Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961
| Eurovision Song Contest 1961 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Belgium | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Eurosong | |||
| Selection date(s) | 29 January 1961 | |||
| Selected entrant | Bob Benny | |||
| Selected song | "September, gouden roos" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 15th, 1 point | |||
| Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Belgium was represented by Bob Benny, with the song "September, gouden roos", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. The song was chosen in the national final on 29 January. Benny had previously represented Belgium in the 1959 contest. Future Belgian entrant Jacques Raymond (1963 and 1971) finished runner-up in the final.
Before Eurovision[]
National final[]
National final were held on 29 February 1961 at Amerikaans Theater in Brussels and hosted by Aimée De Smet. Six songs took part with the winner being chosen by an "expert" jury. It is not known by what system the songs were scored.[1]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Sandler | "Moeder" | 8 | 6 |
| 2 | Jacques Raymond | "Als je weent, als je lacht" | 40 | 2 |
| 3 | Jo Leemans | "Af en toe" | 33 | 3 |
| 4 | Bob Benny | "September, gouden roos" | 60 | 1 |
| 5 | Luc van Hoeselt | "Bonjour" | 21 | 4 |
| 6 | Enny Denita | "Maandenkrans der liefde" | 14 | 5 |
At Eurovision[]
On the night of the final Bob Benny performed 11th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding Norway.
At the close of the voting "September, gouden roos" had received only 1 point (from Luxembourg), placing Belgium joint last (with Austria) of the 16 competing entries. The Belgian jury split its 10 points between Norway (5), Italy (4) and the United Kingdom (1).[2]
Voting[]
Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.
|
|
Trivia[]
- According to Dutch newspaper Het vrije volk, conductor Francis Bay was not happy that Belgium didn't receive a single point from the Dutch juries, while the French-speaking countries were "forming a block" according to him. He proposed to set up a voting block with the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries.[4]
References[]
- ^ ESC National Finals database 1961
- ^ ESC History - Belgium 1961
- ^ a b "Results of the Final of Cannes 1961". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk : Democratisch-socialistisch dagblad".
- Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
- Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961
- 1961 in Belgian television