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, on 23 April 1983. The presenter was Marlene Charell. Corinne Hermes was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, "Si la vie est cadeau". This was Luxembourg's fifth victory in the contest which equalled the record set by France in 1977. 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.

Eurovision Song Contest 1983
Dates
Grand 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 Rundfunkanstalten Deutschland (ARD)
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
Opening actMarlene Charell introducing each act and calling all of them on stage together.
Interval actClassical music films medley performed by Marlene Charell.
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/munich-1983
Participants
Number of entries20
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countries Ireland
Participation map
  •      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"

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. 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 a very popular show in Australia, leading to the country's debut at the 60th anniversary contest in 2015. Ireland was not in the contest because RTÉ was in strike action at that time.[1]

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.

Voting

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

Language troubles

Due to 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.[2] In addition, Charell made 13 language mistakes throughout the voting,[2] 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...",[3] having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductor's name.

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").

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.

Conductors

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

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

Scoreboard
Results
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.ContestantVoting nation
6LuxembourgFrance, Greece, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Yugoslavia
5YugoslaviaBelgium, Denmark, Finland, Turkey, United Kingdom
2 GreeceCyprus, Spain
IsraelAustria, Netherlands
SwedenGermany, Norway
1 GermanyLuxembourg
NetherlandsSwitzerland
United KingdomSweden

Commentators

Participating countries

Non-participating countries

Participating countries

Some participating countries did not provide radio broadcasts for the event; the ones who did are listed below.

Non-participating countries

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.[22]

National jury members
  •  United Kingdom – Michael Wells, Nancy McLardie
  •  Spain – María del Carmen Campos (administrative assistant), Luis Fernando Reyes (economist), Paloma Pérez (stewardess), Bautista Serra (industrialist), María Rosario Cano (student), Marcial Pereira (student), Gloria Moro (housewife), Virginia Mataix (actress), Adelardo Cano (teacher), Antonio Hipólito Romero (taxi driver), Antonio Prieto (athlete)[28]

References
  1. "Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest". Best Irish Facts. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  2. Eurovision 1983 facts
  3. Boom-Bang-a-Bang: Eurovision's Funniest Moments, BBC-TV, hosted by Terry Wogan
  4. "Robert Weber". andtheconductoris.eu. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  5. "Eurovision Song Contest 1984". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  6. "Eurovision Song Contest 1983". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  7. Christian Masson. "1983 - Munich". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  8. "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? - Debattforum". Nrk.no. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  9. Eurovision Song Contest 1983 BBC Archives
  10. "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  11. "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.
  12. KleinReport.ch. "Ehemalige "SF-DRS-Stimme Englands" Theodor Haller gestorben - Klein Report - News, alles über Kommunikation und Medien". KleinReport.ch. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  13. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  14. "Η Μακώ Γεωργιάδου και η EUROVISION (1970-1986)". Retromaniax.gr. Archived from the original on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  15. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  16. Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
  17. "Forside". esconnet.dk. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  18. "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.
  19. Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  20. Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
  21. Roxburgh, Gordon (2017). Songs For Europe - The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest Volume Three: The 1980s. UK: Telos Publishing. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-84583-118-9.
  22. "Cast in credits order". Eurovision Song Contest 1983. IMDb. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  23. Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
  24. "Remedios Amaya actúa en séptimo lugar en el Festival de Eurovisión | Edición impresa | EL PAÍS". Elpais.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  25. Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
  26. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  27. "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 1999-09-13. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  28. "000webhost.com - free web hosting provider". Eurofestival.host22.com. Archived from the original on 2011-08-15. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
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