Eurovision Song Contest 1979

The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 31 March 1979 in Jerusalem, following the country's win at the 1978 edition. The event was staged at the International Convention Center. The presenters were Daniel Pe'er and Yardena Arazi. Nineteen out of the twenty countries that participated in 1978 also participated, with the exception of Turkey, which withdrew after Arab countries pressured it into not participating in Israel.[1]

Eurovision Song Contest 1979
Dates
Grand final31 March 1979
Host
VenueUssishkin Auditorium at the
International Convention Center
Jerusalem
Presenter(s)
Musical directorIzhak Graziani
Directed byYossi Zemach
Executive supervisorFrank Naef
Executive producerAlex Gilady
Host broadcasterIsraeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
Interval actShalom '79 (Peace '79)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/jerusalem-1979
Participants
Number of entries19
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countriesNone
Non-returning countries Turkey
Participation map
  •      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1979
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul pointsNone
Winning song Israel
"Hallelujah"

The winner was Israel with the song "Hallelujah", performed by Milk and Honey. Yugoslavia, who missed the 1978 Contest, also didn't want to take part nor transmit the 1979 show for political reasons. As well as being broadcast live in the 19 competing countries, the contest was broadcast in Romania, Hong Kong and Iceland.

Location
International Convention Center, Jerusalem – host venue of the 1979 contest.

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. In the ancient cuneiform, Jerusalem was called "Urusalima", meaning "City of Peace", during the early Canaanite period (approximately 2400 BC).[2] It is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Format

The stage concept designed by Dov Ben David, inside the stage there is an moving symbol which based on Israeli Broadcast Authority logo. (which was built like a lamp with 3 concentric rings) using a small projected model.[3]

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

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

Participating countries

At one point before the contest Turkey was going to participate. The country would have appeared 11th on stage (between Israel and France), represented by Maria Rita Epik and 21. Peron with the song "Seviyorum" ("I'm Loving"). However Turkey was forced to retire from the contest under pressure from Arab states who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in a contest held in Israel.[4]

Returning artists

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

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who conducted the orchestra.[5][6]

Results

The following tables reflect the confirmed, verified scores, which were adjusted after the live broadcast. During the voting announcement, due to a misunderstanding by the presenter Yardena Arazi, Spain appeared to award 10 points to both Portugal and Israel and these scores were added to the scoreboard. After the programme, verification confirmed that Portugal should only have received six points, leaving the total Portuguese score reduced by four points to 64.

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

Scoreboard
Results
Total score
Portugal
Italy
Denmark
Ireland
Finland
Monaco
Greece
Switzerland
Germany
Israel
France
Belgium
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Sweden
Norway
United Kingdom
Austria
Spain
Contestants
 Portugal 6462544105333676
Italy 278838
Denmark 7623121101267481334
Ireland 80555610663107854
Finland 38778556
Monaco 1212432
Greece 691014772104157227
Switzerland 60711022747812
Germany 86211253126124126812
Israel 12512612128451281121212810
France 10661011081056121257653
Belgium 5212
Luxembourg 4473445324210
Netherlands 5181053373444
Sweden 8611
Norway 573386282610711
United Kingdom 7348107712851065
Austria 541
Spain 116123612128812101071510
The table is ordered by appearance

12 points

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

N.ContestantVoting nation
6IsraelFinland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom
4GermanyDenmark, France, Monaco, Spain
SpainBelgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland
2DenmarkGreece, Israel
FranceLuxembourg, Netherlands
1SwitzerlandAustria

Broadcasters, commentators and spokespersons

Spokespersons

Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1979 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.[9]

  1.  Portugal – João Abel Fonseca[10]
  2.  Italy – Paola Perissi
  3.  Denmark – Bent Henius
  4.  Ireland – David Heffernan
  5.  Finland – Kaarina Pönniö[11]
  6.  Monaco – Carole Chabrier
  7.  Greece – Niki Venega
  8.   Switzerland – Michel Stocker[12]
  9.  Germany – Lotti Ohnesorge[13]
  10.  Israel – Dan Kaner[14]
  11.  France – Denise Fabre
  12.  Belgium – An Ploegaerts
  13.  Luxembourg – Jacques Harvey
  14.  Netherlands – Ivo Niehe[15]
  15.  Sweden – Sven Lindahl[16]
  16.  Norway – Sverre Christophersen[17]
  17.  United Kingdom – Colin Berry[6]
  18.  Austria – Jenny Pippal
  19.  Spain – Manuel Almendros

