Eurovision Song Contest 1996

Eurovision Song Contest 1996
Dates
Final	18 May 1996
Host
Venue	Oslo Spektrum Oslo, Norway
Presenter(s)	Ingvild Bryn Morten Harket
Musical director	Frode Thingnæs
Directed by	Pål Veiglum
Executive supervisor	Christine Marchal-Ortiz
Executive producer	Odd Arvid Strømstad
Host broadcaster	Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
Opening act	"Heaven's Not For Saints" performed by Morten Harket
Interval act	"Beacon Burning", performed by Nils Gaup & Runar Borge feat. Aamil Paus
Website	eurovision.tv/event/oslo-1996
Participants
Number of entries	23
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	Estonia  Finland  Netherlands  Slovakia   Switzerland
Non-returning countries	Denmark  Germany  Hungary  Israel  Russia
hide Participation map      Participating countries     Eliminated in qualifying round     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1996
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points	None
Winning song	Ireland "The Voice"
1995 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1997

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the 1995 contest with the song "Nocturne" by Secret Garden. It was the second time that Norway had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), the contest was held at Oslo Spektrum, with the final on 18 May 1996. The live show was presented by Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket.

Twenty-three countries participated in the contest. Prior to the event, a non-televised audio-only qualification round was organised by the EBU, in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final from twenty-nine, to a more manageable twenty-three.^[1] Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia, and Romania all failed to qualify. This is the only time Germany did not participate in the contest.

The winner was Ireland with the song "The Voice", performed by Eimear Quinn and written by Brendan Graham. This was Ireland's seventh victory in the contest, following their wins in 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993 and 1994. This was the country's fourth win in just five years. This win cemented Ireland as the country with the most wins in Eurovision history (they already broke the record for most wins in 1994). Norway, Sweden, Croatia and Estonia rounded out the top five, with the latter achieving their first top five placing in their participation. Further down the table, Portugal also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth.

Location[]

Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. For the first time, the Norwegian capital hosted the contest. This was the second time the event was staged in Norway, after the 1986 contest in Bergen. Oslo Spektrum, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was chosen as the host venue. Opened in December 1990, it is primarily known for hosting major events such as the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert and concerts by artists of national and international fame

Format[]

The presenters were Morten Harket and Ingvild Bryn. Harket, lead singer of a-ha, opened the show with a performance of his single "Heaven's Not for Saints", which was a hit in Norway at the time.

The European Broadcasting Union continued to experiment in their efforts to find a broadly acceptable method of whittling down the large number of potential participating countries to a more realistic figure.^[1] This year, they reverted to the qualifying round that had been used for the 1993 contest, but this time with just one country exempt from the process – the host Norway. The audio-only qualification round, which was never televised or broadcast on radio, was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final.^[1] With exception to the hosts Norway, audio entries from twenty-nine countries were played to national juries, of which only twenty-two proceeded to the televised final in Oslo.^[1] Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia, and Romania all failed to qualify. As a result, Macedonia's submission was never classified as a debut entry by the EBU, the nation eventually went on to make their official televised debut in 1998.^[1]

It rapidly became evident that this system was no more sustainable than any other the EBU had tried, as it meant that several countries had gone through their traditional full-blown national selection procedure to come up with an entry, only to suffer the anti-climax of having their challenge quietly extinguished without even having had the opportunity of presenting the song to an international audience. As a leading financial contributor to the contest, Germany were particularly aggrieved that their entry, the techno song "Planet of Blue" performed by Leon, was one of the seven cast aside. It was the only year in the history of the ESC in which Germany did not participate in the final.^[1]

The 1996 contest also featured two novelties — which similarly failed to become a tradition — firstly a short 'good luck message' for each entry, recorded by a political leader or official from their country. The seniority of the figure who delivered the message varied wildly from country to country, ranging from Presidents and Prime Ministers on one end of the spectrum to junior ministers or ambassadors on the other, but a few very significant European political figures did appear, including long-serving Swedish premier Göran Persson, President Alija Izetbegović of Bosnia and Herzegovina and future UN Secretary-General António Guterres, then Prime Minister of Portugal. But of course the only good luck wish that was fully rewarded in the end was that of Irish Taoiseach John Bruton, who introduced the song that took his country to a fourth win in five years.^[1]

Secondly, the voting section was conducted using "blue screen" virtual reality technology provided by Silicon Graphics. The host Ingvild Bryn introduced the viewers to the 'blue room', upon which a 3D scoreboard, views of the green room, the jury spokespersons and country graphics appeared. The only physical aspects were Ingvild herself and two podiums. For the first time in the contest's history, a jury spokesperson came to stage to deliver the scores rather than via telephone or video link. The Norwegian spokesperson Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft joined Ingvild Bryn in the blue screen set to announce Norway's scores.^[1] The virtual scoreboard only listed the name of the country and their total score, omitting the nation's flags for the first time since 1984. Prior to 1985, flags had only appeared on the scoreboard in 1977 and 1982. Scoreboard flags returned in 1997 and have appeared on every scoreboard since.

