Eurovision Song Contest 1983

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, following the country's victory at the 1982 contest with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" by Nicole. Despite their first victory the year before, this was the second time Germany had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1957. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the contest was held at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle on 23 April 1983 and was hosted by German dancer Marlene Charell.

Eurovision Song Contest 1983
Dates
Final23 April 1983
Host
VenueRudi-Sedlmayer-Halle
Munich, West Germany
Presenter(s)Marlene Charell
Musical directorDieter Reith
Directed byRainer Bertram
Executive supervisorFrank Naef
Executive producer
  • Christian Hayer
  • Günther Lebram
Host broadcasterArbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD)
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/munich-1983
Participants
Number of entries20
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countries Ireland
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of Europe
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1983
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points
Winning song Luxembourg
"Si la vie est cadeau"

Twenty countries took part this year, with France, Greece and Italy all returning this year, while Ireland decided not to participate.

The winner was Luxembourg with the song "Si la vie est cadeau" by Corinne Hermes, which equalled the record of 5 victories set by France in 1977. This record would in turn be beaten by Ireland in 1994. It was also the second year in a row where the winning entry was performed last on the night and the second year in a row in which Israel won 2nd place. For the third year in a row, at least one country ended up with nul points, and in this case, it happened to be two countries, Spain and Turkey, neither of whom were able to get off the mark.

The 1983 contest was the first to be televised in Australia, via Channel 0/28 (now SBS Television) in Sydney and Melbourne. The contest went on to become popular in Australia, leading to the country's eventual debut at the 60th anniversary contest in 2015.

Location
Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, Munich – host venue of the 1983 contest.

Munich is a German city and capital of the Bavarian state. As the capital, Munich houses the parliament and state government. Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle was chosen to host the contest. It was initially named after the president of the Bavarian State Sport Association. The 6,700-seat hall opened in 1972 to host basketball events for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Format

Stage design

The set that year was a quite small, arc-shaped stage surrounding the orchestra section, and a large background resembling giant electric heaters, which lit up in different sequences and combinations depending on the nature and rhythm of the songs.

Presentation format

Hostess Marlene Charell made all of her announcements in German before translating a repetition in both French and English. After presenting all of the 20 participating acts at the start of the show and then making a formal welcome, Charell also introduced each song individually, standing in front of elaborate floral arrangements, all of which she had designed herself, in place of a pre-filmed 'postcard'. In all three languages, Charel named the country, song title, performing artist, author, composer and conductor. Together with an on screen title card naming the upcoming country prior to her verbal introductions, this extended the break in between each song to three minutes minimally.

Due to host Marlene Charell's choice to announce points in three languages instead of two, the voting went on for nearly an hour, stretching the Eurovision contest past three hours for the second time ever, after 1979.[1] In addition, Charell made 13 language mistakes throughout the voting,[1] some as innocuous as mixing up the words for "points" between the three languages, some as major as nearly awarding points to "Schweden" (Sweden) that were meant for "Schweiz" (Switzerland).

The language problems also occurred during the contest introductions, as Charell introduced the Finnish singer Ami Aspelund as "Ami Aspesund", furthermore she introduced the Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as "...Johannes...Skorgan...",[2] having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductor's name.

Interval act

The interval show was a dance number set to a medley of German songs which had become internationally famous, including "Strangers in the Night". The host, Marlene Charell, was the lead dancer.

Song success

Ofra Haza from Israel, who took the second place, had an enduring success with her song "Hi" (חי) which became a hit in Europe, launching her career. This year also marked the first performance of Sweden's Carola Häggkvist, who took the third place, went on to win the contest in 1991 and represented her country again in 2006 (coming fifth). Her song, "Främling", became very popular in Sweden and in various other European countries. In the Netherlands, the song reached the top five, coupled with a Dutch-language version ("Je ogen hebben geen geheimen") which was performed by Carola herself. The 4th placed "Džuli", also became a hit in Europe. Singer Daniel released an English-language version as "Julie".

Nul points

This year's nul points were shared by Spain and Turkey. Spain's Remedios Amaya presented a song which was a stark departure from pop tastes and conventional perception of melody and harmony as it was a flamenco one, a style traditionally tied with the international image of Spain. Additionally, she sang her song barefoot. Some olés were heard from the present audience when she ended her performance. Turkey's entry, Opera, performed by Çetin Alp & the Short Waves, could on the other hand be said to fit in well with the spirit of Eurovision of that time. Nevertheless, the overinterpretation of the theme of the song, as well as the fact that the lyrics of the song consisted for the most part of the often-repeated word "opera" and names of well-known operas and composers, and Çetin's breaking into operatic "lay lay la", prompted extensive derision of the song, including the usual sardonic words from BBC commentator Terry Wogan ("a nicely understated performance there").

Participating countries

Twenty countries took part in the contest, with France, Greece, and Italy returning to the competition. On the other hand, Ireland was absent this year for the first time because RTÉ workers were in strike action at the time.[3]

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra.[4][5]

Returning artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Guy Bonnet  France 1970
Sandra Reemer (backing singer)  Netherlands 1972 (along with Andres Holten), 1976, 1979 (as Xandra)
Jahn Teigen  Norway 1978, 1982
Anita Skorgan (backing singer) 1977, 1979, 1982
Izolda Barudžija (backing singer)  Yugoslavia 1982 (part of Aska)

