Eurovision Song Contest 1996

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following Secret Garden's win at the 1995 contest in Dublin, Ireland with the song "Nocturne".

Eurovision Song Contest 1996
Dates
Grand final18 May 1996
Host
VenueOslo Spektrum
Oslo, Norway
Presenter(s)Ingvild Bryn
Morten Harket
Musical directorFrode Thingnæs
Directed byPål Veiglum
Executive supervisorChristine Marchal-Ortiz
Executive producerOdd Arvid Strømstad
Host broadcasterNorsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
Opening act"Heaven's Not For Saints" performed by Morten Harket
Interval act"Beacon Burning", performed by Nils Gaup & Runar Borge feat. Aamil Paus
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/oslo-1996
Participants
Number of entries23
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countries
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul pointsNone
Winning song Ireland
"The Voice"

It was held on 18 May 1996 in Oslo Spektrum. The presenters were Morten Harket and Ingvild Bryn. Harket, lead singer of a-ha, opened the show with a performance of his single "Heaven's Not for Saints", which was a hit in Norway at the time. Twenty-three countries participated in the contest, with Eimear Quinn of Ireland crowned the winner after the final voting, with the song, "The Voice". The song was written by Brendan Graham, who also composed the 1994 winner "Rock 'n' Roll Kids". It was also a record seventh – and the most recent – win for Ireland.

A non-televised audio-only pre-qualification round was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final from twenty-nine, to a more manageable twenty-three.[1] Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia, and Romania all failed to qualify. Macedonia eventually went on to make their debut in 1998.[1] The 1996 contest remains the only Eurovision without a German entry at the Grand Final of the contest.

Location

Oslo Spektrum, Oslo – host venue of the 1996 contest.

Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. For the first time, the Norwegian capital hosted the contest. This was the second time the event was staged in Norway, after the 1986 contest in Bergen. Oslo Spektrum, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was chosen as the host venue. Opened in December 1990, it is primarily known for hosting major events such as the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert and concerts by artists of national and international fame

Format

The European Broadcasting Union continued to experiment in their efforts to find a broadly acceptable method of whittling down the large number of potential participating countries to a more realistic figure.[1] This year, they reverted to the pre-qualifying round that had been used for the 1993 contest, but this time with just one country exempt from the process – the host Norway. The audio-only pre-qualification round, which was never televised or broadcast on radio, was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final.[1] With exception to the hosts Norway, audio entries from twenty-nine countries were played to national juries, of which only twenty-two proceeded to the televised final in Oslo.[1] Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia, and Romania all failed to qualify. As a result, Macedonia's submission was never classified as a debut entry by the EBU, the nation eventually went on to make their official televised debut in 1998.[1]

It rapidly became evident that this system was no more sustainable than any other the EBU had tried, as it meant that several countries had gone through their traditional full-blown national selection procedure to come up with an entry, only to suffer the anti-climax of having their challenge quietly extinguished without even having had the opportunity of presenting the song to an international audience. As a leading financial contributor to the contest, Germany were particularly aggrieved that their entry, the techno song "Planet of Blue" performed by Leon, was one of the seven cast aside. It was the only year in the history of the ESC in which Germany did not participate in the final.[1]

The 1996 contest also featured two novelties which similarly failed to become a tradition firstly a short 'good luck message' for each entry, recorded by a political leader or official from their country. The seniority of the figure who delivered the message varied wildly from country to country, ranging from Presidents and Prime Ministers on one end of the spectrum to junior ministers or ambassadors on the other, but a few very significant European political figures did appear, including long-serving Swedish premier Göran Persson, President Alija Izetbegović of Bosnia and Herzegovina and future UN Secretary-General António Guterres, then Prime Minister of Portugal. But of course the only good luck wish that was fully rewarded in the end was that of Irish Taoiseach John Bruton, who introduced the song that took his country to a fourth win in five years.[1]

Secondly, the voting section was conducted using "blue screen" virtual reality technology provided by Silicon Graphics. The host Ingvild Bryn introduced the viewers to the 'blue room', upon which a 3D scoreboard, views of the green room, the jury spokespersons and country graphics appeared. 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 (exactly the blue room) down next to Ingvild: the Norwegian one, Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft.[1]

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra. This marked the final year in which every song featured the orchestra to some extent, although some more minimally than others (such as Austria or the United Kingdom).

