1.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
2.
NRK
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NRK is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organisation in Norway. NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and three radio channels on DVB-T, cable, satellite, IPTV, FM and DAB. It also runs several digital radio stations, all NRK radio stations can be heard on the website, NRK. no, which also offers an extensive TV service. NRK is a member of the European Broadcasting Union. 94% of NRKs funding comes from an annual license fee payable by anyone who owns or uses a TV or device capable of receiving TV broadcasts. The remainder comes from commercial activities such as programme and DVD sales, spin-off products, NRKs license income in 2012 was more than 5 billion kroner. In the autumn of 2015 the government announced that it planned to change the way NRK is financed and this is in part a reaction to the decline of TV ownership in Norway. Some kind of charge is planned, but it is not yet clear how such a system would work. The feeling is that the current license system is not sustainable in the long term, kringkastningselskapet, a privately owned company and the predecessor of NRK, started regular radio broadcasts in Norway in 1925. NRK itself was founded in 1933, based on a model similar to that of the BBC and located in Oslo, it was a replacement for privately operated radio stations in larger cities. NRK initially set out to cover the country and had a monopoly on broadcasting in Norway. During the German occupation, Norwegian transmitters were used to broadcast German war propaganda to Northern Europe, prior to the German occupation, NRK had also been partly financed by radio commercials. NRK was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union, in 1954, NRK started broadcasting television shows, on a trial basis. NRK was the last of the major European public broadcasters to introduce a second radio station, in 1993 NRK launched a third radio station, the youth-oriented P3. A 24-hour station for classical music, Alltid Klassisk, introduced in 1995, was the first of its kind to be broadcast digitally using DAB. The 24-hour news station Alltid Nyheter started in 1997, followed by a station for teenagers, mP3, in 2000. In 1996, a television channel, NRK2, was launched. The original television channel is now known as NRK1, on 3 September 2007 NRK launched its third channel, a youth channel called NRK3
3.
Melodi Grand Prix
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Melodi Grand Prix, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix, commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting. It determines the countrys representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1960, the festival has produced three Eurovision winners and nine top-five placings for Norway at the contest. However, Norway holds the record for the number of entries who have come last since entering Eurovision,11 in all. Despite this, the still makes considerable impact on music charts in Norway. The Eurovision Song Contest began on 24 May 1956, when the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne was held in Lugano, Norways first contest was the fourth, the 1960 Contest. The first Melodi Grand Prix was held on 20 February at the NRK Television Centre in Oslo, ten songs competed in the radio semi-final, held on 2 February, where the top 5 songs would progress to the televised contest. However this number was increased to 6 after three songs tied for fourth place, the winner of the televised contest was Voi Voi, performed by Nora Brockstedt. Brockstedt performed Norways first Eurovision entry at London on 29 March, Brockstedt also went on to win the following years contest as well with Sommer i Palma. Melodi Grand Prix has failed to be staged on three previous occasions, in 1970 Norway was absent from the contest because of a Nordic boycott of the voting system, which had led to a four-way tie for first place at the 1969 contest. In 1991 no Melodi Grand Prix was held as NRK felt that the entries received for the Contest were of too low quality. The final instance of no Melodi Grand Prix was in 2002, all winners of MGP have gone on to represent Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest. Norway has won it three times, in 1985,1995 and 2009, however Norway has also come last 11 times, more than any other nation, in 1963,1969,1974,1976,1978,1981,1990,1997,2001,2004 and 2012
4.
Eurovision Song Contest 1960
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 in London, although the Netherlands had won the contest in 1959, the Netherlands Television Foundation declined to host another contest so soon after staging the event in 1958. The honour of hosting the contest therefore passed to the United Kingdom, therefore, the BBC chose Catherine Boyle to be the mistress of ceremonies at the contest for the first time. Frances win this year was their second in the contest, the contest was won by France with the song Tom Pillibi, performed by Jacqueline Boyer. The 1960 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in London, the Royal Festival Hall, the venue for the 1960 contest, is a 2, 900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, the result was a win for France, however Germany, Monaco and the UK led in the early stages of voting. The UK came second with 25 points, four more points than the song in 1959. Interest in the contest started to grow across Europe, with the number of participating nations increasing to 13 this year, norway made its debut with one of their leading jazz singers. Luxembourg returned to the contest after a break with a song in native Luxembourgish language. The Netherlands were mistakenly announced as Holland, each country had 10 jury members who each awarded 1 point to their favourite song. The table above shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1960 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. ^ The song was performed in Norwegian, but the title of the song is in the North Sami dialect of the Sami languages, translating as the expression Hey Hey
5.
Eurovision Song Contest 1985
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the 30th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 4 May 1985 in Gothenburg, Sweden, the presenter was entertainer Lill Lindfors, whose jokey dress rip after the interval act was said to have not amused the wife of EBU scrutineer Frank Naef. Were the winners with the song La det swinge, win for Norway was the countrys first. What do you think we are, after an energetic reprise, the two women embraced to a standing ovation from the audience. During the voting, it was not immediately evident that Norway would win the Contest, Germany took a commanding lead in the first half, with Norway fifth place behind Germany, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom around the end of the first half of voting. Finally, with five juries left, Germany, Sweden and Norway were tightly wrapped around the positions with 87,86. At that point, Sweden briefly took the lead away from Germany, Sweden was the fourth-to-last jury, conceding their brief lead by awarding Germany eight points and Norway the maximum twelve. With only three left to vote, Norway kept the lead, in one of the shortest winning stretches during voting in the contests history. The Netherlands and Yugoslavia did not participate in this Contest, due to the national Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands, despite this Yugoslavia did choose its song, Pokora, a duet sung by Zorica Kondža and Josip Genda. 1985 was also the year when no less than thirteen previous Eurovision artists made a comeback and this also applied to the winners, Bobbysocks. Who had attended once before as soloists, Hanne Krogh performed for Norway in 1971, while Elisabeth Andreassen for Sweden in 1982 in a duet, Chips, Kikki herself also returned this year for host country Sweden, and was thus competing against Elisabeth Andreassen and Bobbysocks. Lys Assia, the winner of the first ever Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, was the guest of honour of this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. She was introduced by the presenter Lill Lindfors, the camera zoomed close to Lys, who rose to greet the audience, while the orchestra played the song Refrain, her winning song. Host conductor in bold Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. The voting itself was exciting, the German favourites looked to be cruising to an early victory, however both Sweden and Norway did their best to keep up and by the time the UK jury delivered their votes, Germany had seen its lead smashed. Lill Lindfors had a malfunction as she proceeded to the stage for the voting procedure. As she walked on stage, the skirt of her dress came away, leaving her in just her underwear and the top half of her dress. After a few seconds of pretending to be shocked, Lindfors unfastened the flaps of her dress across her shoulders, to reveal a white gown
6.
Eurovision Song Contest 1995
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 13 May 1995 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. This years competition was the last with one host until 18 years later in 2013 in Malmö. This contest broke the chain of victories that Ireland enjoyed in 1992,1993 and this was Irelands 3rd year in succession to host the contest - and to mark the 40th show, it was opened with a 4-minute retrospective showing images from the contests history. The Norwegian group Secret Garden was the winner of this contest with the instrumental song. Incidentally, Secret Gardens violinist was Fionnuala Sherry, who is Irish and it was his birthday that night, but according to host Kennedy, He wouldnt say which one. Nonetheless, the audience sang Happy Birthday for him, assisted by the orchestra, after winning the 1994 contest, RTÉ were worried about whether they could afford to host a third consecutive contest in 1995. The BBC had offered to take on the responsibility of hosting the contest, in the end RTÉ decided to stage the contest on its own. However they did ask the EBU that, should Ireland win once more, the favourite to win the contest, according to bookmakers, was Sweden with the pop-ballad Se på mig. Other countries in contention for the win were Croatia, Denmark, Israel, Spain, the winning song was something new at Eurovision in that it contained only 24 words accompanied by long violin solos. The United Kingdom contributed a modern rap number, while the previous year’s runner-up, Poland, after the voting was completed, Norway was the winner with 148 points, followed by Spains Vuelve conmigo with 119 points, and Sweden gaining 100 points. The stage was designed by Alan Farquharson who also designed the set of the 1993 contest that took place in Millstreet, the interval act consisted of several well known Irish performers including Clannad, Brian Kennedy and was composed by leading musician Michael OSuilleabhan. The EBU decreased the number of back to 23 to make sure the show wouldnt last longer than 3 hours. 5 of the 6 countries that were relegated the year came back to the contest, Luxembourg decided to stop participating completely and Italy withdrew voluntarily. This rumour did, however inspire a popular episode of Father Ted, in any event, RTÉ ended up hosting the contest once again in 1997. Each country had a jury that awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final, FR Yugoslavia After the breakup of Yugoslavia, third channel of Radio Television of Serbia broadcast the show, although Yugoslavia did not participate
7.
