The Netherlands was represented by

Ben Cramer Ben Cramer (born Bernardus Kramer; 17 February 1947) is a Dutch singer who represented the Netherlands in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest. Music career Early years Cramer was born in Amsterdam. He made his television debut in 1966 with his ...

, with the song "De oude muzikant", at the

1973 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song " Après toi" by Vicky Leandros. Organised by the E ...

, which took place on 7 April in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

. Cramer was selected internally by broadcaster NOS to be the Dutch representative and the song was chosen at the national final on 28 February. The Netherlands was considered one of the most contemporary-minded countries when it came to choosing Eurovision entries, so the choice in 1973 of a stylistically and lyrically very old-fashioned song, which would not have sounded out of place in a 1950s contest, was widely regarded as rather strange.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival 1973

The final was held on 28 February 1973 at the Theater Carré in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, hosted by Viola van Emmenes and Simon van Collem. Four songs were performed and voting was by eleven regional juries with 10 points each to divide between the songs. "De oude muzikant" emerged the clear winner.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Cramer performed 13th in the running order, following

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and preceding

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. At the close of voting "De oude muzikant" had received 69 points, placing the Netherlands 14th of the 17 entries.ESC History - Netherlands 1973
/ref> The Dutch conductor at the contest was

Harry van Hoof Harry van Hoof (born 16 March 1943) is a Dutch conductor, composer and music arranger. Van Hoof has written many successful productions to his name already, he has his own production company and he had his first success as an arranger with "Sof ...

Voting

References

External links

Dutch Preselection 1973
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1973

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1973

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 ...