Eurovision Song Contest 1979

Eurovision Song Contest 1979
Dates
Final	31 March 1979
Host
Venue	International Convention Center Jerusalem, Israel
Presenter(s)	Daniel Pe'er Yardena Arazi
Musical director	Izhak Graziani
Directed by	Yossi Zemach
Executive supervisor	Frank Naef
Executive producer	Alex Gilady
Host broadcaster	Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/jerusalem-1979
Participants
Number of entries	19
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	None
Non-returning countries	Turkey
Participation map      Competing 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
Winning song	Israel "Hallelujah"
1978 ←  Eurovision Song Contest  → 1980

The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the 1978 contest with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the contest was held at the International Convention Centre on 31 March 1979 and was hosted by Israeli television presenter Daniel Pe'er and singer Yardena Arazi. This was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was held outside Europe.

Nineteen countries participated in the contest with Turkey deciding not to participate after Arab countries had pressured it into not participating in a contest held in Israel. ^[1] Yugoslavia, who had missed the 1977 and 1978 contest, also did not want to take part nor transmit the show this year for political reasons, despite a poll held earlier in which almost 100,000 people declared that they wanted Yugoslavia to return to the contest. ^[2]

For the second year in a row Israel won with the song "Hallelujah", performed by the Israeli group Milk and Honey featuring Gali Atari.

Location

International Convention Center, Jerusalem – host venue of the 1979 contest.

The contest took place at the International Convention Centre, also called Binyenei HaUma in Jerusalem, following Israel's win at the 1978 edition with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" performed by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta. The venue, the largest convention center in the Middle East, hosted the contest in the Ussishkin Auditorium which seats an audience of more than 3,000 and where it traditionally hosts other musical events including classical and pop stars concerts. ^[3]

The city's ancient, religious and modern scenery was reflected through a film which opened the broadcast. The city's history as one of the oldest and holiest in the world, was shown through the biblical and medieval monuments and sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as visitors and city's residents who frequent them while practicing their faiths. The city's governmental, cultural and educational institutions and monuments, as well as the streets and people outside the ancient wall, were shown at the opening and conclusion of the film.

Participating countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 –Participation summaries by country
Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Italy Luxembourg Monaco Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom

At one point before the contest Turkey had planned 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". However, Turkey later ended up withdrawing from the contest following pressure from Arab states, who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in a contest held in Israel. ^[4]

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Austria	ORF	Christina Simon	"Heute in Jerusalem"	German	André Heller Peter Wolf	Richard Oesterreicher
Belgium	BRT	Micha Marah	"Hey Nana"	Dutch	Guy Beyers Charles Dumolin	Francis Bay
Denmark	DR	Tommy Seebach	"Disco Tango"	Danish	Keld Heick Tommy Seebach	Allan Botschinsky
Finland	YLE	Katri Helena	" Katson sineen taivaan "	Finnish	Vexi Salmi Matti Siitonen	Ossi Runne
France	TF1	Anne-Marie David	" Je suis l'enfant soleil "	French	Hubert Giraud Eddy Marnay	Guy Mattéoni
Germany	BR [lower-alpha 1]	Dschinghis Khan	" Dschinghis Khan "	German	Bernd Meinunger Ralph Siegel	Norbert Daum
Greece	ERT	Elpida	"Socrates" (Σωκράτη)	Greek	Doros Georgiades Sotia Tsotou	Lefteris Halkiadakis
Ireland	RTÉ	Cathal Dunne	"Happy Man"	English	Cathal Dunne	Proinnsías Ó Duinn
Israel	IBA	Milk and Honey	"Hallelujah" (הללויה)	Hebrew	Shimrit Orr Kobi Oshrat	Kobi Oshrat
Italy	RAI	Matia Bazar	"Raggio di luna"	Italian	Piero Cassano Giancarlo Golzi Carlo Marrale Antonella Ruggiero Salvatore Stellita	No conductor
Luxembourg	CLT	Jeane Manson	"J'ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux"	French	Jean Renard	Hervé Roy
Monaco	TMC	Laurent Vaguener	"Notre vie c'est la musique"	French	Jean Albertini Didier Barbelivien Jean Baudlot Paul de Senneville	Gérard Salesses
Netherlands	NOS	Xandra	"Colorado"	Dutch	Rob Bolland Ferdi Bolland Gerard Cox	Harry van Hoof
Norway	NRK	Anita Skorgan	"Oliver"	Norwegian	Philip Kruse Anita Skorgan	Sigurd Jansen
Portugal	RTP	Manuela Bravo	"Sobe, sobe, balão sobe"	Portuguese	Carlos Nóbrega e Sousa	Thilo Krasmann
Spain	TVE	Betty Missiego	" Su canción "	Spanish	Fernando Moreno	José Luis Navarro
Sweden	SR	Ted Gärdestad	" Satellit "	Swedish	Kenneth Gärdestad Ted Gärdestad	Lars Samuelson
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Peter, Sue and Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri	"Trödler und Co."	German	Peter Reber	Rolf Zuckowski
United Kingdom	BBC	Black Lace	"Mary Ann"	English	Peter Morris	Ken Jones