Conductors[]

Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra. This marked the final year in which every song featured the orchestra to some extent, although some more minimally than others (such as Austria or the United Kingdom).

Returning artists[]

Artist	Country	Previous Year(s)
Mariana Efstratiou	Greece	1987 (backing vocalist for Bang) 1989
Elisabeth Andreassen	Norway	1982 (for  Sweden, part of Chips) 1985 (part of Bobbysocks!) 1994 (along with Jan Werner Danielsen)

Qualifying round[]

Countries listed below submitted entries for the audio-only qualification round, which was never televised, and was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final. Despite a submitted entry from Macedonia, it was never classified as an official debut entry, although the nation would eventually make their official televised debut in 1998.^[1][2][3] Additionally, planned entries from Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine have been reported which ultimately did not materialise, with Bulgaria's name still appearing on the qualifier jury voting sheets. All three countries would eventually make their debut in the 2000s.^[4][5][6]

Draw[6]	Country	Artist	Song	Language[7][8]	Place[3][6]	Points[3][6]
01	Austria		"Weil's dr guat got"	Vorarlbergish	6	80
02	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Amila Glamočak	"Za našu ljubav"	Bosnian	21	29
03	Belgium	Lisa del Bo	"Liefde is een kaartspel"	Dutch	12	45
04	Switzerland	Kathy Leander	"Mon cœur l'aime"	French	8	67
05	Cyprus	Constantinos	"Mono gia mas" (Μόνο για μας)	Greek	15	42
06	Germany	Leon	"Planet of Blue"	German	24	24
07	Denmark	&	"Kun med dig"	Danish	25	22
08	Estonia	Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna	"Kaelakee hääl"	Estonian	5	106
09	Spain	Antonio Carbonell	"¡Ay, qué deseo!"	Spanish	14	43
10	Finland	Jasmine	"Niin kaunis on taivas"	Finnish	22	26
11	France	Dan Ar Braz & l'Héritage des Celtes	"Diwanit Bugale"	Breton	11	55
12	United Kingdom	Gina G	"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit"	English	3	153
13	Greece	Marianna Efstratiou	"Emis forame to himona anixiatika" (Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα)	Greek	12	45
14	Croatia	Maja Blagdan	"Sveta ljubav"	Croatian	19	30
15	Hungary	Gjon Delhusa	"Fortuna"	Hungarian	23	26
16	Ireland	Eimear Quinn	"The Voice"	English	2	198
17	Israel		"Shalom Olam" (שלום עולם)	Hebrew	28	12
18	Iceland	Anna Mjöll	"Sjúbídú"	Icelandic	10	59
19	Macedonia	Kaliopi	"Samo ti" (Само ти)	Macedonian	26	14
20	Malta	Miriam Christine	"In a Woman's Heart"	English	4	138
21	Netherlands	Maxine & Franklin Brown	"De eerste keer"	Dutch	9	63
22	Poland	Kasia Kowalska	"Chcę znać swój grzech..."	Polish	15	42
23	Portugal	Lúcia Moniz	"O meu coração não tem cor"	Portuguese	18	32
24	Romania	Monica Anghel & Sincron	"Rugă pentru pacea lumii"	Romanian	29	11
25	Russia		"Ya eto ya" (Я это я)	Russian	26	14
26	Sweden	One More Time	"Den vilda"	Swedish	1	227
27	Slovenia	Regina	"Dan najlepših sanj"	Slovene	19	30
28	Slovakia	Marcel Palonder	"Kým nás máš"	Slovak	17	38
29	Turkey	Şebnem Paker	"Beşinci Mevsim"	Turkish	7	69

Results[]

