1.
Teatro Real
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Teatro Real or simply El Real, as it is known colloquially, is a major opera house located in Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 and inaugurated on 19 November 1850, it closed in 1925, the theater also offers guided tours in several languages, including the auditorium, stage, workshops and rehearsal rooms. In 1863, Giuseppe Verdi visited the theatre for the Spanish premiere of his La Forza del Destino, in 1925, the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev performed in the theatre with the presence of Nijinsky and Stravinsky). The theatre reopened in 1966 as a hall as well as the main concert venue for the Spanish National Orchestra. The reopening was celebrated with a concert of the Spanish National Orchestra conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, in 1969, the 14th Eurovision Song Contest was held at the theatre, featuring an onstage metal sculpture created by surrealist Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. In the 1990s, the house was remodeled to host opera again, the building was completed in late 1995, then the process of technical, administrative, artistic and functional organization began which led to the opening of the theatre in 1997. The remodeling was based on the old style of opera house with only basic modernization leaving many seats without a view of the stage. The company staged the first modern revival of Vicente Martín y Solers Il burbero di buon cuore in 2007, the theatre stages around seventeen opera titles per year, as well as two or three major ballets and several recitals. The most popular operas at the Teatro Real have included Verdis Rigoletto, followed by Aida with 361, donizettis Lucrezia Borgia has been given some 218 performances since its debut in the house in 1919. The Teatro Real has been celebrating its bicentenary with a programme beginning in 2016. One of the operas featured was Bellinis I Puritani, a co-production with the Teatro Municipal of Santiago, a performance of this work was streamed in July 2016 via the Teatro Reals Facebook page, an example of the theatre extending its reach by digital services. The event was relayed to a number of venues and was a national trending topic on Twitter. The orchestra of the Teatro Real is the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, the current artistic manager is Joan Matabosch, former director of Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. The Opera House offers daily different types of guided tours, lasting between 50 and 90 minutes and given in various languages and this gives the public the opportunity to learn about the building, including the stage area, the workshops and the rehearsal spaces. Teatro Real official web site Teatro Real at Google Cultural Institute
2.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
3.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
4.
Laurita Valenzuela
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Rocío Espinosa López-Cepero, known professionally as Laurita Valenzuela or Laura Valenzuela, is a Spanish television presenter and actress of the 1950s and 1960s. Before becoming known in Europe for hosting 1969 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, she was a model and she was one of the first faces that Spain saw on television when Televisión Española was launched in 1956. She acted in films since the early 1950s up through the late 1960s. Later on, she returned to TVE and she retired again in the 2000s when she was treated for breast cancer. com, accessed 1 October 2014. Profile, eurovision. tv, accessed 1 October 2014
5.
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 49 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966, with the song Merci Chérie by Udo Jürgens, Austria currently holds the record for longest gap between wins, with 48 years between victories. Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country its first top five result in 1958, having finished sixth in 1964 and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austrias only top three result of 20th century, the countrys best result over the next 46 years would be fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in 1972, Waterloo & Robinson in 1976 and Thomas Forstner in 1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of seven times, the country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012. After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011, because of this, Austria became the first host country to receive nul points. Austria has opted out of participation in several Contests, the first of these was the 1969 Contest, which was staged in Madrid. As Spain was ruled at that time by Francisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the Contest, the following year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place. From 1973 to 1975, Austria stayed away as well, the exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these Contests - allowing all entrants a guaranteed number of points - may have been a factor. The country was ineligible to compete in 1998 and 2001, as it had not achieved high placings in the five previous years. They returned for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final, despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was screened on ORF. ORF decided not to participate in the 2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008, the EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy. It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 Contest in Oslo, in July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany. In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004, ^ Specifically Styrian, a Southern Bavarian dialect spoken in Styria. ^ Specifically Mühlviertlerisch, a Central Bavarian dialect spoken in Upper Austria, ^ While Austria and Germany both finished with no points, Austria is listed as finishing ahead of Germany due to the tiebreaker rule that favours the song performed earliest in the running order. Therefore, Germany finished in 27th place, with Austria in 26th, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year
6.
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 57 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956, and won it themselves, Switzerland won the contest again in 1988. Lys Assia won the very first contest in Lugano in 1956 with the song Refrain and she returned to place second in 1958. In 1993, Annie Cotton gave the country its eighth top three result, when she placed third, in the 21st century, Switzerland has only once reached the top ten, in 2005 with the girl band Vanilla Ninja finishing eighth. Since the introduction of the round in 2004, Switzerland has failed to qualify for the final nine times. At the 2014 contest, Sebalter gave the country its second best result of the century, Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003 were caused by poor results in previous contests that relegated Switzerland from the contest, Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh. For decades, the requirements stated that the song had to be performed in a national language. Out of their 55 appearances in the Contest, Switzerland has sent 52 songs,24 of which were in French,12 in German, nine in Italian, nine in English, both of Switzerlands winning songs have been sung in French. ^ The full results for the first contest in 1956 are unknown, the official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, as of 2016, Switzerlands voting history is as follows, Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF, RTS and RSI. Table key Points to and from Switzerland eurovisioncovers. co. uk
7.
