Euovision Song Contest 1971

 Séverine

Date: April 3, 1971
Venue: Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Presenter: Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir
Conductor: Colman Pearce
Director: Tom McGrath
Scruteneer: Clifford Brown
Host broadcaster: RTÉ
Price presenter: Dana
Interval act: Shannon Castle entertainers
Duration: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Number of entries: 18
Debuting countries: Malta
Returning countries: Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden
Withdrawing countries: -
Winning Song: Un banc, un arbre, une rue - Séverine, Monaco

Voting system: Each country had two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and another aged between 26 and 55. They each awarded 1 to 5 points for each song (except for the song from their own country) immediately after it was performed, the votes were collected and counted as soon as they were cast. The juries watched the show on TV from a backstage area of the theatre and then appeared on stage to confirm their scores.

Saskia & Serge

Entries

01. Austria: Marianne Mendt - Musik (16th place, 66 points)
02. Malta: Joe Grech - Marija I-Maltija (18th place, 52 points)
03. Monaco: Séverine - Un banc, un arbre, une rue (1st place, 128 points)
04. Switzerland: Peter, Sue and Marc - Les illusions de nos vingt ans (12th place, 78 points)
05. Germany: Katja Ebstein - Diese welt (3rd place, 100 points)
06. Spain: Karina - En un mundo nuevo (2nd place, 116 points)
07. France: Serge Lama - Un jardin sur la terre (10th place, 82 points)
08. Luxembourg: Monique Melsen - Pomme, pomme, pomme (13th place, 70 points)
09. UK: Clodagh Rodgers - Jack in de box (4th place, 98 points)
10. Belgium: Lily Castel & Jacques Raymond - Goeiemorgen morgen (14th place, 68 points)
11. Italy: Massimo Ranieri - L'amore è un attimo (5th place, 91 points)
12. Sweden: Family Four - Vita vide (6th place, 85 points)
13. Ireland: Angela Farrell - Oneday love (11th place, 79 points)
14. The Netherlands: Saskia & Serge - Tijd (6th place, 85 points)
15. Portugal: Tonicha - Menina do alto da serra (9th place, 83 points)
16. Yugoslavia: Krunoslav Slabinac - Tvoj dječak je tužan (14th place, 68 points)
17. Finland: Markku Aro & Koivistolaiset - Tie uuteen päivään (8th place, 84 points)
18. Norway: Hanne Krogh - Lykken er (17th place, 65 points)

The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the sixteenth Eurovision Song Contest and the first held in Dublin, Ireland. The new voting system that was introduced in this Eurovision did have one big problem: some juries gave fewer points out than others. Whether this was done in some cases to increase their respective countries' chances of winning is impossible to say, but the shortcomings of the system were nevertheless plain.

 Karina

Monaco's win was their first and only victory. The song was performed by a French singer, living in France, sung in French, conducted by a French native and written by a French team (Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and Yves Dessca). Séverine later claimed she never visited Monaco before or after her victory - a claim easily disproved by the preview video submitted by Tele-Monaco featuring the singer on location in the Principality.

Location

The Gaiety Theatre, a theatre on South King Street in Dublin, Ireland, was the venue for the 1971 contest. Designed by architect C.J. Phipps and built in under 7 months, the Gaiety was opened on 27 November 1871 with the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland as guest of honour and a double bill of the comedy She Stoops to Conquer and the burlesque La Belle Sauvage.

Séverine

Format

For the first time, each participating broadcaster was required to televise all the songs in previews prior to the live final. Belgium's preview video featured Nicole & Hugo performing the song Goeiemorgen, morgen, but Nicole was struck with a sudden illness days before the contest final, with Jacques Raymond & Lily Castel stepping in at very short notice to perform the entry in their place. Reports suggested that Castel hadn't even had enough time to buy a suitable dress for the show.

The BBC were worried about the possible audience reaction to the British song due to the hostilities raging in Northern Ireland. They specifically selected a singer from Northern Ireland, Clodagh Rodgers who was popular in both the UK and Ireland to ease any ill-feeling from the Dublin audience. She reported receiving death threats from the IRA for representing the UK.

 Lily Castel & Jacques Raymond

The Austrian singer sung her song Musik in Viennese, a dialect spoken in Vienna.

Groups of up to six people were allowed to perform for the first time, with the rule in previous contests of performing either solo or as a duet abolished. This was RTÉ's first outside broadcast in colour. The contest was broadcast in Iceland, USA & Hong Kong few days later.

Participating countries

Malta made their début in this year's contest, along Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, who all returned after a brief absence from the contest. This brought the total number of countries to eighteen.

Returning artists

Two artists returned to the competition this year. Belgium's Jacques Raymond who last performed for the nation in 1963; and Katja Ebstein for Germany who last participated in 1970.