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and was hosted by Russia after their win in 2008. It took place between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia, third place went to Azerbaijan, fourth to Turkey, and the United Kingdom taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002. Forty-two countries participated in the contest, Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules, the contest was held in Russia following its victory in the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia, with Dima Bilans Believe. Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, stated that the contest would be held in Moscow and it was proposed by Channel One that the contest be held in Moscows Olympic Indoor Arena, and this proposal was evaluated by the European Broadcasting Union and confirmed on 13 September 2008. The Director-General of the venue, Vladimir Churilin, refuted rumours of emergency reconstruction of the building, saying and we now can take up to 25 thousand spectators. The contest final took place on 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, thirty-seven countries participated in one of the two semi-finals of the contest, with the Big Four countries and the host pre-qualified for the final. In addition to those pre-qualified, the final included the ten selected countries from each semi-final. However, it was confirmed that the Big Four countries would continue to qualify for the final at the 2009 contest. Host broadcaster Channel One presented the sub-logo and theme for the 2009 contest on 30 January 2009, the sub-logo is based upon a Fantasy Bird, which can be used with many colours. As in previous years, the sub-logo was presented alongside the generic logo,2009 was the first year since 2001 that there was no slogan for the contest. The stage was designed by New York-based set designer John Casey, Casey, who had previously designed the stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 in Dublin, was also involved in design teams for the 1994 and 1995 contests. He explained that even before worked with the Russians on the TEFI Awards in Moscow in 1998, was inspired by and drawn to art from the Russian Avant Garde period, especially the constructivists. Tried to come up with a design for the contest that incorporates Russian avant-garde art into a contemporary setting. Casey explained that together, the various LED shapes form the finished product, furthermore, large sections of the stage can move, including the circular central portion of curved LED screens, which can be moved to effect and allow each song to have a different feel. Finally a phrase in transliterated Russian and its English translation were shown, the music accompanying the postcards was written and produced by Matthew Herbert. On Friday 30 January 2009, the draw to decide which countries would appear in either the first or second semi-final took place, the participating countries excluding the automatic finalists were split into six pots, based upon how those countries have been voting. From these pots, half competed in the first Semi Final on 10 May 2009, the other half in that particular pot will compete in the second Semi Final on 12 May 2009
8.
Eurovision Song Contest 1963
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the eighth annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest was held in London, United Kingdom, after the British broadcaster BBC stepped in to organise the event, france had won the 1962 edition with the right to host this following one but were unable to, due to financial shortcomings. The contest was won by Denmark with the song Dansevise, performed by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann, the host venue was the BBC Television Centre, White City, London, which opened in 1960. It is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type having appeared as the backdrop for many BBC programmes and it remained to be one of the largest such facilities in the world until it closed in March 2013. Two studios were used, one for the mistress of ceremonies Katie Boyle, the audience, and the scoreboard, the other for the performers and the orchestra accompanying them. Unusually, a microphone was employed - the viewer doesnt see this. This was not the case, but this innovation was to create a new look for the contest, one controversy this year was during the voting. Katie Boyle asked Norway to repeat their results, but the Norwegian spokesman asked Katie to return to them all the other results were in. When Katie went back to Norway again the votes had mysteriously altered, thus changing the outcome of the contest, in fact, the Norwegian spokesman had not given the correct votes on the first occasion. Monaco was also asked to do their voting a second time as initially Monaco give one point to both the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, however, when Katie Boyle went back to Monaco to receive the votes again Monacos one vote to Luxembourg was efficiently discarded. The participating conductors were, This year saw the return of just one artist, each country had 20 jury members who awarded their five favourite songs 5,4,3,2, and 1 points in order. All those points would then be added up and the five song with the most points got 5,4,3,2, each national broadcaster also 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. Media related to Eurovision Song Contest 1963 at Wikimedia Commons Official website
9.
Eurovision Song Contest 1969
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the 14th in the series. Four countries won the contest, the first time ever a tie-break situation had occurred, however, there was no rule at the time to cover such an eventuality, so all four countries were declared joint winners. France became the first country to win the contest four times, the Netherlands win was their third. Spain and the United Kingdom each won for the second time, and it was the first time that any country had a winning ESC entry two years in a row. The venue selected to host the 1969 contest was the Teatro Real, the theatre reopened in 1966 as a concert theatre and the main concert venue of the Spanish National Orchestra and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra. The final featured a metal sculpture created by surrealist Spanish artist. The surrealist Spanish artist Salvador Dalí was responsible for designing the publicity material for the 1969 contest as well as the sculpture which was used on stage. It was the first time that the contest resulted in a tie for first place, since there was at the time no rule to cover such an eventuality, all four countries were declared joint winners. Had the later tie-break rule been in place, the Netherlands would have won, United Kingdom would then have been runner up, having received 5 points from Sweden. On the other hand, with the present tie-break rule been in place, France would have been the overall winner, both countries received votes from 9 countries, but France received 4 points from 2 countries whereas Spain received 3 points as their highest vote. A common urban legend on ESC forums and festivals is that just prior to the show, Laurita Valenzuela, the producers assured her that such a thing would never happen. Austria was absent from the contest, refusing to participate in a contest staged in Franco-ruled Spain, only the BBC has the exclusive right to represent the United Kingdom. Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra, five artists returned in this years contest. Louis Neefs for Belgium who last represented the nation in 1967, the table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1969 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
10.
Eurovision Song Contest 1974
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the resort of Brighton on the south coast of the United Kingdom. The BBC agreed to stage the event after Luxembourg, having won in both 1972 and 1973, declined on the grounds of expense to host the contest for a consecutive year. The winner of the Contest was Sweden with the song Waterloo which was performed by the band ABBA, ABBA are among the few Eurovision winners to achieve international superstar status. Katie Boyle returned to host her fourth Eurovision Song Contest, Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove on the south coast of Great Britain. The venue which hosted the 1974 Contest was the Brighton Dome, a venue that contains the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange. A two-night preview programme, Auftakt für Brighton, was coordinated by the German national broadcaster ARD broadcast at the end of March and was hosted by the journalist Karin Tietze-Ludwig and it was the first preview-type programme to be broadcast in many European countries simultaneously. The programme was notable in being the European television debut for the winners, ABBA. The United Kingdom was represented in the contest by the Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, France had been drawn to sing at No. Since President Pompidous funeral was held the day of the contest, dani was seen by viewers in the audience at the point the French song should have been performed. For the same reason, the French singer Anne-Marie David, who had won the first place for Luxembourg in 1973, in her absence, the Director General of the BBC and President of the EBU, Sir Charles Curran, presented the Grand Prix. Malta had selected Enzo Guzman with the song Paċi Fid Dinja to represent them, malta would return to the competition in 1975. The song was not played on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month, portugals entry E depois do adeus was used as the first of the two signals to launch the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime. The second song to be broadcast, marking the start of military operations of the coup, was Grândola, Vila Morena by Zeca Afonso. Seventeen nations took part in this years contest, greece made their début, while France withdrew during the week of the contest after the sudden death of French President Georges Pompidou. Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra, had France taken part in the contest, its entry would have been conducted by Jean-Claude Petit. Three artists returned to the contest this year, gigliola Cinquetti winner of the 1964 Contest participated again for Italy. Romuald Figuier who also participated in the 1964 Contest for Monaco, norways Bendik Singers also returned after last participating in Eurovision Song Contest 1973
11.
Eurovision Song Contest 1976
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was the 21st edition of the contest hosted by NOS and held in The Hague, Netherlands. The arena for the event was the Nederlands Congrescentrum, teach-Ins victory in Stockholm the previous year gave The Netherlands the right to host the contest for the third time. The Contest was won by Brotherhood of Man, who sang Save Your Kisses for Me in English, the Hague is the seat of government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the capital city of the province of South Holland. It is also the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The contest took place at the Congresgebouw, the venue was constructed in 1969. The scoring system introduced in the years competition returned in 1976. Each jury gave 12 points to the best song,10 to the second best, then 8 to the third, unlike today, the points were not given in order, but in the order the songs were performed. The current procedure was not established until 1980, Sweden, Malta and Turkey withdrew from this contest reducing the number of participating countries down to eighteen from the previous competitions record of nineteen countries that took part. Austria and Greece returned to the contest, Sweden withdrew from the contest, as the broadcaster Sveriges Radio did not have enough money to host another contest if Sweden won again. A new rule was introduced that in the future each broadcaster participating would have to pay a part of the cost of staging the contest. Malta, having selected Enzo Guzman with the song Sing Your Song, Country Boy to represent them, then withdrew from the contest for undisclosed reasons, Malta would not return to the competition until 1991. The entry from Greece aroused controversy as it was about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the previous year Greece had withdrawn from the contest in protest over this matter. This year it was Turkeys turn to withdraw, liechtenstein attempted to submit an entry to the contest, but as they had no broadcasting service of their own, they were not allowed to. Their entry would have been Little Cowboy by Biggi Bachmann, each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra. Four artists returned to the contest in 1976, each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language
12.