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969
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Germany competed at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, held in Madrid, Spain. ARD, the German broadcaster, used a final to select their entry. Ein Lied für Madrid was held on 22 February at the HR studios in Frankfurt, three artists competing to represent Germany at Eurovision, Peggy March, Rex Gildo and Siw Malmkvist. The winner of the contest was Swedish artist Siw Malmkvist, with the song Primaballerina, the national final took place on 22 February 1969. The GEMA has chosen 30 popular composers and lyricists and these were invited by broadcaster HR to submit one or two songs each. Nine of these songs would participate in the national final, three singers were chosen to participate in the national final, Siw Malmkvist, who had already represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960, Rex Gildo and Peggy March. All of them were artists in Germany. However, this has never been confirmed and she later died in July 1969 in a car accident. The national final was held at Frankfurt in the HR studios hosted by Marie-Louise Steinbauer, the nine songs were presented in three rounds, with each of three singer performing one song in every round. After every round, the stage was re-decorated, during the show, that host has highlighted various times that the national final is supposed to be a song contest and that it is not the artists who is voted for. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting by a jury of people including composed of deputies of the ARD. In the first round of voting, the best song of each artist was chosen, the three chosen songs were sung again before the jury members could give one point to their favourite. Siw Malkvist one with seven points, Peggy March got four, the interval act was performed by Rudolf and Mechthild Trautz, European Champions in Latin dancing between 1966 and 1977, who performed a medley of all five international Latin dances. 28% of the Germans watched the show making it the second most popular program of the evening, however, an evaluation after the show revealed that many people turned off the program during the live broadcast. Only two of the songs in the final were recorded - the winning song, of course. Both were released as singles and reached the German single charts, at the Eurovision Song Contest, Primaballerina would be the third German entry composed by Hans Blum. Malkvist was the first female singer for Germany who wore trousers on stage rather than a dress, every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song, Siw Malkvist received eight points in total and she finished ninth among the 16 contestants
8.
Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Monaco has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 24 times since its debut in 1959. The countrys only win in the contest came in 1971 when Séverine performed Un banc, un arbre, in 1972, Monaco was expected to host the contest, but declined. Monaco is still today, the only microstate which has won the Eurovision Song Contest, Monaco finished last at its first contest in 1959 before achieving three top three results in the 1960s. Two of these were achieved by François Deguelt, who finished third in 1960, romuald also finished third in 1964. Severines victory in 1971 was the first of five top four results in eight years, the others were achieved by Romauld, Mary Christy who was third in 1976, Michèle Torr, fourth in 1977 and Caline & Olivier Toussaint who were fourth in 1978. After participating in 1979, Monaco was absent from the contest for 25 years, Monaco returned to the contest for three years from 2004 to 2006 but failed to qualify from the semi-finals. The Monegasque broadcaster then withdrew from the contest saying that regional voting patterns in the contest have effectively given Monaco no chance of qualifying for the final, Monaco participated in the contest 21 times between its debut in 1959 and 1979. Afterwards the country withdrew from the contest for financial reasons and it only returned in 2004,25 years after its last participation. It withdrew again in 2007, after failing to qualify for the final for three consecutive years, Monaco won the contest in 1971, with the song Un banc, un arbre, une rue, performed by Séverine. The Monegasque victory is rather particular in the history of Eurovision because the songwriter, the singer and the director were not from the country they represented, Séverine even declared to journalists that she had never set foot in Monaco, forgetting that the video-clip was filmed there. Séverines producer was dishonest with her and stole her prize, thus she never got paid for her victory, nevertheless, the singer is still a great fan of the contest. Monacos next best placing has been second which it has achieved once at the 1962 and it has been third three times, in 1960,1964 and 1976, and last twice, in 1959 and 1966. Monaco is among the eight countries which finished last on their first participation, the others being Austria, Portugal, Malta, Turkey, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and San Marino. After winning in 1971, the decided to organise the 1972 contest as an open-air show. However, because of a lack of funds and material, Télé Monte Carlo sought help from the French public broadcaster, ORTF, because TMC wanted the show to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never succeeded. Monaco left it up to the EBU, the EBU asked Spain and Germany, who respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest, but the countries were not interested in organising the 1972 contest. It was eventually organised by the BBC in Edinburgh, Monaco was absent from the contest between 1980 and 2003, before returning for three years from 2004–2006, but Maryon, Lise Darly and Séverine Ferrer all failed to progress from the semi-finals. TMC broadcast the 2007 contest opening the way for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, despite this, Monaco did not compete in Moscow in 2009
9.
Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Luxembourg has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since making their debut at the first contest in 1956. From 1956 to 1993, Luxembourg missed only one contest, in 1959, since 1994, Luxembourg has not participated in the contest. Luxembourg has won the contest a total of five times, the only countries with more victories are Sweden, with six, and Ireland, with seven. Their first victory was in 1961 when Jean-Claude Pascal won with the song Nous les amoureux, France Gall gave them their second victory in 1965 with Poupée de cire, poupée de son. Luxembourgs fifth victory was in 1983 when Corinne Hermes won with Si la vie est cadeau, since being relegated from taking part in 1994, the country withdrew from the contest indefinitely. Luxembourgs Minister of Culture, Maggy Nagel, expressed her desire for the country to return to the contest and this was later explained as a misunderstanding by the Culture Minister. A collaboration with San Marino has been proposed, but later SMRTV clarified that there have only been talks between the two countries and that the broadcaster is evaluating other proposals and it was later announced that the project would not move forward due to funding problems. In 2004, RTL were to return to Eurovision after an absence of 11 years, however, after monetary issues, Luxembourg withdrew. Strong rumours indicated that RTL would participate at the 2005 contest, however, RTL later decided against it, and said that they would never return. In 2008, RTL later reiterated their lack of interest in returning to the contest, in recent years the Luxembourg branch of OGAE has been campaigning for Luxembourg to return to the contest. However, they would have had to secure fees regarding participation, although it was rumoured that Luxembourg would return in the 2012 edition of the contest, RTL has announced that no such intentions exist at present. On 31 July 2014, RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg confirmed that Luxembourg would not be returning to the contest in 2015 and it was reported on 26 October 2014 that the countrys Minister of Culture, Maggy Nagel, expressed her desire for the country to return to the contest. This was later confirmed by Nagel to be a misunderstanding and that the country would not be returning, however, on 24 November 2014, it was announced that Mersch had failed to raise the necessary funds in time for the project to move forward. On 21 June 2016, the Petitions Committee of the Government of Luxembourg received five petitions on various matters in relation to the Grand Duchy, one of which was for Luxembourg to return to the Eurovision Song Contest. The Luxembourg Government will therefore hold a debate to discuss the proposals set out on the petition, nevertheless, RTL reiterated its intention not to participate on 22 August. Between 1956 and 1993 Luxembourg was only absent from the Contest once, however, in 1993 Luxembourg was relegated from taking part in the 1994 Contest, and has yet to return. Due to the small size and the national broadcasters penchant for internal selection, most of Luxembourgs entrants came from outside the Grand Duchy. All five of the artists from Luxembourg were foreign, four were French
10.
