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, Israel, 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 into not participating in Israel.[1]

Eurovision Song Contest 1979
Dates
Final	31 March 1979
Host
Venue	Ussishkin Auditorium at the International Convention Center Jerusalem, Israel
Presenter(s)	Daniel Pe'er Yardena Arazi
Conductor	Izhak Graziani
Directed by	Yossi Zemach
Executive supervisor	Frank Naef
Executive producer	Alex Gilady
Host broadcaster	Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
Interval act	Shalom '79 (Peace '79)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/jerusalem-1979
Participants
Number of entries	19
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	None
Non-returning countries	Turkey
Participation map      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1979
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points	None
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 Turkey, 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

For each nation's performance, the orchestra was conducted by the following:

•  Portugal – Thilo Krasmann
•  Italy – Entry performed without the orchestra
•  Denmark – Allan Botschinsky
•  Ireland – Proinnsías Ó Duinn
•  Finland – Ossi Runne
•  Monaco – Gérard Salesse
•  Greece – Lefteris Halkiadakis
•   Switzerland – Rolf Zuckowski
•  Germany – Norbert Daum
•  Israel – Kobi Oshrat
•  France – Guy Mattéoni
•  Belgium – Francis Bay
•  Luxembourg – Hervé Roy
•  Netherlands – Harry van Hoof
•  Sweden – Lars Samuelson
•  Norway – Sigurd Jansen
•  United Kingdom – Ken Jones
•  Austria – Richard Österreicher
•  Spain – José Luis Navarro

Had Turkey not withdrawn, their entry would have been conducted by Tuğrul Karataş.[5]

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[6]	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	64		6			2	5		4	4		10	5	3	3	3	6		7	6
	Italy	27	8				8											3			8
	Denmark	76				2		3	12	1	10	12	6	7	4	8	1		3	3	4
	Ireland	80	5	5	5		6		10	6	6	3		10	7		8	5	4
	Finland	38		7					7	8	5		5		6
	Monaco	12	1	2	4								3								2
	Greece	69	10		1	4		7		7	2	10	4	1	5	7	2			2	7
	Switzerland	60			7	1	10	2	2		7	4	7					8		12
	Germany	86	2	1	12	5	3	12				6	12	4	1	2	6		8		12
	Israel	125	12		6	12	12	8	4	5			1	2	8	1	12	12	12	8	10
	France	106	6	10			1	10	8	10		5		6	12	12	5	7	6	5	3
	Belgium	5			2						1								2
	Luxembourg	44	7			3	4	4	5	3			2			4		2	10
	Netherlands	51			8	10	5		3		3	7		3			4	4		4
	Sweden	8				6			1			1
	Norway	57	3	3		8		6				2		8	2	6	10		7	1	1
	United Kingdom	73	4	8	10	7	7	1		2	8					5		10		6	5
	Austria	5		4															1
Spain	116		12	3				6	12	12	8	8	12	10	10	7	1	5	10
The table is ordered by appearance

12 points

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

N.	Contestant	Voting nation
6	Israel	Finland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom
4	Germany	Denmark, France, Monaco, Spain
	Spain	Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland
2	Denmark	Greece, Israel
	France	Luxembourg, Netherlands
1	Switzerland	Austria

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

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

Commentators

Participating countries

•  Portugal – Fialho Gouveia (RTP1)[15]
•  Italy – Rosanna Vaudetti (Rete 1)
•  Denmark – Jørgen de Mylius (DR TV);[16] Kjeld Koplev (DR P3)
•  Ireland – Mike Murphy (RTÉ1); Liam Devally (RTÉ Radio 1)
•  Finland – Anja-Maija Leppänen (YLE TV1),[17] Matti Paalosmaa and Jaakko Salonoja (YLE Rinnakkaisohjelma)
•  Monaco – José Sacré (Télé Monte Carlo)
•  Greece – Mako Georgiadou (ERT);,[18] Dimitris Konstantaras (Proto Programma)
•   Switzerland – German: Max Rüeger (TV DRS),[19] French: Georges Hardy (TSR), Italian: Giovanni Bertini (TSI)
•  Germany – Ado Schlier and Gabi Schnelle (ARD Deutsches Fernsehen);[10] Wolf Mittler (Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2)
•  Israel – Yoram Arbel (Israeli Television);[20] Yitzhak Shim'oni (Reshet Gimel)
•  France – Marc Menant (TF1)[21]
•  Belgium – Dutch: Luc Appermont (BRT TV1),[22] French: Paule Herreman (RTBF1);[21] Dutch: Nand Baert and Herwig Haes (BRT Radio 1), French: Marc Danval (RTBF La Première)
•  Luxembourg – Jacques Navadic (RTL Télé Luxembourg);[21] André Torrent (RTL Radio)
•  Netherlands – Willem Duys (Nederland 2)[23]
•  Sweden – Ulf Elfving (SR TV1);[13] Kent Finell (SR P3)[13]
•  Norway – Egil Teige (NRK);[24] Erik Heyerdahl (NRK P1)
•  United Kingdom – John Dunn (BBC1);[25] Ray Moore (BBC Radio 2)
•  Austria – Max Schautzer (FS1);[26] Walter Richard Langer (Hitradio Ö3)
•  Spain – Miguel de los Santos (TVE1)[27]

Non-participating countries

•  Hong Kong – TBC (RTHK)[28]
•  Iceland – Unknown (RÚV)
• Romania – Unknown (Programul 2)
•  Turkey – Bülend Özveren and Başak Doğru (TRT)
•  Yugoslavia – Oliver Mlakar (JRT)

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. http://eurovisionartists.nl/index.htm?content/esf540.asp?ID=13
6. "Eurovision Song Contest 1979". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
7. "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.
8. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
9. Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
10. "Eurovision Song Contest 1979". Ecgermany.de. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
11. "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 1999-09-13. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
12. "Hallelujah: het goede liedje op de goede plaats op de goede tijd, Leidse Courant, 2 April 1979
13. "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
14. Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
15. "Aleluia, venceu o balão de Israel", Diário de Lisboa, 2 April 1979
16. "Forside". esconnet.dk. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
17. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
18. "Η Μακώ Γεωργιάδου και η EUROVISION (1970–1986)". Retromaniax.gr. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
19. Grandprix-Skandal in Jerusalem?, Thuner Tagblatt, 31 March 1979
20. From the Hebrew closing credits of the original Israeli broadcast.
21. Christian Masson. "1979 – Jerusalem". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
22. Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
23. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
24. "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? – Debattforum". Nrk.no. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
25. "Grand Final: 1979, 1979, Eurovision Song Contest". BBC.
26. "Unterhaltungssendungen im Fernsehen Max Schautzer – Die offizielle Homepage". Max-schautzer.de. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
27. "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.
28. "EBU Annual Report 2013-2014". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved June 8, 2019.

External links

• Official website