Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964
Belgium was represented by Robert Cogoi, with the self-penned song '"Près de ma rivière", at the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 21 March in Copenhagen. For the first time since the inaugural contest of 1956, both singer and song were chosen internally by broadcaster RTB.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1964 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | .svg.png){kind=small} | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal | |||
| Selected entrant | Robert Cogoi | |||
| Selected song | "Près de ma rivière" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 10th=, 2 points | |||
| Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Cogoi performed 15th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding Spain. Only an audio recording of Cogoi's performance survives as it is believed that the video master of the 1964 contest was lost in a fire at the Danish TV archive in the 1970s, and no other broadcaster had recorded the entire programme. Cogoi's performance on the night was delayed due to the invasion of the stage after the Swiss performance by a protester (apparently under the mistaken apprehension that the Spanish song was next on stage) brandishing a "Boycott Franco and Salazar" banner.
Each national jury awarded 5-3-1 point(s) to their top three songs, and at the close of the voting "Près de ma rivière" had received 2 points (1 each from Monaco and Portugal), placing Belgium joint 10th (with the Netherlands) of the 16 competing entries. The Belgian jury awarded its 5 points to runaway contest winners Italy.[1]