Eurovision Song Contest 1978
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 22 April 1978 in Paris, the contest was won by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta who represented Israel with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi. Although A-Ba-Ni-Bi is the title, French television mistakenly captioned on screen the song title as Ah-Bah-Nee-Bee. The presenters were Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone, and this was the first time more than one presenter hosted an edition of the Contest, twenty countries participated, a record at the time. The winning entry is a song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi. This was Israels first Eurovision win, the win caused problems for several North African and Middle-Eastern nations that were televising the contest, even though they were not participating. Jordanian TV finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen, norway finished last for the fifth time, gaining the first nul points during the current voting system was implemented in 1975. The venue was built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, and was inaugurated in 1974, björn Skifs was unhappy with the rule that every country would have to perform in their native language. He planned to sing in English anyway, but changed his mind at the very last moment and he therefore sang the first few lines in gibberish before finding the words again. This pattern would repeat over the years, in 1979 Greece took part in the Contest with Sokrati in Jerusalem -. In 1980 both countries returned, with Autostop and Petr Oil respectively, despite Turkeys failure to recognize the Greek government in Cyprus, all three countries performed together when Cyprus debuted in 1981 and it continued until 2012. Denmark returned to the contest this year, for the first time since 1966, the Greek entry this year was a song called Charlie Chaplin, in reference to the comedian who died the previous year. In a curious twist, however, regular entrants Peter, Sue and they lost out at third place however. The song from Monaco also made reference to Charlie Chaplin, each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra. Several artists returned to the 1978 Contest, ireen Sheer had previously represented Luxembourg in 1974, and finished in equal fourth place. ^ Contains some words in French, ^ Contains some words in English. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 points for their top ten songs. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language
13.
Eurovision Song Contest 1981
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the 26th event of its kind, and was held on 4 April 1981 at the Simmonscourt Pavilion of the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin. The presenter was Doireann Ní Bhriain, the United Kingdoms Bucks Fizz were the winners of this contest with the song Making Your Mind Up, beating second place Germany by four points. Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland, Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey. Founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion, the city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, the contest took place under heavy guard at the 15,000 seat Simmonscourt Pavilion of the RDS, which was normally used for agricultural and horse shows. Over 250 armed soldiers and police were on hand to protect against any likely political demonstrations, having won the year before, Ireland hosted the 1981 contest - the second time they had done so. As in 1971, the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest was produced by the countrys broadcaster RTÉ, the presenter on this occasion was Doireann Ni Bhriain, who was well known in Ireland at the time as a TV presenter and for the current affairs radio show Women Today. She was chosen for her fluency in Irish and English as well as having studied French, the director was Ian McGarry, while Noel Kelehan was the chief conductor for the show. It cost RTÉ over £300,000 to stage, although this included £110,000 from the EBU, from this, the Irish Government expected to make around £2,000,000 from tourism as a result of staging the show. The RDS would go on to host the next Irish Eurovision production in 1988 and this year marked the début of Cyprus in the contest, who finished sixth. Returning to the contest was Israel, who did not compete the previous year, yugoslavia also returned to the competition after a five-year absence. Italy withdrew for the first time from the contest, due to lack of interest, of the performers, many previous contestants returned to the contest this year. Notably, Jean-Claude Pascal for Luxembourg, who had won the contest 20 years earlier, repeated entrants Peter, Sue and Marc returned for the fourth time, after 1971,1976 and 1979. Performing again for Switzerland, they remain the only act to sing in four different languages, other returnees were Marty Brem who had taken part the year before for Austria, Tommy Seebach for Denmark, and Björn Skifs for Sweden. Bucks Fizz member, Cheryl Baker had performed in 1978 with the band Co-Co for the UK, while Sheeba member Maxi had performed as a solo artist in 1973 for Ireland. Andy Hill – the producer of the single - said that had they known, the interval act was traditional Irish band Planxty, who performed the lengthy piece Timedance, which depicted Irish music through the ages. The dancers were from Dublin City Ballet with choreography by Iain Montague and this is seen as a precursor to Riverdance, which became famous after its performance in 1994. The song, which was written by Bill Whelan, went on to be released as a Planxty single, the voting proved to be memorable for its closeness
14.
Eurovision Song Contest 1990
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on 5 May 1990, the presenters were Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar. Toto Cutugno was the winner of this contest with the song Insieme,1992 and this was the second victory for Italy, the first one having been Non ho letà, performed by Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964. However, the song was an even more sweeping evocation of European unity, in anticipation of the completion of the European single market. A national final was held in Malta, which was won by Maryrose Mallia with Our Little World of Yesterday, there was a slightly uncomfortable beginning to the rehearsal week when, offended by press comments concerning their ages, the two presenters quit the show. They were briefly replaced by Rene Medvešek and Dubravka Marković, who were much younger, the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the first to implement an age rule. The European Broadcasting Union were forced to bring in a rule after criticism arose over the ages of two performers at 1989 contest, being just 11 and 12 years old. From 1990, no artist under the age of 16 on the day of the contest could perform on stage. This rule meant that the record for the youngest ever winner at Eurovision could never be broken, as Sandra Kim, who won for Belgium at the 1986 competition, was just 13 years old. A notorious mishap occurred at the start of the first song and they walked off the stage in barely concealed annoyance and the audience was left in confusion for a moment, but the song was then restarted without any further problems. The 1990 contest was the first to feature a mascot, Eurocat. Notes 1. ^ Contains some phrases in English, French and Serbo-Croatian
15.
Eurovision Song Contest 1997
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1997, was the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest and it was held at the Point Theatre Dublin, Ireland, on 3 May 1997. Carrie Crowley and Boyzone member Ronan Keating were the presenters of the show, belgium, Finland, and Slovakia withdrew from the contest due to the relegation rule. The United Kingdom won the competition, thanks to Katrina and the Waves, Ireland hosted the contest for the fourth time in five years after winning the 1996 in Oslo. Dublin was chosen to be the host city, making it the time that the Eurovision Song Contest was staged in the Irish capital. The venue for the contest was the Point Theatre located on the North Wall Quay of the River Liffey, the theatre previously hosted the 1994 and 1995 contests. RTÉ once again produced a spectacular show, with a stage that had a smaller performance space for the artists than in previous years. This was the third Eurovision set to be designed by Paula Farrell, there was a wide array of different styles this year. Denmark brought a rap song, Croatia came with their version of the Spice Girls, the music was in general more modern than before, and for the first time in 1991, an up-tempo song won. This year, televoting was tested in five countries, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the results of the televoting countries were, in some cases, different from those that used a jury. Iceland received 16 of its 18 points from five countries. Also, for the first time in Eurovision history, there was a country where not one, television reporter Frédéric Ferrer and 1977 Eurovision winner Marie Myriam each took turns at giving results from that country. Long-time Irish conductor Noel Kelehan was not the host conductor this year, however, from this year, entrants were allowed to use singback without orchestra accompaniment, and in 1999, the orchestra would be abolished completely. Alma Čardžić returned for Bosnia and Herzegovina after last representing the nation in 1994, maarja-Liis Ilus and Şebnem Paker both returned for a 1996 representing Estonia and Turkey respectively. 1. ^ ^ Contained some lyrics in English, iceland got most of its 18 points from the 5 countries that used televoting. Ireland was ostensibly the best scoring country across the televoting countries, the United Kingdom was only eligible to receive points from 4 of them, since they couldnt vote for themselves. Despite being the runner-up, it received only one 12-point score. The UK spokesman Colin Berry remarked, Youre going to like one, Ireland. Causing Terry Wogan to reply, Well, tit for tat, the winning song scored an unprecedented 227 points, it received points from all participating countries, including five sets of 10 points and a record-breaking ten sets of the maximum 12 points
16.
