	7	1		2	8					5		10		6	5
	Austria	5		4															1
Spain	116		12	3				6	12	12	8	8	12	10	10	7	1	5	10
The table is ordered by appearance

12 points

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

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

Commentators

References