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since its debut in 1961. Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordis Hard Rock Hallelujah, previously, its best showing was Marion Rung’s song Tom Tom Tom in 1973, which was placed 6th. Finland has finished last in the contest ten times, receiving nul points in 1963,1965 and 1982, since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Finland has failed to reach the final six times. In 2014, the country had its best result for eight years when Softengine finished 11th, in 2015 Finland finished last in Semi Final One with the shortest ever Eurovision entry Aina mun pitää that only lasts 1 minute and 25 seconds by PKN. Before the 2006 victory, Finland was considered by many as the ultimate under-achiever of Eurovision, prior to its triumph, it had placed last a total of eight times, once with nul points after the introduction of the current scoring method. Finlands entry in 1982, Nuku pommiin by Kojo, was one of fifteen songs since the modern scoring system was instituted in 1975 to earn no points. Due to low results, Finland was excluded from the contest in 1995,1997,1999,2001 and 2003, in 2006, Finland won with The band Lordi and its song Hard Rock Hallelujah, an entry different from the mainstream Europop that dominated the competition. The song broke records scoring the highest number of points in Eurovision Song Contest history. The record was broken by Norway in 2009. All of Finlands entries were in English between 1973 and 1976 and again since 2000, both of these periods allowed submissions in any language, two entries,1990 and 2012, were in Swedish, which is an official language in Finland alongside Finnish. All of Finlands other songs have been in Finnish, in voting patterns, Finland has traditionally supported and been supported by the other Nordic countries. In recent years also the Baltic nations, such as Estonia and Latvia have been favoured by Finland, and the other way around. In 2004, Finlands first-place vote went to Sweden, in 2005, it contributed 12 points to Norway, in 2006, it was Russias turn to get the 12 points, but it was Serbia who got their top score in 2007. The first time in Eurovision history that Sweden gave Finland 12 points was in 2006 for Lordis song Hard Rock Hallelujah, in 2007, they repeated this, giving 12 points to Hanna Pakarinen with Leave Me Alone. Finland has also given notably high points to Italy, a country that had not competed in various periods, especially from 1998 to 2010, ^ In 2009, Finland qualified through the back-up jury selection. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
11.
Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Yugoslavia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 27 times, debuting in 1961 and competing every year until its last appearance in 1992, with the exceptions of 1977–1980 and 1985. Yugoslavia won the 1989 contest and hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, ljiljana Petrović was Yugoslavias first entrant in the contest in 1961 and placed eighth. In 1962, Lola Novaković gave the country its first top five result and this would remain Yugoslavias only top five result until 1983, when Danijel finished fourth with the song Džuli. Novi Fosili also finished fourth in 1987 with Ja sam za ples, in 1989, the country achieved its only victory in the contest, when Riva won with the song Rock Me. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, the first to compete in 1961 were Belgrade, Ljubljana and Zagreb, while the others joined in the following years. During its existence, SFR Yugoslavia was represented by a variety of artists from five of the eight Yugoslav federal units and these artists were from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, with Macedonia, Vojvodina, and Kosovo never passing the national pre-selection. Croatia was the most successful constituent republic, as its performers won the national contest 13 out of the 26 times SFR Yugoslavia took part in the contest, from 1977 to 1980, and in 1985, Yugoslavia didnt participate in the contest. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 with the song Rock Me by the group Riva, following the rules of the contest, the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 took place in Zagreb, as the entry came from Croatia. On 28 March 1992, the countries that still constituted the fading and it included artists not only from Serbia and Montenegro, but also from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the latter declared independence on 1 March of that year, among it candidates was Alma Čardžić. The winner of that pre-selection was Ljubim te pesmama performed by Extra Nena from Serbia, Yugoslavia was banned from participating in the Song Contest until 2004 due to UN sanctions during the Yugoslav Wars and the Croatian War of Independence. After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia its former constituent republics proclaimed independence, the once subnational public radio and TV stations changed to national but under new names, including, RTV Slovenia, HRT, RTS, MKRTV and so on. Since joining the EBU respectively, all of the countries have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro. The following lists the 27 contestants that won the local competition, note that the selected entries of 1978–1980 and 1985 did not actually compete at the contest, as Yugoslavia did not participate during those years because of internal political reasons. Yugoslavia is one of the few countries that have sent all the songs in one of the official languages, despite this Yugoslavia have had organized national finale for 1978,1979,1980 as part of Opatija music festival. Opatija was not held in 1977, points to and from Yugoslavia eurovisioncovers. co. uk
12.
