Andrew
Zahra looks back at the glorious history
of the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
He reviews past editions and highlights
some of the most remarkable moments.
The
Unexpected Results of 1969
In 1968 Spain won the
Eurovision Song Contest for the very first
time. The singer was Massiel and the song
was called “La La La”. On that occasion the
song contest was held in London at the Royal
Albert Hall, and the UK missed a second
consecutive victory by just one point. Sir
Cliff Richard represented his country for
the first time with the world-famous
“Congratulations” and obtained 28 points.
Massiel got 29 and therefore she was
announced as the winner. Recently, though it
was discovered that on that occasion Spain
won the contest unfairly.
A documentary by the Spanish film-maker
Montse Fernandez Vila alleged that the 1968
Eurovision Song Contest was rigged by the
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who sent
state television officials across Europe
offering cash and promising to buy
television series and contract unknown
artists in return for votes for the Spanish
entry. Good old Eurovision...it has always
been the same !
Anyway, the following year Spain hosted the
festival at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
Sixteen countries took part, including the
participation of a twelve year old from
Monaco! Well, Junior Eurovision didn’t exist
yet. The stage was impressive; designed by
Spanish artist Salvador Dali.
Some interesting
points about this festival are :
o Italy was represented by popular artist
Iva Zanicchi who gave a lovely
interpretation of “Due Grosse Lacrime
Bianche”. However Zanicchi, who had just
triumphed at the Sanremo Festival, placed
13th in Madrid !
o Austria declined to
take part in the 1969 Contest because none
of the singers wanted to go in a country
that was ruled by a dictator (Franco).
o The Spanish singer Salome caused a stir
because her outfit was made of porcelain and
weighed almost 30 pounds !! She even caused
controversy when she danced during her song,
which was a violation against the EBU's
rules at that time.
o Reportedly, before the contest started,
host Laurita Valenzuela asked EBU voting
scrutineer, Clifford Brown what would happen
if there was a tie. He assured her that it
would never happen….
But everything is possible…..especially in
the Eurovision song contest !!!
In fact four countries obtained the same
number of votes (18 each); Spain, UK, France
and the Netherlands.
This was Spain’s and the
UK’s second victory, France’s fourth and
Netherland’s third. All this happened
because the regulations of the contest
didn’t cater for such an eventuality. Had
the tie-break rule been in place, France
would have been the overall winner.
-Lulu sang and won for the UK, and her song
“Boom Bang a Bang” is still quite popular
today. Last year Lulu was featured in a
fashion magazine and was criticised for
having done too much botox (a type of
surgery that makes one’s skin look younger
and less wrinkled). Is Charlotte Perrelli
(Eurovision 1999 / 2008 Sweden) following
Lulu’s example?!
- Lenny Kuhr was the other winner, the third
for the Netherlands. Her song “De
Troubadour” was, in my opinion, one of the
most boring and unexciting throughout the
whole contest. Anyway, Lenny Kuhr converted
to Judaism. She is married to Rob Frank and
has two daughters from an earlier marriage,
who live in Israel. For a while, she lived
in Israel herself.
- Frida Boccara won for France singing the
beautiful ballad “Un Jour, Un Enfant”. Sadly
Boccara passed away in 1996 after suffering
a pulmonary infection.
- Salome’ won the Contest for Spain with the
song “Vivo Cantando”. It is very up-tempo
and is sung from the perspective of a woman
telling her lover about the positive changes
he has had on her, specifically that she now
loves singing. "Vivo Cantando" is Spain's
second and last win in the Contest to date.
This year Salome’ appeared on Spanish TV and
sang her still popular “Vivo Cantando”
together with Gisella (Eurovision 2008
Andorra).
By the way, the funny thing at the end of
the contest was, that there were medals for
just one singer, one composer and one author
!!! Only the singers received their medals
on the night…the songwriters were not
awarded theirs until after the contest. The
four winners of Eurovision 1969 were
reunited in 1981 for a special concert
hosted by Mr. Eurovision himself, Terry
Wogan.
