Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Spain | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Member station | TVE |
| National selection events | Destino Eurovisión |
| Appearances | |
| Appearances | 51 |
| First appearance | 1961 |
| Best result | 1st: 1968, 1969 |
| Worst result | Last: 1962, 1965, 1983, 1999 |
| External links | |
| TVE page | |
| Spain's page at Eurovision.tv | |
Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, finishing 9th. Since 1999, Spain is one of the "Big Five" (along with France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy) and therefore automatically allowed to participate in the final because they are the five biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union.
Spain has won the contest twice, first in 1968 with the song "La, la, la" sung by Massiel and second one year later, when Salomé's "Vivo cantando" was involved in a four way tie with Lulu's "Boom Bang-a-Bang", representing the United Kingdom, Frida Boccara's "Un jour, un enfant", representing France, and Lennie Kuhr's "De troubadour"", representing the Netherlands. Spain has only hosted the contest once, in 1969, since lots were drawn after 1969's four way tie, and the contest was hosted by the Netherlands. Some critics may claim that Spain should never have had a victory. In 2008 allegations rang out that the Spanish government had been desperate for a Spanish victory, that they sold Eastern European singers to Western European countries in exchange for votes. Then in 1969, had the current voting system been in place - France would have won.
Spain has competed in the contest continuously since the country's debut in 1961, having already appeared in 51 consecutive contests. The only country with a longer run of uninterrupted Eurovision appearances is the United Kingdom, ever-present since 1959.
Spain was represented in the 50th anniversary special of Eurovision Congratulations by their 1973 entrants Mocedades, singing the song "Eres tú". The song had made it into the top 14 for the special after being selected in an online vote by the voting public across Europe.
Contents |
[edit] Selection process
Between 1977 and 1999, Spain's entries were selected internally by TVE. Before that, internal selections and national contests, like Pasaporte a Dublín (Passport to Dublin) in 1971, were alternated.[1] From 2000, Spain has used various selection formats with different results. In 2000 and 2001, TVE organized a national preselection show called Eurocanción (Eurosong), where the Spanish representative was selected for the contest.[2] From 2002 to 2004, the reality show Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy) was used to select the entry, a format that renewed the Spanish audience's interest in the contest[3] and brought three top 10 results in a row, until TVE decided not to host any further editions of the show. In 2005, the national final Eurovisión 2005: Elige nuestra canción (Eurovision 2005: Choose Our Song) was organized, where the audience chose their favorite song among a pre-selection made by TVE of unknown artists submitted to them by record labels. The result in the Eurovision final was not good and for 2006, the selection was made internally for the first time since 1999, with a similar result. In 2007, Spain's entry was decided through the Misión Eurovisión 2007 show, with a disappointing result once again.
From 2008 to 2010, the Internet was the key element of the competitions used by TVE to select the Spanish entry. In 2008, the social networking website MySpace was involved in the national final Salvemos Eurovisión (Let's Save Eurovision). A website was created to make it possible for anyone to upload a song and proceed to a televised final if chosen by online voters or an expert jury. The result improved a little, but not much; nevertheless the interest of the Spanish audience was revived again.[4] For 2009, MySpace was still involved in the selection process Eurovisión 2009: El retorno (Eurovision 2009: The Return), although some changes were introduced in the format.[5] The result was the worst in the 2000s: 23rd place. In 2010, a similar format, Eurovisión: Destino Oslo, selected the Spanish entry, with the best result since 2004 (15th).[6]
In 2011, Internet voting was scrapped from the new selection method Destino Eurovisión. After a further disappointing result (23rd), for 2012, TVE decided to approach an established act in the fashion of other countries like France, and organize a national final to select the song.[7]
[edit] Spain and the "Big Five"
Since 1998, four particular countries have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final, regardless of their positions on the scoreboard in previous Contests.[8] They earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU (without which the production of the Eurovision Song Contest would not be possible). These countries are the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. Due to their untouchable status in the Contest, these countries became known as the "Big Four". Italy returned to the contest in 2011, thus becoming part of a "Big Five".[9]
[edit] Interrupted performances
Only three times in the contest's history has a non-winning entry been allowed to perform again, and in two of these instances, the entries in question were Spanish representatives (the other one being the Italian entry in 1958, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno). The first time this happened to a Spanish representative was in the 1990 contest in Zagreb, when Azúcar Moreno opened the contest with the song "Bandido." The orchestra and the recorded playback began the song out of sync, which caused the singers to miss their cue. The singers left the stage after a few seconds, and no explanation was given at the time. After a few uneasy moments, the music began correctly and the song was performed in full. Azúcar Moreno and "Bandido" went on to place fifth in the final vote tally, though the juries at the time actually awarded their points after watching the dress rehearsal performances, so the restart did not affect Spain's overall result either positively or negatively.