Returning artists

Bold indicates a previous winner

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Peter, Sue and Marc	Switzerland	1971, 1976
Xandra	Netherlands	1972 (Along with Andres Holten), 1976 (as Sandra Reemer)
Anne-Marie David	France	1973 (for   Luxembourg )
Anita Skorgan	Norway	1977

Format

The 24th contest's logo featured a combination of a G-clef, the IBA logo, and the names of all participating countries in order of appearance.

The stage concept was designed by Dov Ben David. On stage there was a moving symbol which was based on the IBA logo (which was built like a lamp with 3 concentric rings) using a small projected model. ^[10]

Since Israeli Television had yet to broadcast in colour at that point (except for a few special occasions), the production had to borrow cameras from the BBC - the same had happened when RTÉ had hosted the 1971 contest in Dublin.

The IBA Symphony Orchestra, directed by conductor Izhak Graziani played the music of each song (except for the Italian entry, which did not use the orchestra). This was the only contest where the orchestra was composed of 39 musicians.

This year, the postcards between each song featured mime artists rather than the participating singers. The mime artists featured were the Yoram Boker Mime Group, and included some of Israel's leading mime artists, among them Ezra Dagan and Hanoch Rozen. The group performed on a background of illustrations created by Dudu Geva and Yochanan Lakitzevitz, that featured landmarks and typical landscapes of the respective countries.

Contest overview

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.

The intermission between the songs and the voting was presented by a performance of the Shalom '79 Dancing Ensemble, who danced to a medley of Israeli Folk Dances. The performance was directed by the ensemble's manager and choreographer Gavri Levy.

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 ^[11]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Portugal	Manuela Bravo	"Sobe, sobe, balão sobe"	64	9
2	Italy	Matia Bazar	"Raggio di luna"	27	15
3	Denmark	Tommy Seebach	"Disco Tango"	76	6
4	Ireland	Cathal Dunne	"Happy Man"	80	5
5	Finland	Katri Helena	" Katson sineen taivaan "	38	14
6	Monaco	Laurent Vaguener	"Notre vie c'est la musique"	12	16
7	Greece	Elpida	"Socrates"	69	8
8	Switzerland	Peter, Sue and Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri	"Trödler und Co."	60	10
9	Germany	Dschinghis Khan	" Dschinghis Khan "	86	4
10	Israel	Milk and Honey	"Hallelujah"	125	1
11	France	Anne-Marie David	" Je suis l'enfant soleil "	106	3
12	Belgium	Micha Marah	"Hey Nana"	5	18
13	Luxembourg	Jeane Manson	"J'ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux"	44	13
14	Netherlands	Xandra	"Colorado"	51	12
15	Sweden	Ted Gärdestad	" Satellit "	8	17
16	Norway	Anita Skorgan	"Oliver"	57	11
17	United Kingdom	Black Lace	"Mary Ann"	73	7
18	Austria	Christina Simon	"Heute in Jerusalem"	5	18
19	Spain	Betty Missiego	" Su canción "	116	2

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1979 contest are listed below.

•  Italy – Paola Perissi  [ it ] ^[12]
•  Netherlands – Ivo Niehe ^[13]
•  Sweden – Sven Lindahl ^[14]
•  United Kingdom – Colin Berry ^[6]

Detailed voting results

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. From the next year's contest onwards, the points were announced in ascending order instead. This has remained in place ever since.

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.