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous Year(s)
Mariana Efstratiou  Greece 1987 (backing vocalist for Bang)
1989
Elisabeth Andreassen  Norway 1982 (for Sweden, part of Chips)
1985 (part of Bobbysocks!, winner)
1994 (in duet with Jan Werner Danielsen)

Pre-qualifying round

Countries listed below submitted entries for the audio-only pre-qualification round, which was never televised, and was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final. Despite a submitted entry from Macedonia, it was never classified as an official debut entry, although the nation would eventually make their official televised debut in 1998.[1][2][3] Additionally, at least two sources claim that Bulgaria's name appeared, crossed-out, on the pre-qualifier jury ballots, indicating that they may have intended to submit a potential debut entry as well before they were taken off the ballot for unknown reasons. (They would eventually make their debut in 2005).[4][5]

Draw Country Artist Song Language[6][7] Place[3] Points[3]
01  Austria George Nussbaumer "Weil's dr guat got" Vorarlbergish 6 80
02  Bosnia and Herzegovina Amila Glamočak "Za našu ljubav" Bosnian 21 29
03  Belgium Lisa del Bo "Liefde is een kaartspel" Dutch 12 45
04   Switzerland Kathy Leander "Mon cœur l'aime" French 8 67
05  Cyprus Constantinos "Mono gia mas" (Μόνο για μας) Greek 15 42
06  Germany Leon "Planet of Blue" German 24 24
07  Denmark Dorthe Andersen & Martin Loft "Kun med dig" Danish 25 22
08  Estonia Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna "Kaelakee hääl" Estonian 5 106
09  Spain Antonio Carbonell "¡Ay, qué deseo!" Spanish 14 43
10  Finland Jasmine "Niin kaunis on taivas" Finnish 22 26
11  France Dan Ar Braz & l'Héritage des Celtes "Diwanit Bugale" Breton 11 55
12  United Kingdom Gina G "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" English 3 153
13  Greece Marianna Efstratiou "Emis forame to himona anixiatika"
(Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα)
Greek 12 45
14  Croatia Maja Blagdan "Sveta ljubav" Croatian 19 30
15  Hungary Gjon Delhusa "Fortuna" Hungarian 23 26
16  Ireland Eimear Quinn "The Voice" English 2 198
17  Israel Galit Bell "Shalom Olam" (שלום עולם) Hebrew 28 12
18  Iceland Anna Mjöll "Sjúbídú" Icelandic 10 59
19  Macedonia Kaliopi "Samo ti" (Само ти) Macedonian 26 14
20  Malta Miriam Christine "In a Woman's Heart" English 4 138
21  Netherlands Maxine & Franklin Brown "De eerste keer" Dutch 9 63
22  Poland Kasia Kowalska "Chcę znać swój grzech..." Polish 15 42
23  Portugal Lúcia Moniz "O meu coração não tem cor" Portuguese 18 32
24  Romania Monica Anghel & Sincron "Rugă pentru pacea lumii" Romanian 29 11
25  Russia Andrey Kosinskiy "Ya eto ya" (Я это я) Russian 26 14
26  Sweden One More Time "Den vilda" Swedish 1 227
27  Slovenia Regina "Dan najlepših sanj" Slovene 19 30
28  Slovakia Marcel Palonder "Kým nás máš" Slovak 17 38
29  Turkey Şebnem Paker "Beşinci Mevsim" Turkish 7 69