Broadcasters and commentators

Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
Participating countries
 Austria FS1 Max Schautzer [9][18]
Hitradio Ö3 Walter Richard Langer
 Belgium RTBF1 French: Paule Herreman [9][19]
BRT1 Dutch: Luc Appermont [9][20]
RTB La Première French: Marc Danval
BRT Radio 1 Dutch: Nand Baert and Herwig Haes
 Denmark DR TV Jørgen de Mylius [9][21]
DR P3 Kjeld Koplev
 Finland YLE TV1 Anja-Maija Leppänen [9][22]
YLE Rinnakkaisohjelma Matti Paalosmaa and Jaakko Salonoja
 France TF1 Marc Menant [9][19][23]
 Germany Deutsches Fernsehen Ado Schlier and Gabi Schnelle [13]
Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2 Wolf Mittler
 Greece ERT Mako Georgiadou [24]
Proto Programma Dimitris Konstantaras
 Ireland RTÉ 1 Mike Murphy [9]
RTÉ Radio Liam Devally
 Israel Israeli Television Yoram Arbel [25]
Reshet Gimel Yitzhak Shim'oni
 Italy Rete 1 Rosanna Vaudetti [9]
 Luxembourg RTL Télé Luxembourg Jacques Navadic [9][19]
RTL André Torrent
 Monaco Télé Monte Carlo José Sacré
 Netherlands Nederland 2 Willem Duys [9][26]
 Norway NRK Egil Teige [9][27]
NRK P1 Erik Heyerdahl
 Portugal RTP1 Fialho Gouveia [9][28]
 Spain TVE1 Miguel de los Santos [9][29]
 Sweden SR TV1 Ulf Elfving [9][16]
SR P3 Kent Finell [16]
  Switzerland TV DRS German: Max Rüeger [30]
TSR French: Georges Hardy [9][23]
TSI Italian: Enzo Guidi [9]
 United Kingdom BBC1 John Dunn [6][9][31]
BBC Radio 2 Ray Moore [6]
Non-participating countries
 Hong Kong RTHK Unknown [6][32]
 Iceland Sjónvarpið Unknown [6]
 Romania Programul 2 Unknown [6]

References
  1. "Jerusalem 1979". Eurovision.tv.
  2. BC The Archaeology of the Bible Lands by Magnus Magnusson. BBC Publications London. 1977.
  3. "An interview with Dov Ben David on the preparations for the Eurovision in Jerusalem". Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  4. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  5. "And the conductor is..." Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  6. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 352–365. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
  7. "Eurovision Song Contest 1979". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  8. "Eurovision Song Contest 1979". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  9. "Eurovision 1979 - Cast and Crew". IMDb. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  10. "Comentadores Do ESC – escportugalforum.pt.vu | o forum eurovisivo português". 21595.activeboard.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  11. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  12. Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
  13. "Eurovision Song Contest 1979". Ecgermany.de. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  14. "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 1999-09-13. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  15. "Hallelujah: het goede liedje op de goede plaats op de goede tijd, Leidse Courant, 2 April 1979
  16. "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  17. Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
  18. "Unterhaltungssendungen im Fernsehen Max Schautzer – Die offizielle Homepage". Max-schautzer.de. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  19. Christian Masson. "1979 – Jerusalem". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  20. Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
  21. "Forside". esconnet.dk. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  22. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  23. "Au Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson". Radio TV - Je vois tout. Lausanne, Switzerland: Le Radio SA. 29 March 1979.
  24. "Η Μακώ Γεωργιάδου και η EUROVISION (1970–1986)". Retromaniax.gr. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  25. From the Hebrew closing credits of the original Israeli broadcast.
  26. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  27. "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? – Debattforum". Nrk.no. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  28. "Aleluia, venceu o balão de Israel", Diário de Lisboa, 2 April 1979
  29. "FORO FESTIVAL DE EUROVISIÓN • Ver Tema – Uribarri comentarista Eurovision 2010". Eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  30. Grandprix-Skandal in Jerusalem?, Thuner Tagblatt, 31 March 1979
  31. "Grand Final: 1979, 1979, Eurovision Song Contest". BBC.
  32. "EBU Annual Report 2013-2014". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
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