Eurovision Song Contest 1990

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 5 May 1990 in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.Template:Efn Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTV Zagreb) on behalf of (JRT), and presented by Oliver Mlakar and Helga Vlahović, the contest was held in Yugoslavia following the country's victory at the Template:Escyr with the song "Rock Me" by the group Riva. It was the first contest to be held in the Balkans and the only to be held in a socialist state.

Twenty-two countries participated in the contest, with the same countries that had participated in 1989 returning. The 1990 contest was the first to implement an age limit on the competing performers, following criticism of the participation of two child performers in the previous year's event; all artists were now required to reach the age of sixteen within the year of the contest.

The winner was Template:Esccnty for the second time in its history, with the song "Insieme: 1992", written and performed by Toto Cutugno. Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty shared second place, with Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty rounding out the top five countries. France and Spain both placed within the top 5 for the first time in several years, while Iceland recorded their best ever result.

Location

File:Koncertna dvorana-Zagreb.JPG

Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, Zagreb – host venue of the 1990 contest

The 1990 contest took place in Zagreb, Yugoslavia,Template:Efn following the country's victory at the Template:Escyr with the song "Rock Me", performed by the group Riva. It was the first time that Yugoslavia had hosted the contest, and marked the first time the contest had been held in the Balkans and the first edition to be held in a socialist state. The chosen venue was the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall (Template:Langx), named after the 19th-century Croatian composer Vatroslav Lisinski and whose main hall has an audience capacity of over 1,800. Constructed between 1963 and 1971, the venue underwent significant renovation ahead of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest.

Participants

Template:Interlanguage link info Template:ESC 1990 participants The same twenty-two countries which had participated in 1989 returned for the 1990 contest; this marked the first time since Template:Escyr that no changes to the composition of the competing countries were made compared to the previous event.Template:Sfn

Among the competing artists in this year's event was Ketil Stokkan, who had also represented Template:Esccnty.Template:Sfn Additionally, Kari Kuivalainen, who had represented Template:Esccnty, returned as a backing vocalist for the Finnish group Beat, and the Slovene group Template:Ill supported Italy's Toto Cutugno as backing vocalists, having previously represented Template:Esccnty.

Many of the competing songs made reference to the changing political and social landscape across the European continent following revolutions in Central and Eastern European countries in 1989 and spoke of the future of the European continent. The Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty entries referenced the increasing freedoms experienced by citizens in countries formerly under repressive regimes, the Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty entries harked back to the fall of the Berlin Wall six months prior and the opening of frontiers along the Iron Curtain between east and west Europe, while the Template:Esccnty made reference to the planned signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 which would form the European Union and lead to greater European integration. Other social and political messages were also present among the competing entries, including a message for racial harmony from Template:Esccnty, an ode to the environment from the Template:Esccnty, and Template:Esccnty's Philippe Lafontaine presenting a love song for his Macedonian wife.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Eurovision Song Contest 1990 participantsTemplate:Sfn

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Template:Esc	ORF	Simone	""	German	Template:Hlist	Richard Oesterreicher
Template:Esc	RTBF	Philippe Lafontaine	""	French	Philippe Lafontaine	Rony Brack
Template:Esc	CyBC	Anastasiou	"" ()	Greek	Template:Hlist	Stanko Selak
Template:Esc	DR	Template:Ill	"Hallo Hallo"	Danish	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	YLE	Beat	""	Swedish	Template:Hlist	Olli Ahvenlahti
Template:Esc		Joëlle Ursull	"White and Black Blues"	French	Template:Hlist	Régis Dupré
Template:Esc	BRTemplate:Efn	Chris Kempers and Daniel Kovac	""	German	Template:Hlist	Rainer Pietsch
Template:Esc	ERT	Christos Callow	"" ()	Greek	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	RÚV	Stjórnin	""	Icelandic	Template:Hlist	Jon Kjell Seljeseth
Template:Esc	RTÉ	Liam Reilly	"Somewhere in Europe"	English	Liam Reilly	Noel Kelehan
Template:Esc	IBA	Rita	"" ()	Hebrew	Template:Hlist	Rami Levin
Template:Esc	RAI	Toto Cutugno	"Insieme: 1992"	Italian	Toto Cutugno	Gianni Madonini
Template:Esc	CLT	Céline Carzo	""	French	Template:Hlist	Thierry Durbet
Template:Esc	NOS	Maywood	""	Dutch	Template:Ill	Harry van Hoof
Template:Esc	NRK	Ketil Stokkan	""	Norwegian	Ketil Stokkan	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	RTP	Nucha	""	Portuguese	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	TVE	Azúcar Moreno	""	Spanish	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	SVT	Edin-Ådahl	""	Swedish	Template:Ill	Curt-Eric Holmquist
Template:Esc	SRG SSR	Egon Egemann	""	German	Cornelia Lackner	Bela Balint
Template:Esc	TRT	Kayahan	""	Turkish	Kayahan Açar	Ümit Eroğlu
Template:Esc	BBC	Emma	"Give a Little Love Back to the World"	English	Paul Curtis	Alyn Ainsworth
Template:Esc	JRT	Tajči	"" ()	Serbo-Croatian	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill