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Portugal has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 48 times since its debut in the 1964 contest. Since then it has missed five contests,1970,2000,2002,2013 and 2016, Portugal has yet to win the contest and holds the record for most appearances in the contest without a win. In fact, the country has yet to reach the top five of any contest, the contest is broadcast in Portugal by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Portugals debut entry was António Calvário with Oração, it was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since then Portugal has come last on two occasions, in 1974, when Paulo de Carvalho sang E depois do adeus. Prior to Moniz finishing sixth in 1996, Portugals best result in the contest was two seventh-place finishes, for Carlos Mendes in 1972 and José Cid in 1980,1996 remains the last time that Portugal reached the top ten. Despite having some really weak results the 90s were the most successful decade for the country reaching the top 10 four times, Portugal had admission to take part in the 2000 and 2002 contest but refused. Its place was taken by Latvia both times, which ended up winning the contest in the latter year, since semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Portugal has failed to reach the final eight times, including from 2004 to 2007. The country did reach the final from 2008 to 2010, in 2008, Vânia Fernandes finished 13th with the song Senhora do Mar, Portugals best outcome since 1998. As of 2016,2010 remains the last time Portugal participated in the Eurovision final, having failed to qualify from the four more times. Portugal has been absent from five contests since their first participation, the countrys first absence was in 1970 where Portugal, along with four other countries, boycotted the contest due to the result of the previous year, when four countries were announced the winner. Portugal missed the 2000 contest due to their poor results over the past five years. Despite being eligible to enter the 2002 contest, RTP declined to enter, the fourth absence was in 2013, when Portugal didnt participate for financial reasons. The fifth absence was in 2016, Festival da Canção is the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTP, and is normally held in February/March of the year of the contest. It is one of the longest-running Eurovision selection methods, previously a number of regional juries selected the winner, however recently the winner has been selected through televoting. In 2009 and 2010, a 50-50 system between district juries and televote has been used. In the years when Portugal was absent from the contest, the Festival da Canção hasnt been held and it is worth noticing that three out of five times that Portugal was absent the contest was held in Sweden. Table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, in addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
13.
Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Denmark has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since its debut in 1957. Having competed in ten consecutive contests until 1966, Denmark was absent for eleven consecutive contests from 1967-1977, since 1978, they have been absent from only four contests. Denmark has won the contest three times, the Danish qualifying competition for the contest is the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler placed third at the countrys first attempt in 1957, Denmark then won the contest for the first time in 1963 with the song Dansevise performed by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann. The country would not return to the top five for over twenty years, Hot Eyes then finished third in 1988, as did Birthe Kjær in 1989. In the 1990s, due to performances in the previous years. They did make the top ten three times, with Aud Wilkens fifth place in 1995 being Denmarks only top five result of the decade, the second Danish victory came in 2000, with the Olsen Brothers defying the odds to win with Fly on the Wings of Love. In 2001, as hosts, Denmark finished second with Never Ever Let You Go performed by Rollo & King, in 2002, Malene Mortensen became the first Danish entry to finish last. Denmark were absent from the 2003 contest, in 2005, Copenhagen hosted Congratulations,50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest, an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary. Denmark achieved its best result for nine years at the 2010 contest, a Friend in London then finished fifth in 2011. Denmark won the contest for the time in 2013, with Only Teardrops performed by Emmelie de Forest receiving Denmarks highest ever score with 281 points. Denmark has placed in the top five a total of 14 times and has a score of 65.261 points. Denmark first participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957, held in Frankfurt, the country had intended to compete at the first contest in 1956, but had submitted its application past the deadline and was, therefore, not allowed to compete. Denmark was the first Nordic country to take part in the contest, with Sweden, Norway, iceland, however, did not take part until 1986. Denmarks first participants were Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler, who sang the song Skibet skal sejle i nat and their performance was controversial as, at the end of the song, the couple performed an 11-second kiss, which caused outcry in some countries. Nevertheless, the performance achieved a respectable 3rd place, Denmark won the contest for the first time in 1963, when Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann sang Dansevise. When Norway announced its votes, the presenter Katie Boyle could not hear the spokesperson, the final result was valid and the victory went to Denmark. Accordingly, in 1964, the contest was held in Denmark for the first time, after the 1966 contest and a record low 14th place, Denmark withdrew from the contest, as DR´s new head of entertainment Niels Jørgen Kaiser did not view the contest as being quality entertainment
14.
Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest
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The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. Each country awards two sets of 12,10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs, one from their professional jury, the current system has been in place since 2016. In 2003, Eircoms telephone polling system malfunction, irish broadcaster RTÉ did not receive the polling results from Eircom in time, and substituted votes by a panel of judges. Between 1997 and 2003, lines were opened to the public for five minutes after the performance. Between 2004 and 2006 the lines were opened for 10 minutes, in 2010 viewers were allowed to vote during the performances, but this was rescinded for the 2012 contest. The BBC contacted regional juries by telephone to choose the 1956 winners, and this method continued to be used until 1993. The following year saw the first satellite linkup to juries, to announce the votes, the contests presenters connect by satellite to each country in turn and inviting a spokesperson to read the countrys votes in French or English. The presenters originally repeated the votes in both languages, but since 2004 the votes have been translated due to time constraints, the scoreboard displays the number of points each country has received and, since 2008, a progress bar indicating the number of countries which have voted. Note The most-used voting system was last used for the 1969 contest and this system was used from 1957 to 1961 and from 1967 to 1969. Ten jurors in each country each cast one vote for their favourite song, in 1969 this resulted in a four-way tie for first place, with no tie-breaking procedure. A second round of voting in the event of a tie was introduced to this system the following year, from 1962 to 1966, a voting system similar to the current one was used. With the latter system, a country could choose to give points to two instead of three, in 1965, Belgium awarded the United Kingdom six points and Italy three. Although it was possible to one country nine points, this never occurred. The 1971,1972, and 1973 contests saw the jurors in vision for the first time, each country was represented by two jurors, one older than 25 and one younger, with at least ten years difference in their ages. Each juror gave a minimum of one point and a maximum of five points to each song, in 1974 the previous system of ten jurors was used, and the following year the current system was introduced. Spokespeople were next seen on screen in 1994 with a link to the venue. The 2004 contest had its first semifinal, with a change in voting. This resulted in Ukraines Ruslana finishing first, with a record 280 points, to date, non-qualifying countries are still allowed to vote in the final
15.
