Eurovision Song Contest 1978

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Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Dates
Final22 April 1978
Host
VenuePalais des Congrès
Paris, France
Presenter(s)
Musical directorFrançois Rauber
Directed byBernard Lion
Executive supervisorFrank Naef
Host broadcasterTélévision Française 1 (TF1)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/paris-1978 Edit this at Wikidata
Participants
Number of entries20
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countriesNone
  • A coloured map of the countries of EuropeBelgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Malta in the Eurovision Song ContestAustria in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1978
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song Israel
"A-Ba-Ni-Bi"
1977 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1979

The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the 1977 contest with the song "L'oiseau et l'enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Télévision Française 1 (TF1), the contest was held at the Palais des Congrès on 22 April 1978 and was hosted by French television presenters Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. This was the first time that more than one presenter had hosted the contest as well as the first to have a male presenter since 1956. In addition to hosting, the two presenters also served as commentators for France.

Twenty countries participated, the highest number of competing countries in the history of the competition at the time. Denmark and Turkey both returned to the contest. Denmark had not participated since 1966, 12 years before.

The winner of the contest was Israel with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta. Although 'A-Ba-Ni-Bi' is the correct title, French television mistakenly captioned on screen the song title as 'Ah-Bah-Nee-Bee'. The winning entry was a love song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi (the title is an expansion of the Hebrew word ani אני, meaning "I"). This was Israel's first Eurovision win, and it was also the first winning song to be performed in one of the Semitic languages. Furthermore, it was also the only winning song to be conducted by a woman, Nurit Hirsh. Norway finished last for the fifth time, gaining the first nul points after the new voting system was implemented in 1975.

Location

Palais des Congrès, Paris – host venue of the 1978 contest.

The event took place in Paris, the capital and largest city of France, with the host venue being the Palais des Congrès de Paris which is a concert venue, convention centre and shopping mall in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The venue was built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, and was inaugurated in 1974.

Format

The postcards were filmed live, featuring the artists making their way to the stage. They took a corridor, then an elevator. Leaving the lift, they were greeted by the previous participants and then made their entrances to the stage. The camera also made several shots of the audience, notably Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.

The Swedish participant Björn Skifs was unhappy with the rule that every country would have to perform in their native language. He planned to sing in English anyway, but changed his mind at the last moment, causing him to completely forget the lyrics. He therefore sang the first few lines in gibberish before finding the words again. Along with the 20 participating countries, the show was also broadcast live in Yugoslavia, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Dubai, Hong Kong, the Soviet Union and Japan.

Participating countries

Denmark returned to the competition after having been absent for twelve years, while Turkey did so after missing out two years.[1] This meant that, for the first time, the contest had twenty participating nations competing.

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra.[2][3]

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Jean Vallée  Belgium 1970
Norbert Niedermeyer (as part of Springtime)  Austria 1972 (as part of The Milestones)
Ireen Sheer  Germany 1974 (for  Luxembourg)
Trio La la la (backings for José Vélez)  Spain 1968, 1970, 1971, 1975 (all years as backings)

Participants and results

R/O Country Artist Song Language[4][5] Points Place[6]
1  Ireland Colm C. T. Wilkinson "Born to Sing" English 86 5
2  Norway Jahn Teigen "Mil etter mil" Norwegian 0 20
3  Italy Ricchi e Poveri "Questo amore" Italian 53 12
4  Finland Seija Simola "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" Finnish 2 18=
5  Portugal Gemini "Dai li dou" Portuguese 5 17
6  France Joël Prévost "Il y aura toujours des violons" French 119 3
7  Spain José Vélez "Bailemos un vals" Spanish[a] 65 9=
8  United Kingdom Co-Co "The Bad Old Days" English 61 11
9   Switzerland Carole Vinci "Vivre" French 65 9=
10  Belgium Jean Vallée "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" French 125 2
11  Netherlands Harmony "'t Is OK" Dutch 37 13
12  Turkey Nilüfer and Nazar "Sevince" Turkish 2 18=
13  Germany Ireen Sheer "Feuer" German 84 6
14  Monaco Caline and Olivier Toussaint "Les jardins de Monaco" French 107 4
15  Greece Tania Tsanaklidou "Charlie Chaplin" (Τσάρλυ Τσάπλιν) Greek 66 8
16  Denmark Mabel "Boom Boom" Danish 13 16
17  Luxembourg Baccara "Parlez-vous français ?" French 73 7
18  Israel Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (א-ב-ני-בי) Hebrew 157 1
19  Austria Springtime "Mrs. Caroline Robinson" German[b] 14 15
20  Sweden Björn Skifs "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" Swedish 26 14