Twenty years later, at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Spain was drawn to perform second in the running order, and singer Daniel Diges's performance of "Algo pequeñito" was disturbed by notorious pitch invader Jimmy Jump. However, Diges performed the song in full, despite the invader's intrusion and subsequent removal from the stage by security personnel, and received warm applause from the spectators at the Telenor Arena. After the exhibition of Serbia, co-presenter Nadia Hasnaoui announced that, according to the rules, Diges would be given a second chance once all the remaining countries had performed. Nonetheless, the juries ranked the dress-rehearsal performance of "Algo pequeñito" 20th out of 25 with 43 points, whereas the televoting results ranked Spain 12th, with 106 points. The combination of jury and televote results gave Spain a 15th-place.
[edit] Contestants
.jpg)
[edit] Voting history (1975-2011)
Spain has given the most points to...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Germany |
184 |
| 2 |  Italy |
134 |
| 3 |  Greece |
125 |
| = |  Ireland |
125 |
| 5 |  United Kingdom |
123 |
Spain has received the most points from...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Portugal |
138 |
| 2 | Greece |
137 |
| 3 |  Switzerland |
133 |
| 4 |  Turkey |
118 |
| 5 |  France |
117 |
NOTE: The totals in the above tables include only points awarded in Eurovision finals, and not the semi-finals since 2004.
[edit] Since introducing the semi-finals in 2004
Spain has given the most points to...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Romania |
83 |
| 2 | Portugal |
55 |
| 3 |  Andorra |
54 |
| 4 | Greece |
47 |
| 5 |  Armenia |
45 |
| 6 |  Ukraine |
38 |
| 7 | Germany |
37 |
| 8 |  Iceland |
31 |
| 9 |  Finland |
25 |
| 10 |  Bulgaria |
21 |
Spain has received the most points from...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andorra |
60 |
| 2 | Portugal |
59 |
| 3 | France |
35 |
| 4 |  Albania |
31 |
| 5 | Switzerland |
25 |
| 6 |  Belgium |
15 |
| 7 | Greece |
13 |
| 8 | Romania |
12 |
| 9 |  Cyprus |
11 |
 Israel |
11 |
NOTE: The tables with points from 2004 include points awarded in both finals and semi-finals where the highest point from the final/semi-final is picked.
[edit] Televoting Trends
Since the introduction of televoting, Spain has frequently awarded relatively high marks to Germany and Portugal and since the semi-finals at the 2004 contest also to Romania, Armenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Andorra:
- 1998 : Germany - 12 points; Portugal - 6 points;
- 1999 : Croatia - 12 points; Germany - 7 points;
- 2000 : Germany - 12 points;
- 2001 : Greece - 12 points; Germany - 10 points; Portugal - 6 points;
- 2002 : Germany - 2 points;
- 2003 : Romania - 10 points; Germany - 4 points; Portugal - 2 points;
- 2004 : Germany - 12 points; Romania - 10 points; Ukraine - 8 points; (Andorra - 12 points; Portugal - 6 points;)
- 2005 : Romania - 12 points; Ukraine - 1 point; (Andorra - 10 points; Bulgaria - 6 points; Portugal - 5 points;)
- 2006 : Romania - 12 points; Armenia - 8 points; Germany - 5 points; Ukraine - 3 points; (Andorra - 8 points, Bulgaria - 5 points;)
- 2007 : Romania - 12 points; Bulgaria - 10 points; Armenia - 8 points; Ukraine - 7 points; Germany - 5 points; (Andorra - 12 points; Portugal - 8 points;)
- 2008 : Romania - 12 points; Armenia - 10 points; Portugal - 8 points; Ukraine - 7 points; (Andorra - 12 points)
- 2009 : Romania - 12 points; Armenia - 8 points; Portugal - 7 points; Ukraine - 6 points;
- 2010 : Germany - 12 points; Romania - 10 points; Armenia - 8 points; Portugal - 6 points;
- 2011 : Romania - 8 points; Germany - 3 points; (Portugal - 8 points; Armenia - 3 points)
(since 2009, votes have been decided by a combination of 50% televoting results and 50% national jury, but the splits were revealed for 2009 so the televoting results for 2009 is written.)