Production

File:Helga Vlahovic (1969).jpg

Helga Vlahović (pictured in 1969) was one of the presenters of the contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was produced by the Yugoslav public broadcaster (RTV Zagreb) on behalf of (JRT). Goran Radman served as executive producer, Nenad Puhovski served as director, Zvjezdana Kvočić served as designer, Seadeta Midžić served as musical director, and Igor Kuljerić served as conductor leading an assembled orchestra, with assistance from Template:Ill.Template:Sfn A separate musical director could be appointed by each broadcaster to lead the orchestra during their performance, with the host conductors also available to conduct for those which did not appoint their own conductor.Template:Sfn On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Frank Naef as scrutineer.Template:Sfn Over 400 journalists covered the event. The overall costs to organise the contest was about 6 million Yugoslav dinars.

Following the confirmation of the twenty-two competing countries, the draw to determine the running order of the contest was held on 10 November 1989.Template:Sfn

Rehearsals for the participating artists began on 30 April 1990. Two technical rehearsals were conducted for each participating delegation in the week approaching the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. The first rehearsals, comprising 15 minutes for stage set-up and 35 minutes for performances, were held on 30 April and 1 May. Following these rehearsals each delegation was provided an opportunity to watch back recordings of their performances and engage in a press conference. Each country's second rehearsals were held on 2 and 3 May and lasted 35 minutes total, followed by another viewing session and press conference. Three dress rehearsals were held with all artists, two held in the afternoon and evening of 4 May and one final rehearsal in the afternoon of 5 May. An audience was present during the two dress rehearsals held on 4 May; the final dress rehearsal on 5 May was also recorded for use as a production standby for use should broadcast of the live event became impossible.Template:Sfn

During the week of rehearsals, problems arose regarding the choice of presenters for the event. Oliver Mlakar and Helga Vlahović had been selected to host the contest, officially announced publicly in March 1990, however a second couple, Rene Medvešek and Template:Ill, had also been chosen as a reserve hosting pair.Template:Sfn No agreement on which duo would host the contest had been settled going into the rehearsal week however, and screen tests of the voting sequence with the contest's executive supervisor Frank Naef were scheduled to determine which of the pairings would get the job. The ages of Mlakar and Vlahović, respectively 54 and 45 years old at the time, had also resulted in criticism from press outlets ahead of the contest. Subsequently, Mlakar and Vlahović walked away during rehearsals on the Wednesday before the event and announced their resignations as show hosts, leading to a hastily arranged press conference to announce Medvešek and Marković as their replacements.Template:Sfn Meetings held behind closed doors over the following 24 hours however led to Mlakar and Vlahović returning to the contest as the show's presenters.Template:Sfn

For the first time in its history the contest featured an official mascot, "Eurocat", an animated anthropomorphic cat created by the Croatian illustrator Joško Marušić. Eurocat featured within the video postcards which served as an introduction to each country's entry, as well as providing an opportunity for transition between entries and allow stage crew to make changes on stage. The postcards for the 1990 contest centered around the theme of tourism, in conjunction with 1990 being the European Year of Tourism; each participating country commissioned their own postcard to highlight their country as a tourist destination, with Eurocat introducing these clips while highlighting cultural stereotypes associated with the competing countries.

