Eurovision Song Contest 1990

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia on 5 May 1990. The presenters were Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar.[1]

Eurovision Song Contest 1990
Dates
Grand final5 May 1990
Host
VenueVatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall
Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Presenter(s)Helga Vlahović Brnobić
Oliver Mlakar
Musical directorNenad Puhovski
Executive supervisorFrank Naef
Executive producerGoran Radman
Host broadcasterYugoslav Radio Television (JRT) / Radiotelevision Zagreb (RTZ)
Opening actA short film "Zagreb: City of Music"
Interval actYugoslav Changes – a film about tourism in the country.
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/zagreb-1990
Participants
Number of entries22
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countriesNone
Non-returning countriesNone
Participation map
  •      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1990
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul pointsNone
Winning song Italy
"Insieme: 1992"

It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in the Balkans, in a socialist state, in a Slavic language-speaking country and in Non-Aligned Movement member.

Toto Cutugno was the winner of this contest with his own composition "Insieme: 1992". This was the second victory for Italy, the first one having been "Non ho l'età", performed by Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964. Cutugno was aged 46 years and 302 days at the time of his victory, making him the oldest winner of the contest to date, the first to be aged in their forties since 1958. He held the record until 2001.[2]

The lyrics of several entries celebrated the revolution and democratisation that had occurred in central and eastern Europe in the preceding months, focusing especially on the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, such as in the Norwegian and Austrian entries. However, the winning song was an even more sweeping evocation of European unity, in anticipation of the completion of the European single market, due at the end of 1992.

As of 2019, the 1990 contest was the last time that the five countries that would later be known as the Big Five, Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany, all placed in the top 10 (Italy won, France tied for second, Spain came fifth, the UK came sixth and Germany came ninth).

Malta had wished to return to the contest for the first time in 15 years, but Eurovision rules prevented them from returning due to a maximum of 22 entries allowed to compete, a rule which has since been removed. A national final was held in Malta, which was won by Maryrose Mallia with "Our Little World of Yesterday".[3]

There was a slightly uncomfortable beginning to the rehearsal week when, offended by press comments concerning their ages (Brnobić being 45 at the time and Mlakar being 54), the two presenters quit the show. They were briefly replaced by Rene Medvešek and Dubravka Marković, who were much younger, but the misunderstandings were eventually allayed and Brnobić and Mlakar returned to the contest.

Location
Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, Zagreb – host venue of the 1990 contest.

Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, was the second largest city in Yugoslavia. Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall was chosen to host the contest. The concert hall and convention center is named after Vatroslav Lisinski, a 19th-century Croatian composer.[4] The building has a big hall with 1,841 seats and a small hall with 305 seats.[4]

In order to host the 1990 contest, the venue underwent its first major renovation in 1989.[5] In 1992, the hall's copper roof cover was completely replaced.[5] Further reconstruction and redecoration work was done in 1999 and 2009.[6][7]

Format

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the first to implement an age rule. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) were forced to bring in a restriction 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, when a noticeably long delay caused by problems with the backing track was followed by the Spanish singers Azúcar Moreno missing their cue. 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.

To add more confusion, the backing track for tv audio did start correctly on the first attempt. So the tv spectators heard the orchestra playing but saw the conductor (and orchestra) just standing by. In addition, this incident revealed to the spectators that the large orchestra was just for playback.

From a musicological perspective both Spain's "Bandido" and France's "White and Black Blues" can be said to be the first entries to signal a new trend at Eurovision, with both songs fusing contemporary dance music with ethnic influences, from flamenco and calypso respectively.

The 1990 contest was the first to feature an official mascot, Eurocat, created by Joško Marušić. This mischievous purple cat popped up during the 'postcards' of each of the 22 entries, which also included travelogues of the country about to perform, in conjunction with the European Year of Tourism 1990.

Conductors

Results
Draw Country Artist Song Language[8][9] Place Points
01  Spain Azúcar Moreno "Bandido" Spanish 5 96
02  Greece Christos Callow & Wave "Horis skopo" (Χωρίς σκοπό) Greek 19 11
03  Belgium Philippe Lafontaine "Macédomienne" French 12 46
04  Turkey Kayahan "Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim" Turkish 17 21
05  Netherlands Maywood "Ik wil alles met je delen" Dutch 15 25
06  Luxembourg Céline Carzo "Quand je te rêve" French 13 38
07  United Kingdom Emma "Give a Little Love Back to the World" English 6 87
08  Iceland Stjórnin "Eitt lag enn" Icelandic 4 124
09  Norway Ketil Stokkan "Brandenburger Tor" Norwegian 21 8
10  Israel Rita "Shara Barkhovot" (שרה ברחובות) Hebrew 18 16
11  Denmark Lonnie Devantier "Hallo Hallo" Danish 8 64
12   Switzerland Egon Egemann "Musik klingt in die Welt hinaus" German 11 51
13  Germany Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac "Frei zu leben" German 9 60
14  France Joëlle Ursull "White and Black Blues" French 2 132
15  Yugoslavia Tajči "Hajde da ludujemo" (Хајде да лудујемо) Serbo-Croatian 7 81
16  Portugal Nucha "Há sempre alguém" Portuguese 20 9
17  Ireland Liam Reilly "Somewhere in Europe" English 2 132
18  Sweden Edin-Ådahl "Som en vind" Swedish 16 24
19  Italy Toto Cutugno "Insieme: 1992" Italian 1 149
20  Austria Simone "Keine Mauern mehr" German[lower-alpha 1] 10 58
21  Cyprus Haris Anastasiou "Milas poli" (Μιλάς πολύ) Greek 14 36
22  Finland Beat "Fri?" Swedish 21 8