Eurovision Song Contest 2001
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the Olsen Brothers win at the 2000 contest in Stockholm, the hosting marked only the second time the contest was held on Danish soil, after the 1964 contest -37 years earlier. 23 countries took part in the contest, which was held on 12 May 2001, the host venue was the Parken Stadium - the largest venue to ever host the contest. A total of 35,000 spectators saw the live from within the stadium. The presenters were Danish journalist and TV-show presenter Natasja Crone Back, france, Greece and Slovenia were the heavy favourites to win the contest, however, as the voting progressed it became a two-horse race between Estonia and the host country Denmark. The contest was won by Estonia, represented by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL with the song Everybody, the host nation, Denmark, finished in 2nd place with 177 points - beaten by 21 points. Coming 3rd were Greece with 147 points - giving the country their best result up till this point, france came 4th with 142 points, and in 5th place were Sweden with 100 points. Dave Benton, who was born and raised in Aruba, was the first black person and, at the age of 50 years and 101 days, Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark was the host city for the 46th edition of Eurovision. The venue choice for the contest was Parken Stadium, a stadium in the Indre Østerbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The logo of the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest was made out of four circles, the four circles were also present in the stage design, with the light construction was made of the same four rings. The Danish national broadcaster faced some problems whilst organising the contest such as the lack of funds, the event was eventually located in the football stadium Parken, after the company running the stadium agreed to add a retractable roof to the building. Changes occurred in the process for the 2002 Contest, along with the Big 4 countries. The other spots for 2002 would be filled by countries that were excluded from the 2001 contest because of their low point average for the years 1996–2000, the Danes were so offended that the BBC was obliged to issue an apology on Wogans comments. Controversy also surrounded the Swedish song, Listen To Your Heartbeat, eventually the EBU decided for the matter to be settled in court, with the song allowed to compete as long as the courts did not declare the song as plagiarism. During the voting the Danish band Aqua performed with a medley of their singles, Although enjoyable, people complained about it being a little bit rude as there was some swearing during the performance, both at the beginning and end of Barbie Girl. This brought the number of participating countries to twenty-three. Tanel Padar was a backing vocalist for Ines in 2000, the majority of participating countries held a televote, where the top ten most voted for songs were awarded the 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 points. This year the EBU introduced for the first time a mix of voting systems for those countries that didnt want to use 100% televoting, only three votes were allowed per household
17.
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th Eurovision Song Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing Everyway That I Can, the hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the contest with Wild Dances and it is notable that this was only Ukraines second participation in the contest. This was also the year in a row in which the contest was won by a woman. To accommodate the number of countries who wished to participate. The countries which didnt qualify for the final are normally calculate like participating countries, the contest was held in Istanbul following Turkeys victory in the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with Sertab Ereners Everyway That I Can. Originally the Mydonose Showland was chosen by TRT to host the event, korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul were presenters of the show. In the semi-final and the final, Meltem Cumbul warmed up the audience with a sing-a-long of Eurovision classic Nel blu dipinto di blu, originally by Domenico Modugno. Sertab Erener returned to the stage in the final to perform Everyway That I Can, the 2003 winning song, Sertab also interviewed contestants in the green room. The Turkish dance ensemble Fire of Anatolia performed as the interval act, an official CD was released and, for the first time, the entire contest was released on DVD which included the Semi-Final and the Grand Final. The contests new official logo was used for the first time this year. The slogan for Istanbuls contest was Under The Same Sky, which communicated the importance of a united Europe and this year was also notable as it was the first year that Turkey voted for Cyprus and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. Nevertheless, in a move that angered some Cypriots, when the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown and this was due to Turkeys recognition of the northern half of the island as an independent republic. It is likely Turkey pulled out of showing the map because it would have highlighted the southern portion of the island. This was also the first year that the scores were only re-read by the hosts in one language. Before 2004 every point was repeated in French and English, but due to 36 countries voting and this was in the opposite of the original country representative spoke in. Also, this year was the first time in which a non-winning entry scored over 200 points, prior to this contest, only Rock n Roll Kids and Love Shine a Light, the winners in 1994 and 1997 had passed this mark. In this contest, all songs in the top 3 got over 200 points and this years Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday
18.
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following Ell & Nikkis win at the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, the contest was held at the newly constructed Baku Crystal Hall, with semi-finals held on 22 and 24 May 2012, followed by the final held on 26 May 2012. The contest was won by singer Loreen from Sweden with the song Euphoria—written by Thomas G, son and Peter Boström, russia finished in second place, with Serbia finishing in third. They were followed by the host country, Azerbaijan, which reached the 4th place, albania finished 5th, achieving its first top 5 placing. Germany, Italy and Spain were the three members of the Big Five that managed to rank within the top 10, finishing in 8th, 9th and 10th places respectively. Azerbaijan got the right to host the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the previous 2011 edition with the song Running Scared performed by Ell & Nikki. Shortly after Azerbaijans victory at the 2011 edition, officials announced that a new 23,000 seat concert venue was to be built near National Flag Square in Baku, as a potential venue for the event. Three days later, other options were revealed by organisers, such as the 37, 000-seat Tofiq Bahramov Stadium. On 2 August 2011, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG was awarded the contract to construct the Baku Crystal Hall, preparations for construction began in the area shortly after the announcement. Even though the full cost of the contract was not named, on 8 September 2011, Azad Azerbaijan TV reported that Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, but no formal confirmation was made at the time by the EBU. On 25 January 2012, it was confirmed that the Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, even though the venue had an extended capacity of 23,000 people, only 16,000 people were able to attend each show. Tickets for the contest became available online for purchase on 28 February 2012, the results format of each show remained the same with each countrys votes being decided on a 50,50 split between televoting and a national jury. Each participating country had their own jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Under the official released on 24 November 2011, the number of participants in the final was raised to 26, including the host nation, the Big Five. This was the time in the Eurovision Song Contest that 26 countries were in the final. The draw that determined the semi-final running order was held on 25 January 2012 at the Buta Palace, the participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists, were split into six pots, based upon how those countries voted in past contests. From these pots, half competed in the first semi-final on 22 May 2012, the other half in that particular pot competed in the second semi-final on 24 May 2012. 1. ^ Armenia withdrew approximately a month and a half after the allocation draw
19.
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
20.
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Norway has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 55 times since making its debut in 1960 and has only been absent twice since then. In 1970, the country boycotted the contest over disagreements about the voting structure, Norway has won the contest three times. The contest is broadcast in Norway by NRK, which also broadcasts Norways national selection competition, Norways first entrant in the contest in 1960 was Nora Brockstedt, who finished fourth. Åse Kleveland then finished third in 1966 and these would remain Norways only top five results until 1985, when Bobbysocks gave the country its first victory with the song La det swinge. The country achieved two top five results over the next ten years, with both Karoline Krüger in 1988 and Silje Vige in 1993, finishing fifth. Norways second victory came in 1995 with Secret Gardens mainly instrumental, in 1996, Elisabeth Andreassen, who had won the contest as one half of Bobbysocks, returned to finish second. In 2003, Jostein Hasselgård was fourth, Norway won for the third time in 2009, with Alexander Rybaks smash hit Fairytale. The 2009 winning score of 387 points being the highest ever winning total and it also achieved the biggest ever margin of victory. Norway also has the two distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country. The country has finished last eleven times, failing to score a point four times, since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten six times. In 2015 Mørland & Debrah Scarlett finished eighth with A Monster Like Me, Norway has a total of 11 top five and 22 top ten results in the contest. 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, ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark -12 points - instead of being snubbed, the mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. The organisation consists of a network of 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profitable company. In what has become a tradition for the OGAE fan clubs. Melodi Grand Prix Norway in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Norway in the Eurovision Young Musicians Melodi Grand Prix Points to and from Norway eurovisioncovers. co. uk
21.
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
22.
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
23.
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XLs win at the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, for the first time, a slogan was implemented. This years theme was called A Modern Fairytale, which was evident in the postcards aired between the songs, which showed classic fairytales ending in modern Estonian situations, the final took place on the 25 May 2002 at the Saku Suurhall. Opening the show were the champions, Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. The contest was won by Latvia, represented by Marie N with the song I Wanna, the United Kingdom and host country Estonia shared 3rd place with 111 points each, while France finished in 5th place with 104 points. Despite being one of the favourites to win the contest, Denmark finished last with just 7 points and had to sit out of the years contest. Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia and it is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland,80 km south of Helsinki in Finland, east of Stockholm in Sweden, and west of Saint Petersburg in Russia. Founded in 1248 but the earliest human settlements back to 3000 years BC. Due to its important strategic location the city became a major trade hub. Tallinns Old Town is one of the best preserved and intact medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Saku Suurhall was chosen as the venue for the contest. It is the largest arena in Estonia, built in 2001 and it is named after the Estonian brewery and soft drink company Saku. These countries replaced the bottom 6 countries from the 2001 contest, portugal declined to enter the Contest due to internal problems in the Portuguese broadcaster RTP. Controversy erupted during the competition over remarks by commentators on Swedish and Belgian TV, the song received zero points from the Swedish audience but earned two from the Belgians, finishing 12th overall. In the televoting household shall not be permitted to vote more than three times and this year saw allegations that the juries in use were guilty of swapping votes between each other. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final, For the first time, founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into 3 categories, Press Award, Artistic Award, as had been the case every year since the mid-1980s, the contest was broadcast in Australia on SBS-TV with the BBC commentary. Within a few years, the contest would grow to be so popular in Australia, Serbia and Montenegro After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia last participated in 1992. Radio Television of Serbia broadcast the show, originally, first time as Serbia and Montenegro had planned debuts, but the EBUs late changes to the relegation procedure meant that they could not compete
24.