Detailed voting results

Detailed voting results[7][8]
Total score
Ireland
Norway
Italy
Finland
Portugal
France
Spain
United Kingdom
Switzerland
Belgium
Netherlands
Turkey
Germany
Monaco
Greece
Denmark
Luxembourg
Israel
Austria
Sweden
Contestants
 Ireland 86 12 3 5 7 10 10 5 10 10 6 8
Norway 0
Italy 53 10 6 1 4 8 6 1 1 1 2 8 2 3
Finland 2 2
Portugal 5 4 1
France 119 6 3 10 2 2 5 8 6 8 6 4 10 5 8 8 1 5 12 10
Spain 65 7 8 2 4 7 4 6 12 2 6 7
United Kingdom 61 3 6 2 3 2 4 2 6 8 7 3 5 2 5 3
Switzerland 65 5 1 1 7 4 2 7 8 6 2 3 8 1 10
Belgium 125 12 7 6 6 4 12 2 12 10 5 3 12 12 7 7 4 4
Netherlands 37 5 3 4 1 5 6 12 1
Turkey 2 1 1
Germany 84 1 3 12 7 10 3 5 7 8 10 7 1 3 7
Monaco 107 4 4 7 8 5 1 10 5 6 10 5 7 4 10 8 1 12
Greece 66 7 2 5 8 10 7 4 4 4 10 3 2
Denmark 13 6 1 4 2
Luxembourg 73 2 12 12 12 7 3 3 2 6 1 7 6
Israel 157 8 8 8 10 10 8 6 5 12 12 12 12 12 3 5 6 12 8
Austria 14 3 3 1 2 5
Sweden 26 5 10 4 3 4

12 points

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

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
6  Israel  Belgium,  Germany,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,   Switzerland,  Turkey
5  Belgium  France,  Greece,  Ireland,  Monaco,  United Kingdom
3  Luxembourg  Italy,  Portugal,  Spain
1  France  Austria
 Germany  Finland
 Ireland  Norway
 Monaco  Sweden
 Netherlands  Israel
 Spain  Denmark

Spokespersons

Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1978 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.

  1.  Ireland – John Skehan
  2.  Norway – Egil Teige [no]
  3.  Italy – Mariolina Cannuli [it]
  4.  Finland – Kaarina Pönniö
  5.  Portugal – Isabel Wolmar [pt]
  6.  France – Marc Menant
  7.  Spain – Matías Prats Luque
  8.  United Kingdom – Colin Berry[3]
  9.   Switzerland – Michel Stocker
  10.  Belgium – André Hagon
  11.  Netherlands – Dick van Bommel
  12.  Turkey – Meral Savcı
  13.  Germany – Sigi Harreis [de]
  14.  Monaco – Carole Chabrier
  15.  Greece – Niki Venega
  16.  Denmark – Jens Dreyer
  17.  Luxembourg – Jacques Harvey
  18.  Israel – Yitzhak Shim'oni [he]
  19.  Austria – Jenny Pippal [de]
  20.  Sweden – Sven Lindahl

