Eurovision Song Contest 1994
The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 30 April 1994 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. As of 2019, it was the last time the contest was held in April. The presenters were Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Gerry Ryan. The pair hosted the evening in French, English and Irish. Ireland won the contest for the third time in a row, when Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan were the winners with a song written by Brendan Graham, "Rock 'n' Roll Kids". This was a record sixth victory for Ireland, giving it the outright record number of victories at the Eurovision Song Contest, and also the second time Ireland won on home soil. It was also the first time — and to date the only time — that the contest had been won by the same country in three consecutive years.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1994 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dates | |
| Final | 30 April 1994 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland |
| Presenter(s) | Cynthia Ní Mhurchú Gerry Ryan |
| Conductor | Noel Kelehan |
| Directed by | Patrick Cowap |
| Executive supervisor | Christian Clausen |
| Executive producer | Moya Doherty |
| Host broadcaster | Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) |
| Opening act | Performance by Macnas, dancing caricatures of internationally famous Irish artists accompanied by flag bearers |
| Interval act | Riverdance performed by Irish dancing champions Jean Butler, Michael Flatley and the vocal ensemble Anúna, with score composed by Bill Whelan |
| Website | eurovision |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 25 |
| Debuting countries |   .svg.png){kind=small}     |
| Returning countries | None |
| Non-returning countries | .svg.png){kind=small}       |
Participation map
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Nul points | |
| Winning song |  "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" |
For the first time in Eurovision history, voting was done via satellite instead of by telephone, and as a result, viewers could see the spokespeople onscreen.[1]
The interval act was the first-ever performance of the Irish dancing spectacular Riverdance, featuring Michael Flatley and Jean Butler.
Location
Ireland hosted the contest for the fifth time after winning the 1993 contest in Millstreet. Dublin was chosen to be the host city, making it the fourth time that the Eurovision Song Contest was staged in the Irish capital. For the first time, the venue for the contest was the Point Theatre located on the North Wall Quay of the River Liffey, amongst the Dublin Docklands.
Contest overview
The contest opened with a brief film of stars floating in water, fireworks and caricatures dancing around, drinking coffee and biking. The cameras then went live to the venue itself, where dancers dressed in white and wearing caricatured heads of well-known Irish figures, arrived on stage carrying European countries’ flags. The presenters entered the stage spectacularly from a bridge which descended from the roof of the theatre. This year's video postcards had a literary theme, showing contestants reading, fishing and doing other activities around Ireland. The stage, by Paula Farrell, was four times larger than the Millstreet stage, and its design which included a city scene of skyscrapers and video screens plus a backdrop of an ever-changing night sky was based upon the concept of what a futuristic Dublin might look like with one remaining constant being the river Liffey. The floor was painted with dark blue reflective paint to give a watery effect.
To cope with the increasing number of countries wishing to participate in the contest, for 1994 the European Broadcasting Union ruled that the seven lowest-placed countries from the preceding year's contest would not participate. Because Italy and Luxembourg did not enter, the bottom 5 of the 1993 contest were relegated. This meant that Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Slovenia and Turkey did not participate this year opening spaces for the new countries.[2]
Poland took part for the first time and caused a scandal when Edyta Górniak broke the rules by singing her song in English during the dress rehearsal (which is shown to the juries who selected the winner until 1997). Only six countries demanded that Poland should be disqualified, though the rules required 13 countries to complain before Poland could be removed from the competition. The proposed removal did not occur and Poland went on to come 2nd in the contest, the highest placing that any country's debut song had ever achieved until 2007 (the winner in 1956 was Switzerland's second song of the night).[3][4]
When the voting started, Hungary took the lead from the first six juries and were well ahead of all the other countries. However, Ireland powered their way through the score board ending up the winners with a 60-point lead over second-placed Poland.
Participating countries
Returning artists
| Artist | Country | Previous Year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Evridiki | .svg.png){kind=small} |
1987 (Backing Singer for Alexia), 1992 |
| Sigga |  |
1990 (part of Stjórnin), 1992 (part of Heart 2 Heart) |
| Elisabeth Andreassen |  |
1982 (for Sweden, part of Chips) 1985 (part of Bobbysocks!, winner) |
| Marie Bergman |  |
1971 & 1972 (part of Family Four) |
| Rhonda Heath |  |
1977 (Backing for Mekado) |
Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who conducted the orchestra. Eurovision veteran, Ireland's Noel Kelehan (who was the musical director) conducted the songs from three countries, but did not conduct the song from his home country.[upper-alpha 1]
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Results
Countries in bold were allowed to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995.
Notes
- 1. ^ Contains some words in English.
Voting structure
Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs.
With advances in technology, this was the first contest in which the spokesperson for each national jury appeared on-screen, live from their own countries.
In the early stages of the voting it looked as if Hungary was surging to victory in its first-ever Eurovision appearance, winning the maximum twelve points from the first three juries. However, this turned out to be completely deceptive, as from that point on it was virtually one-way traffic for Ireland, which became the first country to win the contest for a third year in succession.
Score sheet
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 48 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Finland | 11 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ireland | 226 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 8 | |||
| Cyprus | 51 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Iceland | 49 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 63 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Croatia | 27 | 10 | 12 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portugal | 73 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Estonia | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Romania | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Malta | 97 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Netherlands | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Germany | 128 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 7 | ||||||
| Slovakia | 15 | 12 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lithuania | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norway | 76 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 8 | |||||||||
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 39 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Greece | 44 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 19 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spain | 17 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hungary | 122 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 7 | ||||||||
| Russia | 70 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 1 | |||||||||
| Poland | 166 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 12 | |||||
| France | 74 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 6 | |||||||||||||
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:
| N. | Contestant | Voting nation |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Ireland | Croatia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland |
| 5 | Poland | Austria, Estonia, France, Lithuania, United Kingdom |
| 4 | Hungary | Ireland, Finland, Poland, Sweden |
| 2 | Germany | Hungary, Romania |
| 1 | Croatia | Slovakia |
| Cyprus | Greece | |
| Greece | Cyprus | |
| Malta | Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Portugal | Spain | |
| Slovakia | Malta |
International broadcasting
Other involved countries
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- After the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had participated in the 1992 contest. While the country did not participate, the third channel of Radio Television of Serbia broadcast the show.
Commentators
Television
Participating countries
Non-participating countries
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Radio
Participating countries
The participating countries that provided radio broadcasts for the event are listed below.
Non-participating countries
Spokespersons
National jury members
Notes
- Both Irish commentator Pat Kenny[5] and British commentator Terry Wogan credit Kelehan as the conductor of the Irish entry, only Kenny specifies he only leads a minimal arrangement of drums and bass. Nevertheless, he didn't take the traditional conductor's bow, and virtually no drum or bass accompaniment can be heard during the performance.
References
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- "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
- Itä-Eurooppa rynnii Euroviisuihin, Helsingin Sanomat, 30 April 1994
- Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
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- "Nostalgični RTV press clipping". rtvforum.net. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
- "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
- "Pogledajte temu - SPOKESPERSONS". forum.hrt.hr. Archived from the original on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
- Archived August 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- "Pirmojoje nacionalinėje „Eurovizijos" atrankoje dalyvavo ir šiandien pažįstami veidai". lrt.lt. May 18, 2019.
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- "María Ángeles Balañac". Imdb.es. 2009-05-01. Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
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External links
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