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 5 March 1966 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, the host venue was Grand Auditorium de RTL in Villa Louvigny. The winner was Austria with the song Merci, Chérie performed and composed by Udo Jürgens and this would remain Austrias only win in the contest until their second win in 2014. The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was created in this year. The 1966 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Luxembourg City, the venue chosen to host the 1966 contest was the Villa Louvigny, which also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1962. The building served as the headquarters of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion and it is located in Municipal Park, in the Ville Haute quarter of the centre of the city. During the voting process, the presenter accidentally greeted United Kingdom by saying Good night, London. She then realized her mistake and said Good evening, London, after Michael Aspel,1966 marked the year the first ever black singer graced the Eurovision stage, Milly Scott representing the Netherlands. She was also the first singer to use a portable microphone and this was the last contest that Denmark participated in until 1978, more than a decade later. It was also one of the first contests in which an entry was not accompanied by an orchestra, during the Saturday afternoon rehearsal Modugno performed the new arrangement with three of his own musicians as opposed to the orchestra, which went over the three minute time limit. Following his rehearsal Modungo was confronted by the producers about exceeding the time limit and was asked to use the original arrangement with the orchestra. Modungo was so dissatisfied with the orchestra that he threatened to withdraw from the Contest, despite websites and the official programme listing Angelo Giacomazzi as the conductor, Giacomazzi actually played the piano for the entry. All countries which participated in the 1965 contest returned for a consecutive year. There were no new nations, nor any returning, nor withdrawals, each performance had a conductor who was maestro of the orchestra. Udo Jürgens from Austria whose previous participations were in 1964 and 1965, and Domenico Modugno from Italy,1. ^ The song also contains phrases in French. 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
25.
Bobbysocks!
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Bobbysocks. is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song La det swinge, the duo was formed in 1983. Both Krogh and Andreassen were frequent Eurovision contestants, Krogh has appeared three times, all for Norway - in 1971 as a soloist, with Bobbysocks. in 1985 and as part of Just 4 Fun in 1991. Andreassen sang for Sweden as one half of Chips in 1982 and after winning with Bobbysocks, teamed up with Jan Werner Danielsen in 1994, the duos debut single was I Dont Wanna Break My Heart, released in a pink colored vinyl. The concept behind Bobbysocks. was to bring up to date songs from the 1950s with a swing mood and that idea was fully applied on their first LP Bobbysocks. Which was a mixture of covers and brand new songs, the scheduled next single was going to be Radio, but the plans were changed when the duo won the Eurovision Song Contest. Let It Swing topped the Norwegian singles chart, as well as it did in Belgium and it was a Top 10 in Sweden and Ireland, and a Top 20 in The Netherlands and Austria. It entered the UK singles charts on 25 May 1985, and rose to a high of Nº44 and it was also pressed in countries such as Germany, Japan and Australia. There were plans to release the single in USA, but it didnt happen at the end, in 1985, due to their ESC victory, Bobbysocks. Were awarded the Peer Gynt Prize, which is awarded by the Stortinget, another ESC consequence was the re-release of the Bobbysocks. LP with Let It Swing on it, reaching the Gold status, Walkin on Air, was recorded in L. A. in 1987 and produced by Bill Maxwell. It went Gold in only 4 days, becoming their 3rd, in 1988, Bobbysocks disbanded, after 4 successful years. However, Krogh and Andreassen still appeared time to time together on stage in Norway and they appeared at Congratulations, the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2005. During May 2010, Bobbysocks did a comeback to celebrate their 25th anniversary since their ESC victory in 1985. Which included 2 newly recorded songs and peaking at Nº13 on the Norwegian album charts, helping to gain new fans not only in Norway. 1986, Waiting for the Morning 1987, Walkin on Air 2010, Let it Swing - The Best of Bobbysocks
26.
Secret Garden (duo)
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The group has sold over 3 million albums since having won the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest, representing Norway with the composition Nocturne. The group won the Eurovision Melody Grand Prix Contest for Norways second time in 1995 with the composition Nocturne. Norwegian singer Gunnhild Tvinnereim sang the song in the Eurovision Song Contest and Swedish nyckelharpist Åsa Jinder also guested on the occasion, ten years earlier, Rolf Løvland wrote the song La det swinge that secured Norway its first Eurovision Song Contest victory in 1985. Their success at Eurovision spearheaded the success of their first album Songs from a Secret Garden. It sold a million copies around the world going platinum in Norway and Korea, gold in Ireland, Hong Kong and New Zealand, barbra Streisand adapted Heartstrings from this album as the song Ive Dreamed of You on her A Love Like Ours album. She also used Heartstrings in her wedding to James Brolin, the album White Stones followed in 1997 also making the top ten on Billboard New Age charts. Secret Garden has released a Dreamcatcher, Best Of album for its tour through Australia and it reached the top of the Australian New Age charts and the ARIA top 50 album charts. Their piece Adagio, with a cor anglais solo, was used in the Wong Kar-wai film 2046 released in 2004, in 2010, Fionnuala Sherry released her solo debut entitled Songs From Before. Secret Garden published a written by Rolf Løvland with Fionnuala Sherry as co-writer entitled You Raise Me Up. The book tells their story from the inside - their triumphs as well as the trials and tribulations theyve endured along two decades
27.
Alexander Rybak
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Alexander Igoryevich Rybak is a Belarusian-born Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pianist, actor. His debut album, Fairytales, charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a No.1 position in Norway, Rybak made a return to Eurovision in 2012 and 2016, playing the violin during both interval acts. Rybak was born in Minsk, Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union and he became a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo at the age of 10. In 2004, Rybak was awarded the Anders Jahre Culture Prize presented to him by Viktoriya Rybak at the culture festival in Madrid. In 2005, he entered the Norwegian version of Idol, Idol, Jakten på en superstjerne, in 2006, Rybak won Kjempesjansen, a talent competition hosted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, with his own song, Foolin. Rybak has collaborated with such as a-has lead singer Morten Harket. In 2007, Rybak played the fiddler in Oslo Nye Teaters production of Fiddler on the Roof, Rybak won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, with a record 387 points, singing Fairytale, a song inspired by Norwegian folk music. The song was composed and written by Rybak and was performed with the folk dance company Frikar. The song received good reviews with a score of 6 out of 6 in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, Rybak later won the Eurovision final with a landslide victory, receiving votes from all the participating countries. Rybak finished with a total of 387 points, breaking the record of 292 points scored by Lordi in 2006 and scoring 169 points more than the runner-up. Rybaks first album, Fairytales, was released after his Eurovision win, Rybak also co-stars as Levi in the film Yohan directed by Grete Salomonsen, which was released in March 2010. Rybak also went on a tour in Norway with former Norwegian Eurovision winner Elisabeth Andreassen, something that had decided before his Eurovision win. He and Frikar also toured Norway and Europe in 2009, in a December 2009 performance of his hit Fairytale at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, held at the Oslo Spektrum, Rybak shared the stage with nine other acts. On 12 March 2010, Alexander Rybak performed his Eurovision 2009 winning song Fairytale on UK TV show Eurovision, in April 2010, Rybak released a new song, featuring Opptur, called Fela Igjen. On 8 June 2010, Rybak released the first single from his second album Oah, a music video was made for the single. It was directed by Lars Kristian Flemmen, produced by Eirik Heldal and it is filmed in a university or college. He also recorded and released a Russian version of song called Strela Amura. Alexander released his album on 14 June 2010, called No Boundaries
28.