[edit] Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 |  Madrid |
Teatro Real | Laura Valenzuela |
[edit] Commentators & Spokespeople
| Year(s) | Commentator | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Federico Gallo | Diego Ramírez Pastor |
| 1962 | Federico Gallo | Diego Ramírez Pastor |
| 1963 | Federico Gallo | Julio Rico |
| 1964 | Federico Gallo | Julio Rico |
| 1965 | Federico Gallo | Pepe Palau |
| 1966 | Federico Gallo | Blanca Álvarez |
| 1967 | Federico Gallo | Blanca Álvarez |
| 1968 | Federico Gallo | Joaquín Prat |
| 1969 | José Luis Uribarri | Joaquín Prat |
| 1970 | José Luis Uribarri | Joaquín Prat |
| 1971 | Joaquín Prat | Noelia Alfonso & Francisco Madariaga |
| 1972 | Julio Rico | Emma Cohen & Luis María Ansón |
| 1973 | Julio Rico | Teresa González & José Luis Balbín |
| 1974 | José Luis Uribarri | Antolín García |
| 1975 | José Luis Uribarri | José María Íñigo |
| 1976 | José Luis Uribarri | José María Íñigo |
| 1977 | Miguel de los Santos | Isabel Tenaille |
| 1978 | Miguel de los Santos | Matías Prats Luque |
| 1979 | Miguel de los Santos | Manuel Almendros |
| 1980 | Miguel de los Santos | Alfonso Lapeña |
| 1981 | Miguel de los Santos | Isabel Tenaille |
| 1982 | Miguel de los Santos | Marisa Naranjo |
| 1983 | José Miguel Ullán | Rosa Campano |
| 1984 | José Miguel Ullán | Matilde Jarrín |
| 1985 | Antonio Gómez | Matilde Jarrín |
| 1986 | Antonio Gómez | Matilde Jarrín |
| 1987 | Beatriz Pécker | Matilde Jarrín |
| 1988 | Beatriz Pécker | Matilde Jarrín |
| 1989 | Tomás Fernando Flores | Matilde Jarrín |
| 1990 | Luis Cobos | Matilde Jarrín |
| 1991 | Tomás Fernando Flores | María Ángeles Balañac |
| 1992 | José Luis Uribarri | María Ángeles Balañac |
| 1993 | José Luis Uribarri | María Ángeles Balañac |
| 1994 | José Luis Uribarri | María Ángeles Balañac |
| 1995 | José Luis Uribarri | Belén Fernández de Henestrosa |
| 1996 | José Luis Uribarri | Belén Fernández de Henestrosa |
| 1997 | José Luis Uribarri | Belén Fernández de Henestrosa |
| 1998 | José Luis Uribarri | Belén Fernández de Henestrosa |
| 1999 | José Luis Uribarri | Hugo de Campos |
| 2000 | José Luis Uribarri | Hugo de Campos |
| 2001 | José Luis Uribarri | Jennifer Rope |
| 2002 | José Luis Uribarri | Anne Igartiburu |
| 2003 | José Luis Uribarri | Anne Igartiburu |
| 2004 | Beatriz Pécker | Anne Igartiburu |
| 2005 | Beatriz Pécker | Ainhoa Arbizu |
| 2006 | Beatriz Pécker | Sonia Ferrer |
| 2007 | Beatriz Pécker | Ainhoa Arbizu |
| 2008 | José Luis Uribarri | Ainhoa Arbizu |
| 2009 | Joaquín Guzmán | Iñaki del Moral |
| 2010 | José Luis Uribarri | Ainhoa Arbizu |
| 2011 | José María Íñigo | Elena S. Sánchez |
[edit] References
- ^ del Amor Caballero, Reyes (2004-05-04). "Preselecciones españolas para Eurovisión, primera parte" (in Spanish). eurovision-spain.com. http://www.eurovision-spain.com/xpress/columna.php?numero=39&id=38.
- ^ del Amor Caballero, Reyes (2004-05-20). "Segunda parte de las preselecciones españolas, 1970-2004" (in Spanish). eurovision-spain.com. http://www.eurovision-spain.com/iphp/columnas_ver.php?id=38&numero=40. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ^ "Eurovisión pierde más de 4 millones de espectadores" (in Spanish). FormulaTV.com. 2009-05-18. http://www.formulatv.com/1,20090518,11394,1.html.
- ^ "Eurovisión pierde más de 4 millones de espectadores" (in Spanish). FormulaTV.com. 2009-05-18. http://www.formulatv.com/1,20090518,11394,1.html.
- ^ "TVE comienza este lunes la selección para Eurovisión" (in Spanish). vertele.com. 2008-11-20. http://www.vertele.com/noticias/detail.php?id=21032.
- ^ M. Escudero, Victor (2009-11-27). "Spain: TVE calls for entries for Oslo". European Broadcasting Union. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=6963&_t=Spain%3A+TVE+calls+for+entries+for+Oslo. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
- ^ "Pastora Soler representará a España en Eurovisión 2012 en Bakú" (in Spanish). RTVE.es. RTVE. 21 December 2011. http://www.rtve.es/television/20111221/pastora-soler-representara-espana-eurovision-2012-baku/483833.shtml. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest 50 Years The Official History. London: Carlton Books Limited. ISBN 1-84442-586-X.
- ^ Fulton, Rick (2007-05-14). "The East V West Song Contest". Daily Record. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2007/05/14/the-east-v-west-song-contest-86908-19098830/. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
[edit] External links
- Points to and from Spain eurovisioncovers.co.uk
|
|||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