Un jour, un enfant
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Un jour, un enfant is one of four winning songs in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, this one being sung in French by Frida Boccara representing France. The other three winners were Salomé representing Spain with Vivo cantando, Lulu representing the United Kingdom with Boom Bang-a-Bang, the song was performed fourteenth on the night, following Germanys Siw Malmkvist with Primaballerina and preceding Portugals Simone de Oliveira with Desfolhada portuguesa. At the close of voting, it had received 18 points, the song is a classical ballad, describing the wonders of the world as seen by a child. Boccara recorded the song in five languages, French, English, German, Spanish, the song was succeeded as Contest winner in 1970 by Dana singing All Kinds of Everything for Ireland. It was succeeded as French representative at the 1970 contest by Guy Bonnet with Marie-Blanche, aBBAs Agnetha Fältskog covered the song in Swedish on her 1970 solo album Som jag är, under the title Sov gott, min lilla vän. An instrumental version of the song by Paul Mauriat was used as a theme for the Philippine television drama anthology Lovingly Yours, official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year,1969 Detailed info & lyrics, The Diggiloo Thrush, Un jour, un enfant
16.
De troubadour
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In a ballad inspired both musically and lyrically by folk-song traditions, Kuhr sings about a troubadour of the Middle Ages, describing the impact the music has on his audiences. Kuhr also recorded the song in English, French, German, Italian, the song was performed eighth on the night, following the United Kingdoms Lulu with Boom Bang-a-Bang and preceding Swedens Tommy Körberg with Judy, min vän. By the close of voting, it had received 18 points, the Netherlands thus achieved the rare feat of going from last to first in the space of one year. It was succeeded as the Netherlands representative at the 1970 contest by Hearts of Soul with Waterman, official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year,1969 Detailed info and lyrics, Diggiloo Thrush, De troubadour
17.
Vivo cantando
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Vivo cantando was one of four songs which tied for first place in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. It was Spains second winning entry in the contest and the last to date, the song is a very up-tempo number, sung from the perspective of a woman telling her lover about the positive changes he has had on her, specifically that she now lives her life singing. Dancing was against Eurovision Song Contest regulations at the time, Salomé was not penalized, however, as the performers from Ireland, Salomé recorded the song in six languages, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, English, French and Italian. It was succeeded as Spanish representative at the 1970 Contest by Julio Iglesias with Gwendolyne, official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year,1969. Detailed info and lyrics, The Diggiloo Thrush, Vivo cantando
18.
Boom Bang-a-Bang
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Boom Bang-a-Bang was the United Kingdom entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. It was sung by Lulu, and was co-written by Alan Moorhouse, lyrically, the song is a plea from the singer to her lover to cuddle me tight. She then goes on to explain that my heart goes boom bang-a-bang boom bang-a-bang when you are near, the single made No.2 in the UK Singles Chart and was a major hit throughout Europe. The song was succeeded as the winner in 1970 by Dana singing All Kinds of Everything for Ireland, over two decades after its first release, the song was included on a blacklist of banned songs issued by the BBC during the 1991 Gulf War. Boom Bang-A-Bang was also the name of a BBC One 1 hour programme made to celebrate 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. Broadcast in Eurovision week, the special was hosted by Sir Terry Wogan and featured footage and highlights of past contests. The song is the tune for the BBC Three sitcom Him & Her. Lulu also recorded the song in German, also titled Boom Bang-a-Bang, list of songs banned by the BBC
19.
Eurovision Song Contest 1968
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th Eurovision Song Contest. The contest was won by the Spanish song La, la, la, performed by Massiel, closely followed by the United Kingdom, with a margin of just one point. Originally Spain entered Joan Manuel Serrat to sing La La La, Serrat was withdrawn and replaced by Massiel, who sang the same song in Spanish. The contest was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London,1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour. Also all of Eastern Europe and Tunisia broadcast the contest, katie Boyle hosted the contest for a third time. In May 2008, a documentary by Spanish film-maker Montse Fernández Villa,1968, the documentary claimed that the contest should in fact have been won by the United Kingdoms entry – Congratulations performed by Cliff Richard – which finished second by one vote. Massiel, the performer of the entry, was outraged by the allegations, and claimed that if there had been fixes, other singers. José María Iñigo, author of the statement in the documentary, personally apologized to Massiel, both Massiel and Iñigo accused television channel La Sexta, broadcaster of the documentary, of manufacturing the scandal. There were no withdrawing, returning, or débutant nations in the 1968 contest, each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra. Only one artist returned in this years contest, the winner of the 1962 contest, Isabelle Aubret, returned once more for France. The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1968 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below. Several non-participating countries also decided to broadcast the contest on their television stations
20.
Eurovision Song Contest
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The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956 and it is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia was invited back as a participant in the 2016 contest after their success in 2015, following their success again in 2016, Australia will compete again in 2017. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet via the Eurovision website, winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides a short-term boost to the winning artists career, but rarely results in long-term success. Notable exceptions are ABBA, Bucks Fizz and Céline Dion, all of whom launched successful careers after their wins. Ireland holds the record for the highest number of wins, having won the contest seven times—including four times in five years in 1992,1993,1994 and 1996. Under the current voting system, the highest scoring winner is Jamala of Ukraine who won the 2016 contest in Stockholm, under the previous system, in place from 1975 to 2015, the highest scoring winner is Alexander Rybak of Norway with 387 points in 2009. Satellite television did not exist, and the Eurovision Network comprised a terrestrial microwave network, the name Eurovision was first used in relation to the EBUs network by British journalist George Campey in the London Evening Standard in 1951. The first contest was held in the town of Lugano, Switzerland, seven countries participated—each submitting two songs, for a total of 14. This was the only contest in more than one song per country was performed, since 1957. The 1956 contest was won by the host nation, Switzerland, the programme was first known as the Eurovision Grand Prix. This Grand Prix name was adopted by Denmark, Norway and the Francophone countries, the Grand Prix has since been dropped and replaced with Concours in French, but not in Danish or Norwegian. The Eurovision network is used to carry news and sports programmes internationally. However, in the minds of the public, the name Eurovision is most closely associated with the Song Contest, a country as a participant is represented by one television broadcaster from that country, typically, but not always, that countrys national public broadcasting organisation. The programme is hosted by one of the participant countries, during this programme, after all the songs have been performed, the countries then proceed to cast votes for the other countries songs, nations are not allowed to vote for their own song. At the end of the programme, the song with the most points is declared as the winner, the programme is invariably opened by one or more presenters, welcoming viewers to the show
21.