Eurovision Song Contest 1996
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 18 May 1996 in Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. The presenters were Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket, Harket, lead singer of a-ha, opened the show with a performance of his single Heavens Not for Saints. Twenty-three countries participated in the contest, with Eimear Quinn of Ireland crowned the winner after the voting, with the song. The song was written by Brendan Graham, who composed the 1994 winner Rock n Roll Kids. It was also a seventh win for Ireland and the most recent win of Ireland. Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia, Macedonia eventually went on to make their debut in 1998. The 1996 contest remains the only Eurovision without a German entry and this year, they reverted to the pre-qualifying round that had been used for the 1993, but this time with just one country exempt from the process - the host Norway. The audio-only pre-qualification round, which was never televised, was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final. With exception to the hosts Norway, audio entries from twenty-nine countries were played to national juries, Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia, and Romania all failed to qualify. As a result, Macedonias submission was never classified as an entry by the EBU. As a leading contributor to the contest, Germany were particularly aggrieved that their entry. It was the year in the history of the ESC in which Germany did not participate in the final. But of course the only good luck wish that was rewarded in the end was that of Irish Taoiseach John Bruton. Secondly, the section was conducted using blue screen virtual reality technology provided by Silicon Graphics. The host Ingvild Bryn introduced the viewers to the room, upon which a 3D scoreboard, views of the green room. The only physical aspects were Ingvild herself and two podiums, for the first time in the Eurovision history, during the voting a spokesperson came to stage down next to Ingvild, the Norwegian one, Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft. Despite a submitted entry from Macedonia, it was never classified as a debut entry. Shaded countries were eliminated from the competition Each country had a jury that awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs
29.
Elisabeth Andreassen
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Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen, also known as just Bettan, is a Swedish-Norwegian singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and TV host Lasse Holm and she was produced by Bert Karlssons label Mariann Grammofon AB. In 1980, she joined Lasses group Chips, Chips participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with the song Dag efter dag, and reached 8th place. Andreassen is active in musical genres such as country, schlager. She is mostly famous from Eurovision Song Contest 1985 when she and Hanne Krogh participated as Bobbysocks with the song La det swinge, Andreassen has sung in various genres such as country, pop, rock and in musicals. She plays three instruments, guitar, piano and contrabass and she has also been a revue and musical artist. Bettan has a record as the woman with the most participations in the Eurovision Song Contest, tied with Lys Assia and Sue of Peter and she has participated four times, three times in duets and once on her own. Born on 28 March 1958 in Gothenburg, Sweden, to Norwegian parents and she lives in Ullern, Oslo in Norway with her two daughters, born in 1995 and 1997 respectively. Elisabeth and married Tor Andreassen on 2 July 1994 and before that Elisabeth was known as Elisabeth Andreasson, on 13 June 2016 Tor Andreassen died of a heart attack. Chips - God morgon, 2nd place 1982, Chips - Dag efter dag, 1st place 1984. Elisabeth Andreassen - Kärleksmagi, 6th place 1990, Elisabeth Andreassen - Jag ser en stjärna falla, 7th place 2000. Kikki, Bettan & Lotta - Vem é dé du vill ha, Elisabeth Andreassen - Vaken i en dröm 1985. Bobbysocks - La det swinge, 1st place 1992, Bettan & Jan Werner - Duett, 1st place 1996. Elisabeth Andreassen - I evighet, 1st place 1998, Elisabeth Andreassen - Winds of the Northern Sea, 2nd place 2003. Kikki, Bettan & Lotta - Din hånd i min hånd, Elisabeth Andreassen & Tor Endresen - All over the world, 4th place 1982. Chips - Dag efter dag, 8th place, Sweden 1985, Bobbysocks - La det swinge, 1st place, Norway 1994. Elisabeth Andreassen & Jan Werner Danielsen - Duett, 6th place, Norway 1996
30.
Nora Brockstedt
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Nora Brockstedt was a Norwegian singer. She first entered a stage at the age of 20. During the next two decades, she managed to become one of Norways most famous and beloved singers and entertainers, throughout the 1950s she had several sing-along radio hits, including En liten pike i lave sko, Augustin, and Tango for to. In the years 1950 to 1954, she was a member of the six-member group The Monn Keys, Brockstedt holds a reputation as one of the most prominent Alf Prøysen interpreters. Brockstedt represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 and 1961, with the memorable songs Voi-voi and she appeared on the Advent Calendar-themed seasonal television program Jul i Skomakergata in 1979. In her last years, she focused more on the genre, with successful albums like As Time Goes By. She sang jazz in the 1960s, but was known for her conventional pop songs. She died after an illness at Ullevaal Hospital in Oslo on 5 November 2015. Eurovision Song Contest 1960 Eurovision Song Contest 1961 Melodi Grand Prix Jazz Short recording of Nora Brockstedt singing
31.
Eurovision Song Contest 1973
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by the Luxembourg entry, Tu te reconnaîtras, the voting was a very close one, with Spain finishing only 4 points behind and Cliff Richard of the United Kingdom another 2 points after. The city of Luxembourg, also known as Luxembourg City, is a commune with city status, and it is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg. The city contains the historic Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, inaugurated in 1964 as the Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg, became the venue for the 1973 contest. It is the major venue for drama, opera and ballet. The language rule forcing countries to enter songs sung in any of their languages was dropped. After finishing second in the contest, the song went on to become an international hit. The somewhat elliptical lyrics to Portugals entry Tourada provided sufficient cover for a song that was understood as a blistering assault on the countrys decaying dictatorship. Also, the breasts was used during Swedens song entry. However, no action was taken by the EBU, an argument broke out between the singer Maxi and her Irish delegation over how the song should be performed. During rehearsals she repeatedly stopped performing in frustration, when it began to appear possible that Maxi might withdraw from the contest, RTÉ immediately sent over another singer, Tina Reynolds, to take her place just in case. In the end Miss Reynolds wasnt needed as Maxi did perform, Cliff Richard represented the UK with the song Power to All Our Friends. He came 3rd with 123 points, the winner though was Anne-Marie David with Tu te reconnaîtras. In the UK it was released in English under the title Wonderful Dream and this gave rise to one of the best-known Eurovision anecdotes, frequently recounted by the UKs long-serving commentator Terry Wogan. He recalled that the floor manager strongly advised the audience to remain seated while applauding the performances, each country had two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and one aged between 26 and 55. They each awarded 1 to 5 points for each song immediately after it was performed, the juries watched the show on TV from the Ville du Louvigny TV Studios of CLT and appeared on screen to confirm their scores. Seventeen nations took part in this years contest, malta was drawn to perform in 6th place between Norway and Monaco, but the Maltese broadcaster withdrew before the deadline to select an entry. The 1973 contest marked the first time that women conducted the ESC orchestra, monica Dominique conducted the Swedish entry and Nurit Hirsh conducted the Israeli entry
32.
La det swinge
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La det swinge is a song in Norwegian, sung by the pop duo Bobbysocks. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 – Norways first victory in the contest, the song is a tribute to dancing to old rock n roll heard on the radio. Befitting the subject matter, the song itself is written in an old-fashioned style, the melody arrangement is in retro style, containing elements of contemporary 1980s music and throwbacks to the 1950s. The song entered, and won Melodi Grand Prix 1985, and was selected to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985. At the close of voting, it received 123 points, placing 1st in a field of 19 and this was Elisabeth Andreasson and Hanne Kroghs second appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1982 Elisabeth represented Sweden in the duo Chips with Kikki Danielsson singing Dag efter dag. Danielsson incidentally finished third after Bobbysocks and West Germanys Wind, with Bra vibrationer in the 1985 contest, again representing Sweden. Krogh finished 17th in the contest in 1971, with the song Lykken er, la Det Swinge was succeeded as Norwegian representative at the 1986 Contest by Ketil Stokkan with Romeo. Swedish heavy metal group Black Ingvars covered song on their 1998 album Schlager Metal
33.
Eurovision Song Contest 1988
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place on 30 April 1988 in Dublin, Ireland, the presenters were Pat Kenny and Michelle Rocca. The host broadcaster was Radio Telefís Éireann which revamped the production style compared to its earlier editions. The winner was Switzerland with the song Ne partez pas sans moi, performed by future international superstar Celine Dion, Switzerland beat the United Kingdom by just a point in the last vote to win the title. The Cypriot song had been drawn to be performed 2nd in the running order, the stage itself, conceived by Paula Farrell under chief production designer Michael Grogan, was also the largest and most elaborate ever constructed for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Postcards featured the participants doing things in Ireland from culture, to tradition, lowney was also the director of the shows interval act, introduced after the competing songs and before the votes announcement. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 and 1 point for its top ten songs and this edition features one of the closest and fickle-ending votes in the history of the contest. With three countries left to vote, the UK was well in the lead with 133 points against Switzerlands 118, with the conclusion of voting from the penultimate jury, the UK was holding a five-point lead over Switzerland. Switzerland was the first to be named with six points, edging it into a one-point lead over the UK, after earlier strong votes from most countries to the UK, it seemed highly likely that the UK would be given one of the higher remaining set of points. Twenty-one countries took part, after a plan of twenty-two. This was classed as a breach of the Cypriot rules of selecting their entry at this time as well as an infringement of the Eurovision Song Contest rules, the contest helped launch an international career for two artists, the winner for Switzerland Celine Dion and Luxembourg’s representative Lara Fabian. Belgian-Canadian Lara Fabian started a career after the contest with becoming established in various countries worldwide. The UK entry was written and composed by Julie Forsyth, the daughter of the entertainer Bruce Forsyth who was present, when interviewed afterwards he was particularly annoyed at the Dutch jury not having given a vote to the UK, as they had done some work there
34.
