The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the third time that Estonia entered the

Eurovision Song Contest 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 ...

, and was their first participation since their second-to-last place in the 1994 final. The entrant was again selected by a panel of expert judges, with thirteen entrants into the preselection final. The preselection would end up tied on points, with

Maarja-Liis Ilus Maarja-Liis Ilus, sometimes better known by her performing name Maarja (born 24 December 1980) is an Estonian pop music, pop musician and presenter. She has represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest twice. She was only 15 when she particip ...

and

Ivo Linna Ivo Linna (born 12 June 1949 in Kuressaare) is an Estonian singer. Eurovision Song Contest and Eesti Laul He represented Estonia alongside Maarja Liis Ilus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo with the song " Kaelakee Hääl" (The Sound ...

's duet "Kaelakee hääl" winning on the basis of being awarded more maximum points than the runner-up Kadri Hunt. In the final, Ilus and Linna finished 5th.

Before Eurovision

Eurolaul 1996

The final was held on 27 January 1996 at the Dekoltee nightclub in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, hosted by

Marko Reikop Marko Reikop (born 19 June 1969 in Tallinn) is an Estonian TV host. He graduated from the Tallinn University on bibliography and is employed by radio and TV channels of the Estonian Public Broadcasting since 1991. He has presented the Estonian n ...

and Karmel Eikner. Some of the participating singers were not actually present and instead appeared on a video wall screen, however Kirile Loo didn't appear at all (not even on the video screen) so during her song there were simply many shots of the stage. The winner was chosen by a nine-member international jury panel, with Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna tying first with Kadri Hunt on 62 points. After a review of the scoring, it was announced that Ilus and Linna were the winners, due to the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

judge awarding them with one top vote of 10 points whereas Hunt had not received any top votes. Several artists had also competed in the last Estonian preselection for the 1994 contest, including

Evelin Samuel Evelin Samuel (born 13 May 1975) is an Estonian singer, songwriter, musical theater performer, author of children's books and participant in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Evelin Samuel has been singing since childhood and was even record ...

and

Pearu Paulus Pearu Paulus (, born 3 November 1967) is an Estonian singer. He has participated in competition "Kaks takti ette". In 1994 he participated in Eurolaul (with Hedvig Hanson Hedvig Hanson (born 22 April 1975 in Tartu) is an Estonian jazz vocalis ...

At Eurovision

In 1996, for the only time in Eurovision history, an audio-only qualifying round of the 29 songs entered (excluding hosts Norway who were exempt) was held in March in order for the seven lowest-scoring songs to be eliminated before the final. "Kaelakee hääl" placed 5th with 106 points, thus qualifying for the final. On the night of the final, Ilus and Linna performed 11th, following Greece and preceding Norway. At the end of the voting they have received 94 points, finishing 5th out of 23 competing countries.

Voting

Qualifying round

Final

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1996

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996

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 ...