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language[7][8]	Place[9]	Points
01	Turkey	Şebnem Paker	"Beşinci Mevsim"	Turkish	12	57
02	United Kingdom	Gina G	"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit"	English	8	77
03	Spain	Antonio Carbonell	"¡Ay, qué deseo!"	Spanish	20	17
04	Portugal	Lúcia Moniz	"O meu coração não tem cor"	Portuguese	6	92
05	Cyprus	Constantinos	"Mono gia mas" (Μόνο για μας)	Greek	9	72
06	Malta	Miriam Christine	"In a Woman's Heart"	English	10	68
07	Croatia	Maja Blagdan	"Sveta ljubav"	Croatian	4	98
08	Austria		"Weil's dr guat got"	Vorarlbergish	10	68
09	Switzerland	Kathy Leander	"Mon cœur l'aime"	French	16	22
10	Greece	Marianna Efstratiou	"Emis forame to himona anixiatika" (Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα)	Greek	14	36
11	Estonia	Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna	"Kaelakee hääl"	Estonian	5	94
12	Norway	Elisabeth Andreassen	"I evighet"	Norwegian	2	114
13	France	Dan Ar Braz & l'Héritage des Celtes	"Diwanit Bugale"	Breton	19	18
14	Slovenia	Regina	"Dan najlepših sanj"	Slovene	21	16
15	Netherlands	Maxine & Franklin Brown	"De eerste keer"	Dutch	7	78
16	Belgium	Lisa del Bo	"Liefde is een kaartspel"	Dutch	16	22
17	Ireland	Eimear Quinn	"The Voice"	English	1	162
18	Finland	Jasmine	"Niin kaunis on taivas"	Finnish	23	9
19	Iceland	Anna Mjöll	"Sjúbídú"	Icelandic	13	51
20	Poland	Kasia Kowalska	"Chcę znać swój grzech..."	Polish	15	31
21	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Amila Glamočak	"Za našu ljubav"	Bosnian	22	13
22	Slovakia	Marcel Palonder	"Kým nás máš"	Slovak	18	19
23	Sweden	One More Time	"Den vilda"	Swedish	3	100

Voting structure[]

Each country had a jury that awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. One year later, televoting would be introduced in only some countries, such as Sweden and the United Kingdom. When Belén Fernández de Henestrosa, the Spanish spokesperson, announced the votes of the Spanish jury, she awarded two points to "Czechoslovakia" (while meaning 'Slovakia'). Furthermore, she awarded six points to "Holland" (the Netherlands), which host Ingvild Bryn misheard as "Poland." The official results table corrected this error, and the Netherlands' seventh-place result was restored at the expense of the United Kingdom, who ultimately finished eighth. Because originally Poland was awarded six points from Spain, Greece was placed 14th over Poland after the official results table corrected this error.^[1] Norway's entry, "I evighet", is notable for being the only runner-up not to receive a single "12 points" score in a Eurovision final since this voting method was introduced in 1975.

Scoreboard[]

Qualifying round[]

Qualifying round voting results^[6][10]

		Total score	Austria	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Belgium	Switzerland	Cyprus	Germany	Denmark	Estonia	Spain	Finland	France	United Kingdom	Greece	Croatia	Hungary	Ireland	Israel	Iceland	Macedonia	Malta	Netherlands	Norway	Poland	Portugal	Romania	Russia	Sweden	Slovenia	Slovakia	Turkey
Contestants	Austria	80		6	1		6	1	2		5	2	12		6		3			10		12		5	2					7
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	29				2		3			3	1				6						2								12
	Belgium	45									8	4		7				4	6					2	4	6	2					2
	Switzerland	67	3	3	3			7		5								7			8		5	6	3	7			4			6
	Cyprus	42									4			2	12		5				5	4						4			6
	Germany	24							5				5	10					3										1
	Denmark	22		4			3										1	2			2			1			4		5
	Estonia	106	5		5	4		8	8			8	1				6			5	1		10	10	5	5	3	12	7	3
	Spain	43	2				4								4	8						8					1			4	8	4
	Finland	26				6									8				5	7
	France	55							6	8		3						5		6	10				6	4					4	3
	United Kingdom	153	10		7		10	5	7	2		7	10			1	7	8	12			3	7	8	1	10	8		12	1	5	12
	Greece	45					12				7					7			2			5						5			7
	Croatia	30	1	7				2			1										3	1						1	8	6
	Hungary	26		1			2		1	6					2	3							3				7				1
	Ireland	198	12	12	8	7	8		3	10	2	10	8	12	10		2		10	12	6		6		10	3		7	10	10	10	10
	Israel	12											3								4											5
	Iceland	59		5						7		5	6						7					12			6	8			3
	Macedonia	14														2	4			2			1							5
	Malta	138	6		10	8	7	6		1	12		4		7	10	8	6						4	7	2	12	3	6		12	7
	Netherlands	63			4	3			10				2				12	3		3	7					12	5		2
	Poland	42	7					10		3				1	1								8					10			2
	Portugal	32	4		6									6	5				1				4	3						2		1
	Romania	11						4										1				6
	Russia	14				5				4				5
	Sweden	227	8	10	12	12	1	12	12	12		12	7	8			10	12	8	8	12		12	7	12	8	10	6		8		8
	Slovenia	30			2	1			4					3		5		10		1			2					2
	Slovakia	38		2			5				6				3	12						10
	Turkey	69		8		10					10	6		4		4			4	4		7			8	1			3

12 points[]

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the qualifying round.