Results

Draw Country Artist Song Language[6][7] Place[1] Points[1]
01  Turkey Şebnem Paker "Beşinci Mevsim" Turkish 12 57
02  United Kingdom Gina G "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" English 8 77
03  Spain Antonio Carbonell "¡Ay, qué deseo!" Spanish 20 17
04  Portugal Lúcia Moniz "O meu coração não tem cor" Portuguese 6 92
05  Cyprus Constantinos "Mono gia mas" (Μόνο για μας) Greek 9 72
06  Malta Miriam Christine "In a Woman's Heart" English 10 68
07  Croatia Maja Blagdan "Sveta ljubav" Croatian 4 98
08  Austria George Nussbaumer "Weil's dr guat got" Vorarlbergish 10 68
09   Switzerland Kathy Leander "Mon cœur l'aime" French 16 22
10  Greece Marianna Efstratiou "Emis forame to himona anixiatika"
(Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα)
Greek 14 36
11  Estonia Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna "Kaelakee hääl" Estonian 5 94
12  Norway Elisabeth Andreassen "I evighet" Norwegian 2 114
13  France Dan Ar Braz & l'Héritage des Celtes "Diwanit Bugale" Breton 19 18
14  Slovenia Regina "Dan najlepših sanj" Slovene 21 16
15  Netherlands Maxine & Franklin Brown "De eerste keer" Dutch 7 78
16  Belgium Lisa del Bo "Liefde is een kaartspel" Dutch 16 22
17  Ireland Eimear Quinn "The Voice" English 1 162
18  Finland Jasmine "Niin kaunis on taivas" Finnish 23 9
19  Iceland Anna Mjöll "Sjúbídú" Icelandic 13 51
20  Poland Kasia Kowalska "Chcę znać swój grzech..." Polish 15 31
21  Bosnia and Herzegovina Amila Glamočak "Za našu ljubav" Bosnian 22 13
22  Slovakia Marcel Palonder "Kým nás máš" Slovak 18 19
23  Sweden One More Time "Den vilda" Swedish 3 100

Voting structure

Each country had a jury that awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. One year later, televoting would be introduced in only some countries, such as Sweden and the United Kingdom. When Belén Fernández de Henestrosa, the Spanish spokesperson, announced the votes of the Spanish jury, she awarded two points to "Czechoslovakia" (while meaning 'Slovakia'). Furthermore, she awarded six points to "Holland" (the Netherlands), which host Ingvild Bryn misheard as "Poland." The official results table corrected this error, and the Netherlands' seventh-place result was restored at the expense of the United Kingdom, who ultimately finished eighth. Because originally Poland was awarded six points from Spain, Greece was placed 14th over Poland after the official results table corrected this error.[1] Norway's entry, "I evighet", is notable for being the only runner-up not to receive a single "12 points" score in a Eurovision final since the current voting method was introduced in 1975.

Score sheet

Pre-qualifying round

Juries[8][9]
Total score
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Belgium
Switzerland
Cyprus
Germany
Denmark
Estonia
Spain
Finland
France
United Kingdom
Greece
Croatia
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Iceland
Macedonia
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Sweden
Slovenia
Slovakia
Turkey
Contestants
Austria 80 6 1 6 1 2 5 2 12 6 3 10 12 5 2 7
Bosnia and Herzegovina 29 2 3 3 1 6 2 12
Belgium 45 8 4 7 4 6 2 4 6 2 2
Switzerland 67 3 3 3 7 5 7 8 5 6 3 7 4 6
Cyprus 42 4 2 12 5 5 4 4 6
Germany 24 5 5 10 3 1
Denmark 22 4 3 1 2 2 1 4 5
Estonia 106 5 5 4 8 8 8 1 6 5 1 10 10 5 5 3 12 7 3
Spain 43 2 4 4 8 8 1 4 8 4
Finland 26 6 8 5 7
France 55 6 8 3 5 6 10 6 4 4 3
United Kingdom 153 10 7 10 5 7 2 7 10 1 7 8 12 3 7 8 1 10 8 12 1 5 12
Greece 45 12 7 7 2 5 5 7
Croatia 30 1 7 2 1 3 1 1 8 6
Hungary 26 1 2 1 6 2 3 3 7 1
Ireland 198 12 12 8 7 8 3 10 2 10 8 12 10 2 10 12 6 6 10 3 7 10 10 10 10
Israel 12 3 4 5
Iceland 59 5 7 5 6 7 12 6 8 3
Macedonia 14 2 4 2 1 5
Malta 138 6 10 8 7 6 1 12 4 7 10 8 6 4 7 2 12 3 6 12 7
Netherlands 63 4 3 10 2 12 3 3 7 12 5 2
Poland 42 7 10 3 1 1 8 10 2
Portugal 32 4 6 6 5 1 4 3 2 1
Romania 11 4 1 6
Russia 14 5 4 5
Sweden 227 8 10 12 12 1 12 12 12 12 7 8 10 12 8 8 12 12 7 12 8 10 6 8 8
Slovenia 30 2 1 4 3 5 10 1 2 2
Slovakia 38 2 5 6 3 12 10
Turkey 69 8 10 10 6 4 4 4 4 7 8 1 3