Detailed voting results ^{[15] [16]}

		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

12 points

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

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
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

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. ^[17]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Hong Kong, Iceland and Romania. The contest was not broadcast in Yugoslavia for the first time since 1961, as the nation had no diplomatic ties with Israel. ^[6]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Austria	ORF	FS1	Ernst Grissemann	[18] [19]
Belgium	BRT	TV1		[20] [21]
	RTBF	RTBF1	Paule Herreman	[20] [21] [22]
Denmark	DR	DR TV	Jørgen de Mylius	[23]
Finland	YLE	TV1, Rinnakkaisohjelma  [ fi ]	Matti Paalosmaa  [ fi ]	[24] [25]
France	TF1		Marc Menant	[26] [27]
Germany	ARD	Deutsches Fernsehen	Gaby Schnelle and Ado Schlier  [ de ]	[18] [21] [28]
Greece	ERT	ERT
Ireland	RTÉ	RTÉ 1	Mike Murphy	[29] [30]
		RTÉ Radio		[31]
Israel	IBA	Israeli Television		[32]
	Army Radio			[33]
Italy	RAI	Rete Uno [lower-alpha 2]	Rosanna Vaudetti	[34]
Luxembourg	CLT	RTL Télé-Luxembourg		[26]
		RTL Radio		[21]
Monaco	Télé Monte-Carlo
Netherlands	NOS	Nederland 2	Willem Duys	[21] [35]
Norway	NRK	NRK Fjernsynet	Egil Teige  [ no ]	[36]
		NRK	Erik Heyerdahl  [ no ]
Portugal	RTP	RTP1	Fialho Gouveia	[37] [38]
		RDP Programa 1		[39]
Spain	TVE	TVE 1	Miguel de los Santos  [ es ]	[40] [41]
Sweden	SR	TV1	Ulf Elfving	[14] [24] [36]
		SR P3	Kent Finell
Switzerland	SRG SSR	TV DRS [lower-alpha 3]	Max Rüeger  [ de ]	[18]
		TSR	Georges Hardy  [ fr ]	[27]
		TSI		[42] [43]
		RSI 1
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC1	John Dunn	[6] [44]
		BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 1 VHF	Ray Moore	[6] [45]

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Hong Kong	TVB	TVB Jade [lower-alpha 4]	Regina Hing Yue Tsang and Lee Chi-chung	[46]
		TVB Pearl [lower-alpha 4]	George Lam
Iceland	RÚV	Sjónvarpið [lower-alpha 5]	Björn Baldursson	[47]

See also

• OTI Festival 1979

Notes

1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD ^[9]
2. Deferred broadcast at 21:50 CET (20:50 UTC) ^[34]
3. Broadcast through a second audio programme on TSR ^[18]
4. Deferred broadcast on 1 April at 10:30 HKT (02:30 UTC) ^[46]
5. Delayed broadcast on 16 April 1979 at 21:20 WET (21:20 UTC) ^[47]

References

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3. "International Convention Centre - Binyanei Ha'Ooma], WCities Destination Guide". eventseeker.
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5. "Participants of Jerusalem 1979". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
6. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 352–365. ISBN   978-1-84583-093-9.
7. "1979 – 24th edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
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9. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
10. "An interview with Dov Ben David on the preparations for the Eurovision in Jerusalem" . Retrieved June 17, 2020.
11. "Final of Jerusalem 1979". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
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13. "Hallelujah: Het goede liedje op de goede plaats op de goede tijd". Leidse Courant (in Dutch). Leiden, Netherlands. 2 April 1979. p. 7. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
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34. "TV nazionale". Stampa Sera (in Italian). Turin, Italy. 31 March 1979. p. 15. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
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41. HerGar, Paula (28 March 2018). "Todos los comentaristas de la historia de España en Eurovisión (y una única mujer en solitario)" (in Spanish). Los 40. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
42. "Oggi e domani sul video". Popolo e Libertà (in Italian). Bellinzona, Switzerland. 31 March 1979. p. 11. Retrieved 11 January 2023– via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese  [ it ].
43. "Radio – samedi 31 mars". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 29 March 1979. p. 73. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
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45. "Eurovision Song Contest 1979 – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times . 31 March 1979. Retrieved 11 January 2023– via BBC Genome Project.
46. 本年度歐洲歌唱大賽 無線獲得獨家播映權 翡翠明珠台同時直播. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Traditional Chinese). 31 March 1979. p. 7.4 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
47. "Sjónvarp – Mánudagur 16. apríl". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 11 April 1979. p. 18. Retrieved 10 January 2023– via Timarit.is.

External links

• Official website