With the advent of music videos during the 1980s, the television production of the contest also adapted to new aesthetics as it entered the 1990s; in contrast to previous editions, the 1990 contest saw an increased use of dynamic camera direction, with footage captured from cameras moving to and around the stage during the performances and showing angles that could not be seen by spectators in the auditorium.Template:Sfn This change in the visual aesthetics was part of a transition which made elaborately staged performances possible, bearing similarities to music videos and which went on to develop throughout the 1990s and into editions of the contest held during the twenty-first century.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Format

Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented. A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance. Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-only backing tracks, however any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage being mimed by the performers. The 1990 contest was the first to implement restrictions on the age of the performers, following criticism of the young age of the Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty entrants in the previous year's contest, 12-year-old Template:Ill and 11-year-old Nathalie Pâque respectively. For the 1990 event performers were required to be at least 16 years old in the year they competed in the event; although the United Kingdom had selected 15-year-old Emma as their representative, as she turned 16 later in the year she was still eligible to compete. The introduction of this rule, which remains in effect Template:As of but which now specifies that the contestant must be 16 years old on the day of the contest final, means that Sandra Kim, who won the contest for Template:Esccnty at the age of 13, will hold the record of the youngest ever Eurovision winner in perpetuity, barring any further changes to the rule.

The results of the 1990 contest were determined through the same scoring system as had first been introduced in Template:Escyr: each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry. The points awarded by each country were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, who were all required to be members of the public with no connection to the music industry, split evenly between men and women and by age. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Contest overview

The contest took place on 5 May 1990 at 21:00 (CEST) with a duration of 2 hours and 47 minutes and was presented by Oliver Mlakar and Helga Vlahović.Template:Sfn

The contest was opened with a pre-recorded film entitled Zagreb: City of Music, which showcased various locations in Zagreb and featured performances of various musical styles and genres. Another pre-recorded film featured during the interval between the competing entries and the voting sequence; entitled Yugoslav Changes, which highlighted the various cultures, landscapes, cuisines and industries within Yugoslavia.Template:Sfn The trophy awarded to the winners was presented at the end of the broadcast by the contest's executive producer Goran Radman.Template:Sfn

The contest's first entry suffered from a technical incident. The conductor of the Spanish entry was unable to hear the backing track, as the sound engineers had failed to raise the volume of the tape, and could not cue the orchestra to commence on time. When the volume was eventually raised the track was already partway through the song, meaning the orchestra and performers were out of sync with the tape, resulting in the two Salazar sisters of Azúcar Moreno leaving the stage as the backing tape continued to play. The tape was ultimately reset and the performance restarted with no further issues.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The winner was Template:Esccnty represented by the song "Insieme: 1992", written and performed by Toto Cutugno. It was Italy's second win in the contest, following their first victory in Template:Esccnty. At 46 years old Cutugno became the oldest Eurovision winner at that point. Template:Esccnty achieved their first top 5 placing since Template:Esccnty, placing equal second with Template:Esccnty, while Template:Esccnty's fourth place finish was the country's best ever result to that point. Template:Esccnty also achieved their best finish since Template:Esccnty, placing fifth. The 1990 contest marks the last time that the future "Big Five" countries all placed within the top 10: alongside Italy's first place, France's equal second place and Spain's fifth place finish, the Template:Esccnty placed sixth and Template:Esccnty placed ninth.

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1990Template:Sfn

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Template:Esc	Azúcar Moreno	""	96	5
2	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	""	11	19
3	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	""	46	12
4	Template:Esc	Kayahan	""	21	17
5	Template:Esc	Maywood	""	25	15
6	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	""	38	13
7	Template:Esc	Emma	"Give a Little Love Back to the World"	87	6
8	Template:Esc	Stjórnin	""	124	4
9	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	""	8	21
10	Template:Esc	Rita	""	16	18
11	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	"Hallo Hallo"	64	8
12	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	""	51	11
13	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname and Daniel Kovac	""	60	9
14	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	"White and Black Blues"	132	2
15	Template:Esc	Tajči	""	81	7
16	Template:Esc	Nucha	""	9	20
17	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	"Somewhere in Europe"	132	2
18	Template:Esc	Edin-Ådahl	""	24	16
19	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	"Insieme: 1992"	149	1
20	Template:Esc	Simone	""	58	10
21	Template:Esc	Anastasiou	""	36	14
22	Template:Esc	Beat	""	8	21

Spokespersons

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson, connected to the contest venue via telephone lines and responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country. Known spokespersons at the 1990 contest are listed below.

• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndAnna Partelidou
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndSolveig HerlinTemplate:Sfn
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndEileen Dunne
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndJoop van Os
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndTemplate:IllTemplate:Sfn
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndColin BerryTemplate:Sfn

Detailed voting results

Jury voting was used to determine the points awarded by all countries.Template:Sfn The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order.Template:Sfn The detailed breakdown of the points awarded by each country is listed in the tables below.

