1983 Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" by Nicole. Despite their first victory the year before, this was the second time Germany had hosted the contest, having previously done so in . Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the contest was held at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle on 23 April 1983 and was hosted by German dancer Marlene Charell.

Twenty countries took part this year, with , and all returning this year, while decided not to participate.

The winner was with the song "Si la vie est cadeau" by Corinne Hermes, which equalled the record of 5 victories set by in . This record would in turn be beaten by in 1994. It was also the second year in a row where the winning entry was performed last on the night and the second year in a row in which won 2nd place. For the third year in a row, at least one country ended up with nul points, and in this case, it happened to be two countries, and , neither of whom were able to get off the mark.

The 1983 contest was the first to be televised in Australia, via Channel 0/28 (now SBS Television) in Sydney and Melbourne. The contest went on to become popular in Australia, leading to the at the in 2015.

Location

Munich is a German city and capital of the Bavarian state. As the capital, Munich houses the parliament and state government. Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle was chosen to host the contest. It was initially named after the president of the Bavarian State Sport Association. The 6,700-seat hall opened in 1972 to host basketball events for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Format

Stage design

The set that year was a quite small, arc-shaped stage surrounding the orchestra section, and a large background resembling giant electric heaters, which lit up in different sequences and combinations depending on the nature and rhythm of the songs.

Presentation format

Hostess Marlene Charell made all of her announcements in German before translating a repetition in both French and English. After presenting all of the 20 participating acts at the start of the show and then making a formal welcome, Charell also introduced each song individually, standing in front of elaborate floral arrangements, all of which she had designed herself, in place of a pre-filmed 'postcard'. In all three languages, Charel named the country, song title, performing artist, author, composer and conductor. Together with an on screen title card naming the upcoming country prior to her verbal introductions, this extended the break in between each song to three minutes minimally.

Due to host Marlene Charell's choice to announce points in three languages instead of two, the voting went on for nearly an hour, stretching the Eurovision contest past three hours for the second time ever, after 1979.Eurovision 1983 facts
/ref> In addition, Charell made 13 language mistakes throughout the voting, some as innocuous as mixing up the words for "points" between the three languages, some as major as nearly awarding points to "Schweden" (Sweden) that were meant for "Schweiz" (Switzerland).

The language problems also occurred during the contest introductions, as Charell introduced the Finnish singer Ami Aspelund as "Ami Aspesund", furthermore she introduced the Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as "...Johannes...Skorgan...",Boom-Bang-a-Bang: Eurovision's Funniest Moments, BBC-TV, hosted by Terry Wogan having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductor's name.

Interval act

The interval show was a dance number set to a medley of German songs which had become internationally famous, including "Strangers in the Night". The host, Marlene Charell, was the lead dancer.

Song success

Ofra Haza from Israel, who took the second place, had an enduring success with her song " Hi" (חי) which became a hit in Europe, launching her career. This year also marked the first performance of Sweden's Carola Häggkvist, who took the third place, went on to win the contest in and represented her country again in (coming fifth). Her song, " Främling", became very popular in Sweden and in various other European countries. In the Netherlands, the song reached the top five, coupled with a Dutch-language version ("Je ogen hebben geen geheimen") which was performed by Carola herself. The 4th placed " Džuli", also became a hit in Europe. Singer Daniel released an English-language version as "Julie".

Nul points

This year's ''nul points'' were shared by Spain and Turkey. Spain's Remedios Amaya presented a song which was a stark departure from pop tastes and conventional perception of melody and harmony as it was a flamenco one, a style traditionally tied with the international image of Spain. Additionally, she sang her song barefoot. Some olés were heard from the present audience when she ended her performance. Turkey's entry, ''Opera'', performed by Çetin Alp & the Short Waves, could on the other hand be said to fit in well with the spirit of Eurovision of that time. Nevertheless, the overinterpretation of the theme of the song, as well as the fact that the lyrics of the song consisted for the most part of the often-repeated word "opera" and names of well-known operas and composers, and Çetin's breaking into operatic "lay lay la", prompted extensive derision of the song, including the usual sardonic words from BBC
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