Eurovision Song Contest 1970
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th Eurovision Song Contest, held on 21 March 1970 at the RAI Congrescentrum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Amsterdam contest is regarded as one of the most significant in Eurovision history for a number of reasons, Ireland won with eighteen-year-old Dana and a song called All Kinds of Everything. The UK came second for the time, six votes behind Ireland. Luxembourg received zero votes for the only time, due to there being four winners in the previous contest, a question was raised as to which nation would host the 1970 Eurovision. With the UK having hosted the 1968 Contest and Spain the 1969 Contest, only France, a toss of a coin resulted in the host country being decided as the Netherlands. The Congrescentrum, venue of the 1970 contest, is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Ferdinand Bolstraat to Amsterdam and this building was replaced in 1961 by the current RAI building on Europes Square. The current congress and event center on Europe Square, was designed by Alexander Bodon, the Dutch producers were forced to pad out the show as only 12 nations decided to make the trip to Amsterdam. The result was a format which has endured almost to the present day, an extended opening sequence set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video postcard featuring each of the participating artists, ostensibly in their own nation. However, the postcards for Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco were all filmed on location in Paris, interestingly, the long introduction film was followed by what probably is one of the shortest ever introductions by any presenter. Willy Dobbe only welcomed the viewers in English, French and Dutch, on screen captions introduced each entry, with the song titles listed all in lower case and the names of the artist and composers/authors all in capitals. The set design was devised by Roland de Groot, a design was composed of a number of curved horizontal bars. To avoid an incident like in 1969, a tie rule was created and it stated that, if two or more songs gained the same number of votes and were tied for first place, each song would have to be performed again. After which each national jury would have a show of hands of which they thought was the best, if the countries tied again, then they would share first place. Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969, Portugal did however host a National final, being won by Sérgio Borges. Of the participating singers, a number were already established performers, notably, the United Kingdom sent Welsh singer and Apple recording artist Mary Hopkin, while David Alexandre Winter represented Luxembourg. The contest is notable for the appearance of the then unknown Julio Iglesias. In the run-up to the Contest, the United Kingdom were favourites to win, so sure of victory, the UK delegation had organised a winners party to be thrown after the contest. In the end, the two countries in the running were the UK and Ireland, albeit the latter holding the lead throughout the voting
22.
Surrealism
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Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream, leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I, the word surrealist was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire and first appeared in the preface to his play Les Mamelles de Tirésias, which was written in 1903 and first performed in 1917. The Dadaists protested with anti-art gatherings, performances, writings and art works, after the war, when they returned to Paris, the Dada activities continued. Meeting the young writer Jacques Vaché, Breton felt that Vaché was the son of writer. He admired the young writers anti-social attitude and disdain for established artistic tradition, later Breton wrote, In literature, I was successively taken with Rimbaud, with Jarry, with Apollinaire, with Nouveau, with Lautréamont, but it is Jacques Vaché to whom I owe the most. Back in Paris, Breton joined in Dada activities and started the literary journal Littérature along with Louis Aragon and they began experimenting with automatic writing—spontaneously writing without censoring their thoughts—and published the writings, as well as accounts of dreams, in the magazine. Breton and Soupault delved deeper into automatism and wrote The Magnetic Fields, continuing to write, they came to believe that automatism was a better tactic for societal change than the Dada form of attack on prevailing values. They also looked to the Marxist dialectic and the work of such theorists as Walter Benjamin, freuds work with free association, dream analysis, and the unconscious was of utmost importance to the Surrealists in developing methods to liberate imagination. They embraced idiosyncrasy, while rejecting the idea of an underlying madness, as Salvador Dalí later proclaimed, There is only one difference between a madman and me. Beside the use of analysis, they emphasized that one could combine inside the same frame, elements not normally found together to produce illogical. The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be−the greater its emotional power, the group aimed to revolutionize human experience, in its personal, cultural, social, and political aspects. They wanted to people from false rationality, and restrictive customs. Breton proclaimed that the aim of Surrealism was long live the social revolution. To this goal, at various times Surrealists aligned with communism and anarchism, in 1924 two Surrealist factions declared their philosophy in two separate Surrealist Manifestos. That same year the Bureau of Surrealist Research was established, leading up to 1924, two rival surrealist groups had formed. Each group claimed to be successors of a revolution launched by Guillaume Apollinaire, the other group, led by Breton, included Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Jacques Baron, Jacques-André Boiffard, Jean Carrive, René Crevel and Georges Malkine, among others. Goll and Breton clashed openly, at one point literally fighting, at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, in the end, Breton won the battle through tactical and numerical superiority
23.
Singing
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Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist, Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists, Singers may perform as soloists, or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised and it may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice, if practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific genre, such as classical or rock. They typically take voice training provided by teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another. During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort, exhalation may be aided by the abdominal, internal intercostal and lower pelvis/pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals, scalenes and sternocleidomastoid muscles, the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming, humans have vocal folds which can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound also resonates within different parts of the body and an individuals size, Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation, another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds. These different kinds of function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singers Formant and it has also been shown that a more powerful voice may be achieved with a fatter and fluid-like vocal fold mucosa. The more pliable the mucosa, the more efficient the transfer of energy from the airflow to the vocal folds, Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the voice. A register in the voice is a series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds
24.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
25.