Eurovision Song Contest 1993
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 15 May 1993 in Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. Niamh Kavanagh was the winner of this Eurovision for Ireland with the song and this was Irelands fifth victory, and equalled the tally of five Eurovision victories achieved by France in 1977 and Luxembourg in 1983. However, the venue, a large indoor well- equipped equestrian centre was deemed more suitable as the location by RTÉ. With huge support from local and national authorities, plus several businesses in the region and it was also the largest outside broadcast ever attempted by state broadcaster RTÉ and was deemed a technical triumph for all involved. The stage was created by Alan Farquharson, who was also chief production designer two years later in Dublin, BBC newsreader Nicholas Witchell caused controversy by remarking on the air, shortly before the contest, that it would be held in a cowshed in Ireland. The top two countries of this contest were the same as the top two countries in the years contest, being Ireland and the United Kingdom. This was, however, merely a measure that was plainly not a sustainable solution for future years. After some extremely tight voting, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia edged through, each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. The voting required a jury to deliberate in the midst of the war in Bosnia. Warm applause rang round the hall as a voice on a phone line was heard to deliver the familiar greeting, Hello Millstreet. By the final few juries it became clear that either Ireland or the United Kingdom were going to win, after the penultimate jury had voted, it looked to be a lost cause for second-placed Sonia of the UK as she was eleven points behind Niamh Kavanagh. Ostensibly due to technical difficulties, the final jury to announce their results was the Maltese jury. However, the name of neither country came up, instead it was Ireland that were awarded the final points of the evening, finishing with what looked in retrospect a comfortable twenty-three-point victory. Interestingly, given the way the votes were cast, having Maltas vote announced last was the way for the contest for victory to go down to the final jury. 1993 was the last year that the points were announced by telephone
35.
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Riga, Latvia on 24 May 2003 and it was the first win and hosting of the competition for Latvia with only their third participation after debuting at the 2000 contest. Latvijas Televīzija chose the Skonto Hall as the venue after conducting a bidding process among several cities and venues in Latvia. The hosts for the contest were the years winner Marie N and former Latvian representative at the 2000 contest, Renārs Kaupers. The design of the contest was built around the theme Magical rendez-vous, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Switzerland were required to withdraw due to their poor results in the 2002 contest. This was the first win for Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest, Norway and Sweden rounded out of the top five, placing fourth and fifth respectively. The United Kingdom achieved their worst result to date, coming in last place, the 2003 contest was the last contest to take place on one evening. This was also the last contest in which a system was used to determine which countries would participate in the following years contest. On 22 August 2002, Latvian public broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija announced that it had chosen the Skonto Hall in Riga as the host venue for the 2003 contest. Latvia won the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 on 25 May 2002 in Tallinn and this was Latvia’s first victory in the contest, which also carried the right for LTV to organise the 2003 contest. LTV initially had concerns with staging the contest. Rubenis elaborated that LTV was prepared to cover the side and broadcasting of the contest. The Government of Latvia allotted €5.3 million for the event with a further €1.1 million being provided by the Riga City Council – covering the anticipated organisational costs for the contest. Three cities were considered as host city of the contest, Riga, Ventspils, LTV requested proposals from the three cities concerning how they plan to organise the contest. Riga City Council offered the Mežaparks Open-air Stage, Skonto Hall, Jūrmala City Council offered the Dzintari Concert Hall with plans to expand and upgrade the facility and surrounding infrastructure. LTV’s organisational task force decided to proceed with the bids from Riga and Ventspils, eliminating Jūrmala. LTV ultimately chose the Skonto Hall as the venue to stage the contest, the rules also modified the eligibility criteria for entries, changing the date of release cut-off point for songs from 1 January 2003 to 1 October 2002. The draw for running order was held on 29 November 2002 in Riga, hosted by Marie N and Renārs Kaupers, the official sponsors for the contest were Latvian mobile telecom provider Latvijas Mobilais Telefons and Latvian bank company Parex Banka
36.
Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song)
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Fairytale is a song written and composed by Norwegian violinist/singer Alexander Rybak, and the first single from Rybaks debut album Fairytales. This song was the winner of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, in February 2009, Norwegian media reported that Fairytale is about Rybaks ex-girlfriend Ingrid Berg Mehus whom he got to know through the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo. The Russian-language version of the song is entitled Skazka, the final took place on 16 May and the song won with 387 points – a new ESC record. It was Norways third Eurovision Song Contest win, the backing dancers for the Eurovision performance, Sigbjørn Rua, Torkjell Lunde Børsheim and Hallgrim Hansegård, are from the Norwegian dance company Frikar, performing the folk dance halling. The backing singers, Jorunn Hauge and Karianne Kjærnes, wore long pink dresses designed by Norwegian designer Leila Hafzi. The first official video for the song, which was used to present the song before the Eurovision final, was Alexander Rybaks Performance at the Melodi Grand Prix 2009 in Norway. The most recent video was of Alexander Rybak playing the Violin and singing with his backing dancers behind him, where the background occasionally changes from white to black. A video of Rybaks performance of the song at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest final in Moscow, was chosen by YouTube as one of its 31 most memorable videos of 2009. In the Norwegian preselection, Melodi Grand Prix 2009, Rybaks Fairytale won with a combined televote and jury score of 747,888, the song received over 600,000 votes more than the runner-up, which made it the clearest win in the history of Melodi Grand Prix. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Rybak won with the highest recorded score since the contest began, with 387 points and he held this record until 2016 when Jamala from Ukraine won with a record 534 points. His average score of 9.4 points from every voting nation was the highest since the use of televoting began in 1998. The song also debuted on the Norwegian Singles Chart on the week of 11 February 2009 at number 3, before rising to one on the following week. This was the first time that the Melodi Grand Prix winner reached number 1 before winning the contest, the song remained at number 1 for 8 consecutive weeks. The song has entered the Swedish Sverigetopplistan, debuting at number 47, before rising to number 7 in its third week. After the song gaining the Top Spot on Eurovision, it entered the Top Ten of many Charts across Europe, the song debuted on the UK charts at #10 on Downloads Alone and then dropped to #38 the next week, it also reached Number 3 on the Download Chart. Fairytale is the ninth non-UK Eurovision entry to reach the top ten in the UK charts since the contest began in 1956, the single went multi-platinum in different formats in Russia. It first went platinum as realtone/ full track and sold 100,000 copies, then it was certified 2x platinum as ring-back tone with another 400,000 copies sold. Combined sales of the song are 500,000 copies without online downloads, sampled in 2015 by Uzbek singer Gulasal Abdullayeva on single Notanish yigit
37.
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
38.
Wig Wam
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Wig Wam was a Norwegian glam metal band. In the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Wig Wam represented Norway after winning the Norwegian pre-selection Melodi Grand Prix, with the song In My Dreams, written by guitarist Teeny, they brought Norway to a ninth place in Kiev. Also in Iceland and Sweden it enjoyed moderate to huge commercial success, the bands slogan says, Rock is the new schläger. Wig Wam first took part in the Eurovision in 2004, finishing 3rd in the Norwegian final, with the song Crazy Things, they could not beat singer Knut Anders Sørum, who subsequently slumped to last place in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Band leader Glam also took part in the Norwegian preselection on his own in 1998 and claimed third place under his former artist name Gsten, the band also confirmed their desire to tour Europe later in the year. The Latvian duo, however, refused to reveal which song it was due to it being Wig Wams song, Wig Wam comes from Halden, Norway, and they were founded in 2001. Before their establishment the band members were active in the music business, playing in bands like Dream Police, Artch, Sha-Boom, Ole Evenrud and Alien. Wig Wam worked hard to get to the top of the charts, starting their career with numerous live performances across the country. Their fan base is known as Wig Wamaniacs, in 2004 the band released its debut album 667. The Neighbour Of The Beast, which was released in Sweden. Amongst other things, the contains a cover of Mel C. s no.1 hit I Turn to You. Among their musical idols, Wig Wam count the groups KISS, in November 2005 the band released their first DVD Rock N Roll Revolution 2005 showing the highlights from Wig Wams best year so far. Included in this DVD is Wig Wam Symphonic In March 2006 the band released its full album Wig Wamania with much better distribution around Europe. In July 2006 Wig Wamania was also released in Japan by King Records with 3 bonus tracks, by the end of August Wig Wam’s previous album also hit the Japanese market. The album’s Japanese edition with 3 bonus tracks is being slightly retitled to “Hard To Be A Rock’n Roller… In Tokyo. ”, the band released their third studio album Non Stop Rockn Roll on January 22,2010. In January 2010 Wig Wam were announced as the act for KISS at Valhall in Oslo on June 14,2010. In May 2012 they will release their album via Frontiers Records called Wall Street. In March 2014 they announced that the band would part ways after thirteen years, Glam — vocals Teeny — guitars Flash — bass Sporty — drums 667
39.
