Portugal was represented for the second time by

Carlos Mendes Carlos Mendes (born December 25, 1980) is an American soccer manager and former player currently serving as head coach of the United States Merchant Marine Academy women's soccer program. He holds American and Portuguese nationality, due to lin ...

, with the song "A festa da vida", at the

1972 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1972 was the 17th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporat ...

, which took place on 25 March in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. "A festa da vida" was chosen as the Portuguese entry at the Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa on 22 February.

Before Eurovision

Festival da Canção 1972

The Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1972 was held at the

Teatro São Luiz The Teatro São Luiz is a theatre located in the Chiado district of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. It opened on 22 May 1894. Early history ''Teatro Municipal de São Luiz'' was the idea of the Portuguese actor, Guilherme da Silveira, who be ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, hosted by Alice Cruz and

Carlos Cruz Carlos Cruz may refer to: *Carlos Cruz (boxer) (1937–1970), Dominican lightweight world champion *Carlos Cruz (television presenter) (born 1942), Portuguese presenter and convicted paedophile *Juan-Carlos Cruz (born 1962), celebrity chef on Food ...

. Eight songs took part in the final. The results were determined by a new voting system: in addition to the vote of the usual distrital jury, based in the respective 18 district capitals that had 20 votes each, RTP called the selection jury, composed of eight elements, to vote, each one with 10 votes to distribute among the songs in the contest. This year, the Interpretation Prize was established, an award that over the course of several festivals distinguished the best interpretations in the respective festivals;

Duarte Mendes José Henrique Duarte Mendes (born 7 August 1947, Lisbon) is a former Portuguese captain and singer. He participated in Festival da Canção in 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1973 but he did not win until 1975 when he performed " Madrugada" (lyrics and song ...

for the interpretation of "Cidade alheia" was elected this year.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Mendes performed 7th in the running order, following

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and preceding

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. At the close of the voting the song had received 90 points, coming 7th in the field of 18 competing countries, at the time Portugal's highest Eurovision finish. The orchestra during the Portuguese entry was conducted by Richard Hill. The Portuguese jury members were Pedro Sousa Macedo and Maria João Aguiar.Vasco Hogan Teves, 1964–1983 20 anos de Festival RTP da Canção

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1972

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...