Score sheet
Results
Total score
Spain
Greece
Belgium
Turkey
Netherlands
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
Iceland
Norway
Israel
Denmark
Switzerland
Germany
France
Yugoslavia
Portugal
Ireland
Sweden
Italy
Austria
Cyprus
Finland
Contestants
 Spain 968110214561253588810
Greece 1156
Belgium 467414882174
Turkey 2132457
Netherlands 251314236122
Luxembourg 384331223155
United Kingdom 877512310310110106613
Iceland 12443101812108107412783107
Norway 8413
Israel 1642415
Denmark 646327771743764
Switzerland 51112621215813
Germany 60861271410453
France 132544121212651210124852712
Yugoslavia 81312510312725110101
Portugal 972
Ireland 1321077510610888577612124
Sweden 24226662
Italy 14912108881031686461012107128
Austria 582715863822122
Cyprus 3665252646
Finland 853

12 points

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

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

Returning artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Ketil Stokkan  Norway 1986
Pepel In Kri (Toto Cutugno's backing vocalists)  Italy 1975 (for  Yugoslavia)

Commentators and spokespersons

In addition to the participating countries, host Helga Brnobić mentioned several countries as among the non-participants broadcasting the contest (Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Romania, South Korea and the Soviet Union were mentioned by Brnobić); however, no information is known about which broadcasters showed the contest and who, if anyone, provided commentary for each.

Spokespersons
Participating countries

Radio

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

National jury members
  •  Spain – Amparo Mendiguren (housewife), Pedro Calleja (clinical assistant), Paloma Gómez (actress), José Ramón Gamo (student), Teresa del Río (actress), Emilio de Villota (racing driver), Fiorella Faltoyano (actress), Julián Lago (journalist at Tribuna), Raquel Revuelta (fashion model and Miss Spain 1990), Juan Carlos Arteche (footballer and businessman), Conchita de los Santos (journalist), Alfredo Roldán (senior civil servant), Margarita Girón (public relations), José Sanjuán (PhD in Chemistry), María José Olmedilla (lawyer), Javier Morera (lawyer)[34]
  •  Greece – Αlexandros J. Roussos, Athanasia Tsoulfa, Stylianos Pesmatzoglou, Amalia (Litsa) Pappa, Nikolaos Desypris, Mariliz Ritsardi
  •  Turkey – Murat Türkoğlu, Selda Güneş, Mithat Kaya, Özlem Şen, Sıla Yavuz, Nazif Eke, Hülya Okçay, Kadir Gökdemir, Aydan Özbey, Özlem Çelik, Ziya Fırat Doğançay, Meltem Altınörs, Nihal Müftüoğlu, Zeki Tatlıgil, Ahmet Hüseyin Uluçay, Mustafa Sarıkoç[35]
  •  Netherlands – Remco van den Berg
  •  United Kingdom – Laura Gudim, Roland Gonzalez-Attwell, Mick Elliott, Chris Whiteside
  •  Iceland – Reynir Þór Eggertsson, Helga Sesselja Guðmundsdóttir
  •  Portugal – Manuel Pinheiro

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Contains some phrases in English, French and Serbo-Croatian.

References
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  2. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official Celebration. Carlton Books, 2015. ISBN 978-1-78097-638-9. Pages 32-33
  3. "No, No, Never!!! - Songs That Did Not Make It To Eurovision". eurovisionsongs.net. Archived from the original on 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  4. "Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Celebrates 35 Years". Zagreb Tourist Board. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  5. "Concert Hall 'Vatroslav Lisinski' Zagreb". Investinženjering. Archived from the original on 2007-10-29. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  6. "Concert and Congress Hall Vatroslav Lisinski". Zagreb Convention Bureau. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  7. "Lisinski AZtheBest otvara se 16. listopada". Radio101.hr (in Croatian). Radio 101. October 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  8. "Eurovision Song Contest 1990". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  9. "Eurovision Song Contest 1990". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  10. "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.
  11. "Εκφωνητές της ΕΡΤ για τις ψήφους της Ελλάδας στην EUROVISION - Page 3". Retromaniax.gr. Archived from the original on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  12. "Η Δάφνη Μπόκοτα και η EUROVISION (1987-2004)". Retromaniax.gr. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  13. Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
  14. "Victoire De La "Canzonetta": C'Est L'Histoire Du P'Tit Tot". Archives.lesoir.be. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  15. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  16. Christian Masson. "1990 - Zagreb". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  17. Eurovision Song Contest 1990 BBC Archives
  18. "Dagblaðið Vísir - DV, 03.05.1990". Timarit.is. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  19. Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
  20. "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? - Debattforum". Nrk.no. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  21. "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 1999-09-13. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  22. "Forside". esconnet.dk. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  23. Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
  24. "Eurovision Song Contest 1990". Ecgermany.de. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  25. "Eurovizija 1990. Zagreb: Branko Uvodić zvani Car". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  26. "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.
  27. "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  28. "Toto Cutugno Insieme:1992 Eurofestival 1990". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  29. Mutavdzic, Sascha (OGAE Austria)
  30. Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
  31. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  32. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
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  34. "000webhost.com - free web hosting provider". Eurofestival.host22.com. Archived from the original on 2011-08-15. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  35. http://www.cumhuriyetarsivi.com/katalog/192/sayfa/1990/5/2/4.xhtml
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