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place at the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine, the contest consisted of two shows, the semi-final and final, which took place on 19 and 21 May 2005, respectively. The shows were hosted by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko, thirty-nine countries participated, including the débuts of Bulgaria and Moldova and the return of Hungary, which was last represented in 1998. The winner for 2005 was Greece with the song My Number One performed by Helena Paparizou, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and it scored 230 points, beating Malta into second place by a margin of 38 points. This was the first victory for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest, romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. The Big Four countries ended up as the Last Four, all placing in the four position of the scoreboard in the final. The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbuls Under The Same Sky, the slogan for the 2005 show was Awakening, the postcards for the 2005 show illustrated Ukraine’s culture and heritage along with a more modern and industrial side to the country. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev were television presenter Maria Masha Efrosinina, previous winner Ruslana returned to the stage in Kiev to perform in the interval act and to interview the contestants backstage in the green room. The famous Ukrainian boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko opened the televoting, while a special trophy was presented to the winner by Ukraines president, Viktor Yushchenko. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, the EBU also commissioned a book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History by British/American author John Kennedy OConnor to celebrate the contests fiftieth anniversary. The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13, the book was published in English, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Finnish. During the semi final, there were a few volume falls in the sound, most notably during the Norwegian song and these were not fixed for the DVD release. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating, germanys entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the countrys pop charts with mass purchases of her single. Gracia Baur defended her producer David Brandes, also behind Swiss entry Vanilla Ninja, bulgarias debut was overshadowed by a scandal. The song Lorraine by Kaffe was accused of plagiarism, the song sounded too similar to another one released by Ruslan Mainov in 2001. There were also problems in Malta with the electricity supply during the contest, there was a controversy regarding the Turkish entry, TRT got a false jury which led to the victory of the song Gülseren, which the 2003 winner Sertab Erener said was not the best choice. There were similar controversies in Macedonia which led to a victory for Martin Vučić
40.
Maria Haukaas Mittet
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Maria Haukaas Mittet is a Norwegian recording artist. Maria was born in Finnsnes, but grew up in Senja, in Troms county and she first received national media attention when she had her first musical role at the age of 11, with the lead in Annie, at the Bryggeteateret in Oslo. Maria and her family moved to Oslo for the musical, and she has since performed in several musicals, both in the capital Oslo, and in the county Troms where she grew up. At the age of 24, she was part of Idol in 2004 and she took part in the Idol Tour 2004, along with other contestants in the top ten. She released her solo album in 2005, which peaked at number 13 on the Norwegian album charts. The single Breathing peaked at number 5 and was certified Gold in Norway and she went on a four-month national tour to promote the album. Shouldve has the chord structure as the Rolling Stones song Beast of Burden from their album Some Girls. Maria is the Norwegian representative to perform in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song Hold On Be Strong, on 12 February 2008 the song entered the Norwegian single charts at number 5, reaching number 1 on 19 February 2008. Maria released her studio album, Hold On Be Strong. Maria entered the qualifying rounds of the Melodi Grand Prix 2008 on 18 January and was voted through directly to the national final, the song finished fourth in the first semi-final and qualified for the final, which took place on 24 May. Maria and the song did well in the final, ending up in fifth place. Maria was a co-host of Melodi Grand Prix 2009, in which Alexander Rybak was selected as Norways entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Maria also participated in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2009, singing Killing Me Tenderly, with Anna Sahlene. They competed against seven contestants in the fourth heat, in Malmö on 28 February 2009. Marias song is called Make My Day and is written by Merethe La Verdi and Mats Lie Skåre and is described as mid-tempo. On January 8, the first heat of the Melodi Grand Prix 2010 was held In Orland and Maria won the semi and advanced to the Final in Oslo, Maria performed the official theme song Glorious for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo, Norway
41.
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki and this year was the first time there were three contests, two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the traditional grand final which was held on 24 May 2008. The shows were hosted by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović at the Belgrade Arena which had a capacity of 25,000 seats. After a total of 272 points, Dima Bilan representing Russia was declared the winner, with the song Believe written by American Jim Beanz, so far this has been the only time Russia has won the contest. Russia came third in the semi-final, making it the winner with the worst semi-final result, ukraine were runners up for the second year running, with 3rd place going to Greece, 4th to Armenia seeing their best result so far and 5th to Norway. 2008 also saw, for the first time ever, Eurovision. tv streaming national finals live on ESCTV with broadcasters permission. On 30 January 2008, Eurovision. tv revealed the theme of the Contest, The Confluence of Sound, Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. Since Serbia was the winner of the preceding contest, the 2008 contest was held there. The Belgrade Arena was chosen as the venue for the contest, on 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the Eurovision keys to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from the 2008 contest and onward, ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as hosted the previous years competition in Helsinki. Greeces Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens and it was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors, the delegations of Albania, Croatia and Israel had special security. RTS ran a competition led to the creation of the 2008 Contests branding, logo. The theme of the Contest was based around the confluence of sound and this was symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The logo chosen, a treble clef, formed the basis of the design created by Boris Miljković. The postcards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next, each post card had a short story related to each country and its people. During each postcard a short letter was displayed, the postcards were brought to an end by a stamp with this years Eurovision logo
42.
Hold On Be Strong
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Hold On Be Strong is a song performed by Norwegian singer Maria Haukaas Storeng, written by Mira Craig. This song was presented by Norway in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The song was elected through the Melodi Grand Prix 2008 on February 9, on 20 May 2008 Storeng performed the song in the first semi-final of Eurovision, and won a place in the final. It was the last song performed on the night before the voting began and it finished in 5th place with a total of 182 points, thus being the highest ranking Western European song of the year. The backing singers for the Eurovision performance were Jorunn Hauge, May Kristin Kaspersen, Kariane Kjærnes, Håvard Gryting, the song is written by singer and songwriter Mira Craig. Mira and Maria are singing a duet on Marias 2008 album Hold On Be Strong, Hold On Be Strong -3,04 Hold On Be Strong -3,00 Hold On Be Strong -3,41 Melodi Grand Prix 2008 Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
43.
Margaret Berger
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Margaret Berger is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, music director, and DJ. She made her debut on Sony BMG after she placed second on the season of Norwegian Idol in 2004. She released the studio albums Chameleon and Pretty Scary Silver Fairy and her upcoming third album is set to be released in October 2015. Berger represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, Margaret Berger was born on 11 October 1985 in Trondheim, Norway and grew up in Hitra, where she lived for twelve years. She sang in a choir and began writing her own songs at the age of twelve. Berger studied music at Heimdal videregående skole and she made her debut as a lyricist with the local band Slim Void with the song In Company With Bottles on their album Slim Void released on a local label. In 2004, Berger participated in the season of Idol. She advanced to the top 50, and competed in the semi-finals and she did not make it through in her initial semi-final round, where she lost to Maria Haukaas Storeng and Kjartan Salvesen. However, she received a call-back for the wildcards from the judge Anneli Drecker and she received the most votes with her rendition of The Beatles Come Together thus advancing to the top 11 alongside fellow contestant Susanne Nordboe. Bergers debut album, Chameleon, was released on 4 October 2004, the album reached number four on the Norwegian albums chart. The album did not receive a single release, but the music video for the song Lifetime Guarantee was awarded a Spellemannprisen. Her second album, Pretty Scary Silver Fairy, was released on 2 October 2006, the album reached number eight in Norway and received positive reviews. Influenced by Björk, Daft Punk and The Knife, the album was a departure from her previous effort, the lead single, Samantha, reached number six on the Norwegian singles chart. Its lyrics discuss women who change themselves to please others, two more singles followed, Will You Remember Me Tomorrow. In 2008, Berger became the director of NRK P3. On 21 February 2011, Berger released the single In a Box on Universal Music and this single included the B-side 4-E. V. E. R. In June 2011, her label Sony BMG issued the 4-track EP compilation Four Hits, Margaret Berger, Berger represented Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song I Feed You My Love after winning the Norwegian national final on 9 February 2013. The song, written by Karin Park and MachoPsycho, reached number four on the Norwegian singles chart, on 18 May, Margaret Berger finished in 4th place with 191 points—Norways best result at the contest since their victory in 2009, and their sixth best result ever
For the most recent participation see
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