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
10	Sweden	Belgium,  Denmark,  Estonia,  Finland,  Germany,  Ireland,  Macedonia,  Netherlands,  Poland,   Switzerland
4	Ireland	Austria,  Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Iceland,  United Kingdom
3	Malta	Romania,  Slovakia,  Spain
	United Kingdom	Israel,  Sweden,  Turkey
2	Austria	France,  Malta
	Netherlands	Hungary,  Portugal
1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Slovenia
	Cyprus	Greece
	Estonia	Russia
	Greece	Cyprus
	Iceland	Norway
	Slovakia	Croatia

Final[]

Final voting results^[11]

		Total score	Turkey	United Kingdom	Spain	Portugal	Cyprus	Malta	Croatia	Austria	Switzerland	Greece	Estonia	Norway	France	Slovenia	Netherlands	Belgium	Ireland	Finland	Iceland	Poland	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Slovakia	Sweden
Contestants	Turkey	57		6	8			10	1		6				4		7	5		5			5
	United Kingdom	77	3			12	1	6	7	3	4		2		8			12	3		4			6	6
	Spain	17					2	5	4			6
	Portugal	92	5	2			12		10	1	10	5		12	5		6	6		3	10		1		4
	Cyprus	72		12	7	3		2	8	2	5	12			2				1	6				10	2
	Malta	68	10		10				12			8		1		4						6		12	5
	Croatia	98	8	4	5	10	8	7			1	1	6	7		3	5	4	6		5	2	10	5	1
	Austria	68	4			5		12				2	7		12	1			8			8	6	3
	Switzerland	22		3												2	4	2	4	4	3
	Greece	36		7			10	1			2			3			1					1		8	3
	Estonia	94		10	4		7			5				8	1	8	3		2	12	12	10			12
	Norway	114	2	8		2	3		5	8	7		5		7	10	10	8	7	7	8	4	3		10
	France	18		1		1							3	4				7		2
	Slovenia	16			1				6												1		8
	Netherlands	78	1		6	7	5			12	3		4		10	5		1	5		2	7	2		8
	Belgium	22		5	12				2				1				2
	Ireland	162	12			8	6	4		7	12	10	12	10	6	12	12	3		10		12	12	7	7
	Finland	9												2							7
	Iceland	51			3	6				6		3	8	5		6			10			3		1
	Poland	31	7				4			4		7											7	2
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	13	6					3	3											1
	Slovakia	19			2			8				4										5
	Sweden	100				4				10	8		10	6	3	7	8	10	12	8	6		4	4

12 points[]

Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:^[11]

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
7	Ireland	Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Estonia,  Netherlands,  Poland,  Slovenia,   Switzerland,  Turkey
3	Estonia	Finland,  Iceland,  Sweden
2	Austria	France,  Malta
	Cyprus	Greece,  United Kingdom
	Malta	Croatia,  Slovakia
	Portugal	Cyprus,  Norway
	United Kingdom	Belgium,  Portugal
1	Belgium	Spain
	Netherlands	Austria
	Sweden	Ireland

Qualification for the 1997 contest[]

In addition to Ireland, the host country of the 1997 contest, the 24 countries with the highest average scores between 1993 and 1996 were allowed to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 alongside any countries which did not participate in the 1996 qualifying round.^[12][13]

Key:

  Automatic qualifier

  Qualifier

  Replacement qualifier

  Withdrew

Rank	Country	Average	Yearly Scores
			1993	1994	1995	1996
1	Ireland	154.75	187	226	44	162
2	Norway	114.50	120	76	148	114
3	United Kingdom	95.00	164	63	76	77
4	Sweden	84.25	89	48	100	100
5	Malta	77.50	69	97	76	68
6	France	76.75	121	74	94	18
7	Poland	70.67		166	15	31
8	Hungary	62.50		122	3	NQ
9	Croatia	61.75	31	27	91	98
10	Switzerland	61.67	148	15		22
11	Netherlands	58.00	92	4		78
12	Portugal	57.50	60	73	5	92
13	Cyprus	54.75	17	51	79	72
14	Greece	53.00	64	44	68	36
15	Spain	52.75	58	17	119	17
16	Denmark	50.50	9		92	NQ
17	Germany	49.00	18	128	1	NQ
18	Estonia	48.00		2		94
19	Austria	46.50	32	19	67	68
20	Russia	43.50		70	17	NQ
21	Iceland	43.25	42	49	31	51
22	Israel[a]	42.50	4		81	NQ
23	Slovenia	36.33	9		84	16
24	Turkey	29.33	10		21	57
25	Bosnia and Herzegovina[a]	23.25	27	39	14	13
26	Slovakia	17.00		15		19
27	Romania	14.00		14		NQ
28	Finland	13.33	20	11		9
29	Belgium	11.00	3		8	22
30	Macedonia	0.00				NQ

Good luck wishes[]

In 1996 all contestants were wished good luck by a politician from their own country in their own language. Those wishes were shown right before their performance. This was the only year in Eurovision with such wishes. These are the people who wished their country's participant good luck (language in parentheses):

•  Turkey – Süleyman Demirel, President of Turkey (Turkish)
•  United Kingdom – Virginia Bottomley, UK Secretary of State for National Heritage (English)
•  Spain – , Spanish ambassador (Spanish)
•  Portugal – António Guterres, Prime Minister of Portugal (Portuguese)
•  Cyprus – Glafkos Klerides, President of Cyprus (Greek)
•  Malta – Edward Fenech Adami, Prime Minister of Malta (Maltese)
•  Croatia – Zlatko Mateša, Prime Minister of Croatia (Croatian)
•  Austria – Elisabeth Gehrer, Federal Minister of Education, Science and Culture of Austria (German)
•   Switzerland – , Swiss Chargé d'affaires (French)
•  Greece – , Greek Chargé d'affaires (Greek)
•  Estonia – Tiit Vähi, Prime Minister of Estonia (Estonian)
•  Norway – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway (Norwegian)
•  France – Philippe Douste-Blazy, Minister of Culture of France (French)
•  Slovenia – Milan Kučan, President of Slovenia (Slovene)
•  Netherlands – Aad Nuis, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands (Dutch)
•  Belgium – Luc Van den Brande, Prime Minister of Flanders (Dutch)
•  Ireland – John Bruton, Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) (English)
•  Finland – Riitta Uosukainen, Speaker of Parliament of Finland (Finnish)
•  Iceland – Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (Icelandic)
•  Poland – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (Polish)
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Alija Izetbegović, Chairmen of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian)
•  Slovakia – Vladimír Mečiar, Prime Minister of Slovakia (Slovak)
•  Sweden – Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden (Swedish)

International broadcasts and voting[]

Voting and spokespersons[]

The spokespersons announced the score from their respective country's national jury in running order.

Commentators[]

Participating countries[]

Most countries sent commentators to Oslo or commented from their own country, in order to provide coverage of the contest, such as add insight to the participants.

Non-participating countries[]

National jury members[]

•  Turkey – , , Erol Evgin, Melih Kibar, , , Pınar Karakoç, , , , , , , , ,
•  United Kingdom – James Cohen,
•  Spain – (businesswoman), (psychologist and teacher), Elvira Quintillá (actress), Álvaro de Luna (actor), Mónica Pont (actress), Mikel Herzog (singer, future Spanish entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998), (model), (composer), Anabel Conde (singer, Spanish entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995), José Sancho (actor), (TV hostess), (singer), Adriana Vega (actress), Antonio Pinilla (student), (singer and composer), (make-up artist and gemologist)
•  Portugal – Nucha, ,
•  Cyprus – ,
•  Malta –
•  Greece – , , , Giannis Dimitras (singer, Greek entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981), , , , , , , , , , Nikolaos Papanikolaou, ,
•  Estonia – Urmas Lattikas (Estonian conductor in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994), Uno Loop, Kärt Tomingas, Katrin Karisma, Mihkel Mattisen, , Sarah (member of the group Code One), , Priit Aimla, Anne Reemann, Raivo Järvi,
•  Netherlands – , , ,
•  Ireland – Louis Walsh
•  Finland – , Maarit Hurmerinta,^[31] , , , Päivi Lepistö, , , , , , , , ,
•  Iceland – Paul Oscar (future Icelandic entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997),
•  Poland – Justyna (Polish entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995), Kayah, Grzegorz Ciechowski, , Urszula
•  Slovakia – Helena Krajčiová, Martin Hudec, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Notes and references[]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

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