Broadcasts

Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Algeria, Iceland, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Yugoslavia, in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Hong Kong, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.[3]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria FS2 Ernst Grissemann
Hitradio Ö3 Walter Richard Langer [de]
 Belgium RTBF1 French: Claude Delacroix
BRT TV1 Dutch: Luc Appermont [9]
RTB La Première French: Jacques Bauduin [fr]
BRT Radio 1 Dutch: Nand Baert [nl] and Herwig Haes
 Denmark DR TV Jørgen de Mylius
DR P3 Kjeld Koplev [dk]
 Finland YLE TV1 Erkki Toivanen [10]
Rinnakkaisohjelma [fi] TBC
 France TF1 Léon Zitrone and Denise Fabre
France Inter René Boyer [fr] and Michel Polac [fr]
 Germany Deutsches Fernsehen Werner Veigel
Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2 Wolf Mittler
 Greece ERT Mako Georgiadou [el]
Proto Programma Dimitris Konstantaras [el]
 Ireland RTÉ Larry Gogan
RTÉ Radio Mike Murphy
 Israel Israeli Television No commentator
 Italy Rete 2 and Rai Radio 2 Tullio Grazzini
 Luxembourg RTL Télé Luxembourg Jacques Navadic
RTL André Torrent [fr]
 Monaco Télé Monte Carlo José Sacré
 Netherlands Nederland 2 Willem Duys [11]
Hilversum 3 Jan van Veen
 Norway NRK Bjørn Scheele
NRK P1 Erik Heyerdahl [no]
 Portugal RTP1 Eládio Clímaco
RDP Programa 1 Amadeu Meireles [pt]
 Spain TVE1 Miguel de los Santos [es]
 Sweden SR TV1 Ulf Elfving [10]
SR P3 Kent Finell
  Switzerland TV DRS[c] German: Theodor Haller [de]
TSR French: Georges Hardy [fr] [12]
TSI Italian: Giovanni Bertini
RSR 1 French: Robert Burnier [13]
 Turkey Ankara Television Bülend Özveren
Radyo 3 Şebnem Savaşçı
 United Kingdom BBC1 Terry Wogan [3][14]
BBC Radio 2 Ray Moore [3]
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Hong Kong TVB Jade (delayed broadcast on 23 April 1978) Un­known [15]
TVB Pearl (delayed broadcast on 23 April 1978) Un­known
 Iceland Sjónvarpið Ragna Ragnars [16]
 Yugoslavia TVB 2 Serbo-Croatian: Milovan Ilić
TVZ 1 Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
TVL 1 Slovene: Tomaž Terček [sl]

Incidents

Israeli victory reactions

The Israeli win caused problems for several North African and Middle-Eastern nations that were televising the contest, even though they were not participating. According to author and political commentator John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, when Israel became the clear winners during the voting, most of the Arabic stations ended their transmission of the contest. Jordanian TV finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen,[17] later announcing that the Belgian entry (which finished second) was the winner.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Contains some words in French
  2. ^ Contains some words in English
  3. ^ Broadcast via TSI (Source: Radio TV - Je vois tout, 20 April 1978)

References

  1. ^ "Paris 1978". Eurovision.tv.
  2. ^ "And the conductor is..." Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 312–327. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
  4. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1978". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  5. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1978". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Results of the Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1978 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  9. ^ Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
  10. ^ a b "Radio ja televisio". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 22 April 1978. p. 37. Retrieved 11 November 2022. (subscription required)
  11. ^ "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  12. ^ "Programme TV du 22 au 28 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout. Lausanne, Switzerland: Le Radio SA. 20 April 1978.
  13. ^ "Programme radio du 22 au 28 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout. Lausanne, Switzerland: Le Radio SA. 20 April 1978.
  14. ^ "Grand Final: 1978, 1978, Eurovision Song Contest". BBC.
  15. ^ "Today's Television". South China Morning Post. 23 April 1978. p. 22.
  16. ^ Háskólabókasafn, Landsbókasafn Íslands -. "Timarit.is". timarit.is.
  17. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eurovision Song Contest 1978.
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