Eurovision Song Contest 1991
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was the 36th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 4 May 1991 in Rome. Due to the Gulf War and mounting tensions in Yugoslavia, RAI decided to move the contest from Sanremo to Rome and this was the last event in which the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia participated. The 1992 contest saw the participation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and it was also the first time that Germany was represented in their reunited form since the East Germany joined West Germany by the German reunification. Carola was the winner of this Contest with the song Fångad av en stormvind and this was the third victory for Sweden, the last one being in 1984. There was a tie between Carola and Frances Amina, as both had received 146 points and this necessitated a count-back, a tie-breaking measure introduced after the infamous four-way tie in 1969s Contest. Both Sweden and France had received four lots of 12 points and this was the closest France has ever come to winning the ESC since 1977. Had todays tie-break rule been in place, France would have won in 1969 and 1991, the presenters were Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno, Italian winners of the ESC to date, which opened the contest singing Insieme,1992 and Non ho letà. Cutugno had some difficulty with the pronunciation of the titles and names of the artists. Despite this, in Italy almost seven million people watched the show, in addition to tallying the vote numbers in English and French, Cinquetti and Cutugno gave each of the jury allotments in Italian as well. Nearly all of the commentary during the voting was given in Italian, at the time, Carlson had appeared numerous times on Italian TV and this was seen as one of her largest audiences. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. During the final vote none of the top three contenders - Sweden, Israel and France - had received any points up until the last 12-point vote. This vote went to France and for the first time in years, there was a tie for first place. However, since the four-way tie of 1969, the rules had been altered to ensure a single outright winner, the first step in the procedure was to check the number of 12-point votes awarded to each country. Sweden and France were still tied, but when counting the number of 10-point votes, Sweden had more and was finally declared the winner. If the tie occurred under modern tie-breaking rules, France would have won because it had voted for by more countries than Sweden. Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final, The singers were asked to sing a known Italian song which would then be used as a short clip for the postcard
26.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
27.
Francisco Franco
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Francisco Franco Bahamonde was a Spanish general who ruled over Spain as a military dictator for 36 years from 1939 until his death. As a conservative and a monarchist, he opposed the abolition of the monarchy, with the 1936 elections, the conservative Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Groups lost by a narrow margin and the leftist Popular Front came to power. Intending to overthrow the republic, Franco followed other generals in attempting a coup that precipitated the Spanish Civil War. With the death of the generals, Franco quickly became his factions only leader. Leaving half a million dead, the war was won by Franco in 1939. He established a dictatorship, which he defined as a totalitarian state. Franco proclaimed himself Head of State and Government under the title El Caudillo, under Franco, Spain became a one-party state, as the various conservative and royalist factions were merged into the fascist party and other political parties were outlawed. Although Francos Spain maintained a policy of neutrality during World War II. Francos regime has been called a fascist one, Spain was isolated by the international community for nearly a decade after World War II. By the 1950s, the nature of his regime changed from being openly totalitarian, by the 1960s Spain saw incremental reforms and progressive economic development. After a 36-year rule, Franco died in 1975 and he restored the monarchy before his death, which made King Juan Carlos I his successor, who led the Spanish transition to democracy. After a referendum, a new constitution was adopted, which transformed Spain into a democracy under a constitutional monarchy. Franco was born at half past noon on December 4,1892, at 108 Calle Frutos Saavedra in Ferrol and his father was of Andalusian ancestry. His mother was María del Pilar Bahamonde y Pardo de Andrade, Francisco was to follow his father into the Navy, but as a result of the Spanish–American War the country lost much of its navy as well as most of its colonies. Not needing any more officers, the Naval Academy admitted no new entrants from 1906 to 1913, to his fathers chagrin, Francisco decided to try the Spanish Army. In 1907, he entered the Infantry Academy in Toledo, graduating in 1910 as a lieutenant, two years later, he obtained a commission to Morocco. Spanish efforts to occupy their new African protectorate provoked the protracted Rif War with native Moroccans and their tactics resulted in heavy losses among Spanish military officers, and also provided an opportunity to earn promotion through merit. It was said that officers would receive either la caja o la faja, Franco quickly gained a reputation as a good officer
28.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
29.
BBC Cymru Wales
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BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC, and the national broadcaster for Wales. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is based in Cardiff and directly employs some 1,200 people to produce a range of programmes for television, radio, BBC Cymru Wales operates two TV channels and two radio stations. Wales raises some £182 million in licence fee resources, however, spend on local content by BBC Wales is £151 million, £31 million of which is for BBC-produced television productions. BBC Cymru Wales operates two services, BBC One Wales and BBC Two Wales, which can opt out of the main network feed of BBC One. In addition to two channels, BBC Cymru Wales is required to provide programmes in Welsh, which it supplies to the Welsh channel S4C free of charge using the BBC Cymru brand. These programmes include a Welsh news service Newyddion, covering Welsh, general UK and international news, and a soap opera Pobol y Cwm, BBC Cymru Wales operates two radio stations covering the entire country. BBC Radio Wales is the English language network, broadcasting local programmes for approximately 20 hours a day, while off air, Radio Cymru simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Lives overnight programme. BBC Cymru Wales operates its own mini-site on BBC Online as well as providing news, in addition, news stories are provided for the BBC Red Button interactive service. BBC Cymru Wales employs an orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The majority of the concerts are recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Wales. Since January 2009 the administrative base of the NOW has been the BBC Hoddinott Hall, in the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. The first broadcast in Wales was on 13 February 1923 from the radio station 5WA, later to become part of the BBC Regional Programme, during this time, the region was served from a variety of bases around Wales. During World War II, the services all ceased and broadcast the Home Service from London. The BBCs Bangor base played host to the BBC Variety Department during the war, the first television signals in Wales came on 15 August 1952 from the newly constructed Wenvoe transmitter. The transmitter itself broadcast the national BBC Television service, the launch of BBC Wales on 9 February 1964 provided a specific television service for the country. The new service was promoted with animated promos using the sound of Welsh choirs to explain about interference from the mountains. Two years later in 1966, BBC Cymru Wales new headquarters at Broadcasting House in Cardiff opened, following the end of the Second World War, the BBC Home Service continued its regional opt-outs, including an opt-out service for Wales. This opt-out continued after the change from the Home Service to Radio 4, prior to 1982, BBC Cymru Wales on television provided programmes in both English and Welsh, with the news programme Heddiw and the long-running serial Pobol y Cwm figuring among the key output
30.