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the pre-qualifying round.

N.ContestantVoting nation
10SwedenBelgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Macedonia, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland
4IrelandAustria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, United Kingdom
3 MaltaRomania, Slovakia, Spain
United KingdomIsrael, Sweden, Turkey
2 AustriaFrance, Malta
NetherlandsHungary, Portugal
1 Bosnia and HerzegovinaSlovenia
CyprusGreece
EstoniaRussia
GreeceCyprus
IcelandNorway
SlovakiaCroatia

Final

Juries[10]
Total score
Turkey
United Kingdom
Spain
Portugal
Cyprus
Malta
Croatia
Austria
Switzerland
Greece
Estonia
Norway
France
Slovenia
Netherlands
Belgium
Ireland
Finland
Iceland
Poland
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Slovakia
Sweden
Contestants
Turkey 5768101647555
United Kingdom 773121673428123466
Spain 172546
Portugal 9252121011051256631014
Cyprus 721273282512216102
Malta 681010128146125
Croatia 98845108711673546521051
Austria 684512271218863
Switzerland 223242443
Greece 367101231183
Estonia 94104758183212121012
Norway 114282358757101087784310
France 18113472
Slovenia 161618
Netherlands 7816751234105152728
Belgium 22512212
Ireland 1621286471210121061212310121277
Finland 927
Iceland 5136638561031
Poland 31744772
Bosnia and Herzegovina 136331
Slovakia 192845
Sweden 100410810637810128644

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:[10]

N.ContestantVoting nation
7IrelandBosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey
3EstoniaFinland, Iceland, Sweden
2 AustriaFrance, Malta
CyprusGreece, United Kingdom
MaltaCroatia, Slovakia
PortugalCyprus, Norway
United KingdomBelgium, Portugal
1 BelgiumSpain
NetherlandsAustria
SwedenIreland

Qualification for the 1997 contest

In addition to the host country of the 1997 contest, Ireland, the 23 countries with the highest average scores between 1993 and 1996 were allowed to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.

Key:
  Automatic qualifier
  Qualifier
  Replacement qualifier
  Withdrew

Rank Country Average Score
1993 1994 1995 1996
 Ireland 154.7518722644162
1  Norway 114.5012076148114
2  United Kingdom 95.00164637677
3  Sweden 84.258948100100
4  Malta 77.5069977668
5  France 76.75121749418
6  Poland 70.671661531
7  Hungary 62.501223NQ
8  Croatia 61.7531279198
9   Switzerland 61.671481522
10  Netherlands 58.0092478
11  Portugal 57.506073592
12  Cyprus 54.7517517972
13  Greece 53.0064446836
14  Spain 52.75581711917
15  Denmark 50.50992NQ
16  Germany 49.00181281NQ
17  Estonia 48.00294
18  Austria 46.5032196768
19  Russia 43.507017NQ
20  Iceland 43.2542493151
21  Israel[lower-alpha 1] 42.50481NQ
22  Slovenia 36.3398416
23  Turkey 29.33102157
24  Bosnia and Herzegovina[lower-alpha 1] 23.2527391413
25  Slovakia 17.001519
26  Romania 14.0014NQ
27  Finland 13.3320119
28  Belgium 11.003822
29  Macedonia 0.00NQ

Good luck wishes

In 1996 all contestants were wished good luck by a politician from their own country in their own language. Those wishes were shown right before their performance. This was the only year in Eurovision with such wishes. These are the people who wished their country's participant good luck (language in parentheses):

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

The spokespersons announced the score from their respective country's national jury in running order.