Participants and results
R/O Country Artist Song Language[6][7] Points Place[8]
1  France Guy Bonnet "Vivre" French 56 8
2  Norway Jahn Teigen "Do Re Mi" Norwegian 53 9
3  United Kingdom Sweet Dreams "I'm Never Giving Up" English 79 6
4  Sweden Carola Häggkvist "Främling" Swedish 126 3
5  Italy Riccardo Fogli "Per Lucia" Italian 41 11
6  Turkey Çetin Alp "Opera" Turkish 0 19
7  Spain Remedios Amaya "¿Quién maneja mi barca?" Spanish 0 19
8  Switzerland Mariella Farré "Io così non ci sto" Italian 28 15
9  Finland Ami Aspelund "Fantasiaa" Finnish 41 11
10  Greece Christie Stasinopoulou "Mou les" (Μου λες) Greek 32 14
11  Netherlands Bernadette "Sing Me a Song" Dutch 66 7
12  Yugoslavia Daniel "Džuli" (Џули) Serbo-Croatian 125 4
13  Cyprus Stavros and Constantina "I agapi akoma zi" (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) Greek 26 16
14  Germany Hoffmann and Hoffmann "Rücksicht" German 94 5
15  Denmark Gry Johansen "Kloden drejer" Danish 16 17
16  Israel Ofra Haza "Hi" (חי) Hebrew 136 2
17  Portugal Armando Gama "Esta balada que te dou" Portuguese 33 13
18  Austria Westend "Hurricane" German 53 9
19  Belgium Pas de Deux "Rendez-vous" Dutch 13 18
20  Luxembourg Corinne Hermès "Si la vie est cadeau" French 142 1

Detailed voting results

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) to their top ten songs.

Detailed voting results[9][10]
Total score
France
Norway
United Kingdom
Sweden
Italy
Turkey
Spain
Switzerland
Finland
Greece
Netherlands
Yugoslavia
Cyprus
Germany
Denmark
Israel
Portugal
Austria
Belgium
Luxembourg
Contestants
 France 5631010672344133
Norway 5353681846372
United Kingdom 795512258556352106
Sweden 12661288725101031712108485
Italy 417243128167
Turkey 0
Spain 0
Switzerland 281717615
Finland 411263487721
Greece 32312512
Netherlands 6627164212355243424
Yugoslavia 1258121121012678612101128
Cyprus 264165154
Germany 94101078624110387612
Denmark 1627142
Israel 1368610536773121010710121010
Portugal 3341562627
Austria 533451044436253
Belgium 13481
Luxembourg 1421210128738121121082121258

12 points

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

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
6  Luxembourg France,  Greece,  Israel,  Italy,  Portugal,  Yugoslavia
5  Yugoslavia Belgium,  Denmark,  Finland,  Turkey,  United Kingdom
2  Greece Cyprus,  Spain
 Israel Austria,  Netherlands
 Sweden Germany,  Norway
1  Germany Luxembourg
 Netherlands Switzerland
 United Kingdom Sweden

Spokespersons

Each country announced their votes in the order of performance. The following is a list of spokespersons who announced the votes for their respective country.

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[14] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria ORF FS2 Ernst Grissemann [15][16][17]
 Belgium BRT TV1 Luc Appermont [18][19][20]
RTBF Télé 2 Jacques Mercier [19]
 Cyprus RIK RIK Fryni Papadopoulou [21][22]
 Denmark DR DR TV Jørgen de Mylius [23][24]
 Finland YLE TV1 Erkki Pohjanheimo [25][26]
Rinnakkaisohjelma Markus Similä
 France Antenne 2 Léon Zitrone [27][28]
 Germany ARD Deutsches Fernsehen Ado Schlier [16][29][30]
 Greece ERT ERT1 Mako Georgiadou [31][32][33]
 Israel IBA Israeli Television No commentary [34][35][36]
Reshet Bet Daniel Pe'er
 Italy RAI Rete Uno[lower-alpha 1] Paolo Frajese [37][38][39]
 Luxembourg CLT RTL Télévision Valérie Sarn [19][40]
 Netherlands NOS Nederland 1 Willem Duys [29][41]
 Norway NRK NRK Fjernsynet Ivar Dyrhaug [42][43]
NRK[lower-alpha 2] Erik Heyerdahl
 Portugal RTP RTP1 Eládio Clímaco [44][45][46][47]
Antena 1 Eládio Clímaco
 Spain TVE TVE 1 José-Miguel Ullán [48][49][50]
 Sweden SVT TV1 Ulf Elfving [11][26][43][51]
RR SR P3 Kent Finell [11][43]
 Switzerland SRG SSR TV DRS Theodor Haller [16][27][52][53]
TSR[lower-alpha 3] Georges Hardy
TSI[lower-alpha 3] Giovanni Bertini
 Turkey TRT TRT Televizyon Başak Doğru [54][55]
 United Kingdom BBC BBC1 Terry Wogan [5][56][57]
BFBS BFBS Radio Richard Nankivell [5]
 Yugoslavia JRT TV Beograd 1 Mladen Popović [58][59][60][61]
TV Ljubljana 1 Tomaž Terček
TV Zagreb 1 Oliver Mlakar
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Australia SBS Channel 0/28 Terry Wogan [5][62]
 Czechoslovakia ČST ČST2[lower-alpha 4] Unknown [63]
 Iceland RÚV Sjónvarpið Unknown [64]
 Ireland RTÉ RTÉ 1 Terry Wogan [5][65]
RTÉ Radio 1 Unknown [66]
 Poland TP TP1[lower-alpha 5] Unknown [67]

Notes
  1. Deferred broadcast at 22:00 CEST (20:00 UTC)[37]
  2. Deferred broadcast at 22:50 CEST (20:50 UTC)[43]
  3. Broadcast through a second audio programme on TV DRS[27]
  4. Delayed broadcast on 20 May 1983 at 22:00 CEST (20:00 UTC)[63]
  5. Delayed broadcast on 21 May 1983 at 20:15 CEST (18:15 UTC)[67]

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