Sovereign state
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A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralized government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and it is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact, States came into existence as people gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state. States are but one of political orders that emerged from feudal Europe, others being city states, leagues. Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of sovereignty based on territoriality. It is a system of states, multinational corporations. Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused and that position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their sovereignty was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of civilised people. Lassa Oppenheim said There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is a fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon. In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia, sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all. The right of nations to determine their own status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognized. The Westphalian model of sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the non-west as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics and this system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as separation of church and state and individual conscience are not recognised in the Islamic religion as social systems. Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, however, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law. State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory, State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state. Recognition can be expressed or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It does not necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations, There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal, in international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign
31.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
32.
Conducting
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Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. A conductors directions will almost invariably be supplemented or reinforced by verbal instructions or suggestions to their musicians in rehearsal prior to a performance. The conductor typically stands on a podium with a large music stand for the full score. Conducting while playing a piano or synthesizer may also be done with musical theatre pit orchestras, communication is typically non-verbal during a performance. However, in rehearsals, frequent interruptions allow the conductor to give verbal directions as to how the music should be played or sung, Conductors act as guides to the orchestras or choirs they conduct. They choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make adjustments, work out their interpretation. They may also attend to matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions and selecting members. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles such as big bands are usually led by conductors. The principal conductor of an orchestra or opera company is referred to as a music director or chief conductor, or by the German words Kapellmeister or Dirigent. Conductors of choirs or choruses are sometimes referred to as director, chorus master, or choirmaster. Conductors of concert bands, military bands, marching bands and other bands may hold the title of director, bandmaster. Respected senior conductors are sometimes referred to by the Italian word, an early form of conducting is cheironomy, the use of hand gestures to indicate melodic shape. This has been practiced at least as far back as the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, other devices to indicate the passing of time came into use. Rolled up sheets of paper, smaller sticks and unadorned hands are all shown in pictures from this period, the large staff was responsible for the death of Jean-Baptiste Lully, who injured his foot with one while conducting a Te Deum for the Kings recovery from illness. The wound became gangrenous and Lully refused amputation, whereupon the gangrene spread to his leg, in instrumental music throughout the 18th century, a member of the ensemble usually acted as the conductor. This was sometimes the concertmaster, who could use his bow as a baton and it was common to conduct from the harpsichord in pieces that had a basso continuo part. In opera performances, there were sometimes two conductors – the keyboard player was in charge of the singers, and the principal violinist or leader was in charge of the orchestra. By the early 19th century, it became the norm to have a dedicated conductor, the size of the usual orchestra expanded during this period, and the use of a baton became more common, as it was easier to see than bare hands or rolled-up paper
33.
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Spain has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since making its debut in 1961, where they finished ninth. Spain has competed in the contest continuously since the debut in 1961. The only country with a run of uninterrupted Eurovision appearances is the United Kingdom. The 1969 contest in Madrid is the only time Spain has hosted the event, since lots were drawn after 1969s four way tie and the 1970 contest was hosted by the Netherlands. Spain has also finished second in the contest four times, with Karina in 1971, Mocedades in 1973, Betty Missiego in 1979 and Anabel Conde in 1995, and third in 1984 with Bravo. The country finished last with Nul points in 1962,1965 and 1983, Spain has had less success in recent years, failing to reach the top 10 in 10 of the last 12 contests. The exceptions being 10th-place finishes for Pastora Soler in 2012 and Ruth Lorenzo in 2014, Spain has regularly changed the selection process used in order to find the countrys entry for the contest, either a national final or internal selection has been held by the broadcaster at the time. Between 1977 and 1999, Spains entries were selected internally by TVE, before that, internal selections and national contests, like Pasaporte a Dublín in 1971, were alternated. From 2000, Spain has used various formats with different results. In 2000 and 2001, TVE organised a final called Eurocanción. The result in the Eurovision final was not good and for 2006, in 2007, Spains entry was decided through the Misión Eurovisión 2007 show, with a disappointing result once again. From 2008 to 2010, the Internet was the key element of the used by TVE to select the Spanish entry. In 2008, the social networking website MySpace was involved in the national final Salvemos Eurovisión, a website was created to make it possible for anyone to upload a song and proceed to a televised final if chosen by online voters or an expert jury. The result improved a little, but not much, nevertheless the interest of the Spanish audience was revived again, for 2009, MySpace was still involved in the selection process Eurovisión 2009, El retorno, although some changes were introduced in the format. The result was the worst in the 2000s, 24th place, in 2010, a similar format, Eurovisión, Destino Oslo, selected the Spanish entry, with the best result since 2004. In 2011, Internet voting was scrapped from the new selection method Destino Eurovisión, after a further disappointing result, for 2012, TVE decided to approach an established act, Pastora Soler, and organise a national final to select her song. A top ten result was achieved for the first time since 2004, in 2014, TVE decided to return to a multi-artist national final procedure, called Mira quién va a Eurovisión, five artists were invited to participate by TVE. A top ten result was achieved for the time in three years
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