Eurovision Song Contest 1983

Corinne Hermès

Date: April 23, 1983
Venue: Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, Munich, West Germany
Presenter: Marlène Charell
Conductor: Dieter Reith
Director: Rainer Bertram
Scruteneer: Frank Naef
Host broadcaster: ARD
Price presenter: Albert Scharf, Nicole
Interval act: Song Contest ballet feat. Marlène Charell
Duration: 3 hours
Number of entries: 20
Debuting countries: -
Returning countries: France, Greece, Italy
Withdrawing countries: Ireland
Winning Song: Si La Vie Est Cadeau - Corinne Hermès, Luxembourg
Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs

Entries

01. France: Guy Bonnet - Vivre (8th place, 56 points)
02. Norway: Jahn Teigen - Do Re Mi (9th place, 53 points)
03. UK: Sweet Dreams - I'm never giving up (6th place, 79 points)
04. Sweden: Carola Häggkvist - Främling (3rd place, 126 points)
05. Italy: Riccardo Fogli - Per Lucia (11th place, 41 points)
06. Turkey: Çetin Alp & the Short Waves - Opera (19th place, 0 points)
07. Spain: Remedios Amaya - ¿Quién maneja mi barca? (19th place, 0 points)
08. Switzerland: Mariella Farré - Io così non ci sto (15th place, 28 points)
09. Finland: Ami Aspelund - Fantasiaa (11th place, 41 points)
10. Greece: Christie Stasinopoulou - Mou les (14th place, 32 points)
11. The Netherlands: Bernadette - Sing me a song (7th place, 66 points)
12. Yugoslavia: Danijel - Džuli (4th place, 125 points)
13. Cyprus: Stavros & Constantina - I agapi akoma zi (16th place, 26 points)
14. Germany: Hoffmann & Hoffmann - Rücksicht (5th place, 94 points)
15. Denmark: Gry Johansen - Kloden drejer (17th place, 16 points)
16. Israel: Ofra Haza - Hi (2nd place, 136 points)
17. Portuga: Armando Gama - Esta balada que te dou (13th place, 33 points)
18. Austria: Westend - Hurricane (9th place, 53 points)
19. Belgium: Pas de Deux - Rendez-vous (18th place, 13 points)
20. Luxembourg: Corinne Hermès - Si la vie est cadeau (1st place, 142 points)

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983, the 28th in the series, was held in Munich, then West Germany, on April 23, 1983. The presenter was Marlène Charell. Corinne Hermès was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, Si la vie est cadeau which was written by Jean-Pierre Millers and Alain Garcia. This was Luxembourg's fifth victory in the contest which equalled the record set by France in 1977. It was also the second year in a row where the winning entry was performed last on the night and the second year in a row in which Israel won 2nd place.

 Bernadette

Format

At the beginning of the show Marlène Charell introduced each act and called all of them on stage together.

The set that year was rather peculiar, with a quite small, arc-shaped stage surrounding the orchestra section, and a large background resembling giant electric heaters, which lit up in different sequences and combinations depending on the nature and rhythm of the songs. This year's contest was the first to be televised in Australia, via Channel 0/28 (now SBS Television) in Sydney and Melbourne, although that country is never allowed to participate. Nevertheless, previous winners ABBA and Bucks Fizz had been successful in Australia, to which many Europeans had emigrated. Ireland was not in the contest because RTÉ was in strike action at that time.

Voting

Toward the end of the voting, it became evident that Luxembourg was going to win, but early on, Germany, Sweden, and Yugoslavia all threatened to take Luxembourg's lead, which they earned halfway through the jury vote. At one point, murmurs and boos arose from the crowd at the Greek jury's decision to give host country Germany only one point. And that was the only occasion that La Grèce didn't award any point to Chypre.

 Ami Aspelund

Language troubles
Due to Charell's choice to announce points in three languages instead of two, the voting went on for nearly an hour, stretching the Eurovision contest past three hours for the first time ever. In addition, Charell made 13 language mistakes throughout the voting, some as innocuous as mixing up the words for "points" between the three languages, some as major as nearly awarding points to Schweden (Sweden) that were meant for Schweiz (Switzerland).

The language problems also occurred during the contest introductions, as Charell introduced Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as ...Johannes...Skorgan..., having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductor's name.

Guy bonnet

Song success

Ofra Haza from Israel, who took the second place, had an enduring success with her song Hi which became a hit in Europe, launching her career. This year also marked the first performance of Sweden's Carola Häggkvist, who took the third place and went on to win the contest in 1991 and represented her country again in 2006 (coming fifth). Her song, Främling, became very popular in Sweden and in various other European countries. In the Netherlands, the song reached the top five, coupled with a Dutch language version (Je ogen hebben geen geheimen) which was performed by Carola herself. The 4th placed Džuli, also became a hit in Europe. Singer Daniel released an English language version as Julie.

Nul points

This year's nul points were shared by Spain and Turkey. Spain's Remedios Amaya presented a song which was a stark departure from pop tastes and conventional perception of melody and harmony as it was a flamenco one, a style traditionally tied with the international image of Spain. Additionally, she sang her song barefoot. Some olés were heard from the present audience when she ended her performance. Turkey's entry, Opera, performed by Çetin Alp & the Short Waves, could on the other hand be said to fit in well with the spirit of Eurovision of that time. Nevertheless, the overinterpretation of the theme of the song, as well as the fact that the lyrics of the song consisted for the most part of the often-repeated word opera and names of well-known operas and composers, and Çetin's breaking into operatic lay lay la, prompted extensive derision of the song, including the usual sardonic words from BBC commentator Terry Wogan (a nicely understated performance there).

Interval act

The interval show was a dance number set to a medley of German songs which had become internationally famous, including Strangers in the Night. The host, Marlène Charell, was the lead dancer.

Returning artists

Guy Bonnet represented France in 1970 and JahnTeigen participated for Norway in 1978 and 1982.