Detailed voting results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1990

		scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header	scope="col" Template:Vert header
rowspan="22" Template:Vert header	Spain	96		8	1	10	2		1	4	5			6	12	5	3	5			8	8	8	10
Greece	11					5																6
Belgium	46					7	4			1			4	8	8		2	1	7		4
Turkey	21					3			2	4				5		7
Netherlands	25		1		3		1	4			2		3		6		1			2		2
Luxembourg	38		4					3						3	12	2	3			1	5	5
United Kingdom	87	7	5	12			3				10	3	10	1	10	10		6		6	1	3
Iceland	124	4	3	10	1		8	12		10	8	10	7			4	12	7	8	3	10		7
Norway	8										4	1						3
Israel	16					4							2	4		1							5
Denmark	64	6		3	2				7	7	7		1				7	4	3	7	6	4
Switzerland	51	1	12		6		2					12			1	5	8					1	3
Germany	60	8		6			12	7	1			4						10	4	5	3
France	132	5		4	4	12			12	12	6	5	12	10		12	4	8	5		2	7	12
Yugoslavia	81	3			12			5	10	3	12	7			2			5	1	10		10	1
Portugal	9						7	2
Ireland	132	10	7	7	5	10	6	10	8	8		8	5	7	7		6		12		12		4
Sweden	24	2	2			6		6		6				2
Italy	149	12	10	8	8	8	10		3		1	6	8	6	4	6	10	12	10		7	12	8
Austria	58			2	7	1	5	8	6						3	8		2	2	12			2
Cyprus	36		6	5						2	5	2							6	4			6
Finland	8								5		3

12 points

The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. France received the maximum score of 12 points from six of the voting countries, with Italy receiving three sets of 12 points, Iceland, Ireland, Switzerland and Yugoslavia receiving two sets of maximum scores each, and Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom each receiving one maximum score.

Distribution of 12 points awarded at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
6	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc
3	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc
2	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc
1	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating 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. These commentators were typically sent to the venue to report on the event, and were able to provide commentary from small booths constructed at the back of the venue.

The contest was reportedly broadcast in 37 countries, with a number of non-participating broadcasting countries name-checked by Helga Vlahović during the event, specifically Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Romania, South Korea and the Soviet Union. The contest was also reportedly broadcast in Tunisia and other countries in Africa. Reports at the time indicated that the estimated global audience could be as high as 600 million viewers, with Vlahović also mentioning that the contest could be seen by as many as one billion people.

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Template:Refh
Template:Flagu	ORF	FS1	Barbara Stöckl
Template:Flagu	RTBF	RTBF1	Claude Delacroix
	BRT	TV2	Luc Appermont
		BRT 2	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	CyBC	RIK	Neofytos Taliotis
			Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	DR	DR TV	Jørgen de Mylius
		DR P3	Template:Ill and Kurt Helge Andersen
Template:Flagu	YLE	TV1	Erkki Pohjanheimo and Ossi Runne
			Template:N/A
Template:Flagu			Richard Adaridi
Template:Flagu	ARD		Fritz Egner
	SSVC	SSVC Television	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	ERT	ET1	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	RÚV	,	Arthúr Björgvin Bollason
Template:Flagu	RTÉ	RTÉ 1	Jimmy Greeley and Clíona Ní Bhuachalla	Template:Sfn
		RTÉ Radio 1	Larry Gogan
Template:Flagu	IBA	Israeli Television, Template:Ill	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	RAI	Template:Efn	Template:Ill
Template:Flagu	CLT		Template:Ill
Template:Flagu	NOS		Willem van Beusekom
Template:Flagu	NRK	, NRK P2	Leif Erik Forberg
Template:Flagu	RTP		Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	TVE	TVE 2	Luis Cobos
Template:Flagu	SVT	TV2	Template:Ill
	Template:Ill	SR P3	Template:Ill
Template:Flagu	SRG SSR		Template:Ill
			Template:N/A
			Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	TRT	TV1	Template:Ill
Template:Flagu	BBC	BBC1Template:Efn	Terry Wogan
		BBC Radio 2	Ken Bruce
Template:Flagu	JRT	,	Template:N/A
		Template:Ill	Template:N/A
		TV Ljubljana 1, Val 202	Template:N/A
		Template:Ill	Template:N/A
		TV Zagreb 1, Radio Zagreb 1	Template:N/A

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Template:Refh
Template:Flagu	SBS	SBS TVTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	ČST	ČST2Template:Efn	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	ETV		Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	SvF		Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	KNR	KNRTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	MTV	MTV2	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	TP	TP1Template:Efn	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	KBS	KBS1Template:Efn	Template:N/A
Template:Flagu	CT USSR	Programme One	Template:N/A

External links

• Template:Official website