  1.  TurkeyÖmer Önder
  2.  United KingdomColin Berry
  3.  Spain – Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
  4.  Portugal – Cristina Rocha
  5.  Cyprus – Marios Skordis[11]
  6.  Malta – Ruth Amaira
  7.  Croatia – Daniela Trbović[12]
  8.  Austria – Martina Rupp
  9.   Switzerland – Yves Ménestrier[13]
  10.  Greece – Niki Venega[14]
  11.  Estonia – Annika Talvik
  12.  NorwayRagnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft
  13.  FranceLaurent Broomhead[13]
  14.  Slovenia – Mario Galunič
  15.  NetherlandsMarcha (Dutch representative in 1987)
  16.  Belgium – An Ploegaerts[13][15]
  17.  IrelandEileen Dunne
  18.  Finland – Solveig Herlin[16]
  19.  Iceland – Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir
  20.  Poland – Jan Chojnacki
  21.  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Segmedina Srna
  22.  Slovakia – Alena Heribanová
  23.  Sweden – Ulla Rundqvist

Participating countries

Most countries sent commentators to Oslo or commented from their own country, in order to provide coverage of the contest, such as add insight to the participants.

Non-participating countries

National jury members

Notes and references

Notes

  1. After Israel withdrew from the 1997 contest, their place was awarded to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

References

  1. "Eurovision Song Contest 1996". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 18 May 1996. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  2. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2010). The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. United Kingdom: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1.
  3. "Eurovision 1996 pre-qualification results". esc-history.com. ESC History. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  4. Tukker, Bas. "Bulgaria: "?"". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  5. "A look back at the 1996 preselection (Part 3)". www.escnation.com. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  6. "Eurovision Song Contest 1996 Languages". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  7. "Eurovision Song Contest 1996". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  8. http://www.escnation.com/news/?id=1248
  9. http://escnation.com/news/resources/1996table.html
  10. "Eurovision Song Contest 1996: Scoreboard". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 18 May 1996. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  11. Savvidis, Christos. "OGAE Cyprus". OGAE Cyprus.
  12. "POVIJEST EUROSONGA: 1956 - 1999 (samo tekstovi)" (in Croatian). HRT. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  13. "Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1996" (in French). songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  14. "Η Δάφνη Μπόκοτα και η EUROVISION (1987-2004)" (in Greek). retromaniax. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  15. "ESC 1996 Belgian votes by An Ploegaerts". mathiasehv. YouTube. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  16. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien?" (in Finnish). viisukuppila. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  17. "Song Contest mit Stermann & Grissemann". wien ORF.at. 2012-05-01. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
  18. "Eurosong" (in Dutch). mediawatchers.be. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  19. "Television listings". Dagskrá (in Icelandic). 16 May 1996. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  20. "Nederlandse televisiecommentatoren bij het Eurovisie Songfestival" (in Dutch). eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  21. "Alt du trenger å vite om MGP" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  22. "NRK P1 1996.05.18 : programrapport". urn.nb.no. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  23. "Konkurs Piosenki Eurowizji" (in Polish). Eurowizja.com.pl. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  24. "Uribarri commentator Eurovision 2010" (in Spanish). Foro EuroSong Contest. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  25. "41. Eurovision song contest 1996" (in German). ECGermany OGAE club. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  26. "Thomas Mohr: Mit Dschinghis Khan im Garten". Eurovision.de. 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  27. "Nostalgični RTV press clipping". rtvforum.net. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  28. http://www.viisukuppila.fi/phpBB3/viisuhistoria/topic745.html#p25224
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