Portugal was represented by

Paulo de Carvalho Paulo de Carvalho (born Manuel Paulo de Carvalho Costa, in Lisbon, on 15 May 1947) is a Portuguese singer. Career Carvalho co-founded the band The Sheiks in 1965. He sang and played the drums. He also played an instrumental role, either as a fo ...

, with the song " E depois do adeus", at the

1974 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brighton, United Kingdom and was organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corpor ...

, which took place on 6 April in Brighton. "E depois do adeus" was chosen as the Portuguese entry at the Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa on 7 March.

Before Eurovision

Festival da Canção 1974

The Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1974 was held at the

Teatro Maria Matos The Maria Matos Theatre ( pt, Teatro Maria Matos) is a theatre located in the civil parish of Alvalade, in the municipality and Portuguese capital of Lisbon. History Originally, the building was designed by the architect Fernando Ramalho. But, t ...

in Lisbon, hosted by Glória de Matos and

Artur Agostinho Artur Fernandes Agostinho (25 December 1920 – 22 March 2011) was a Portuguese journalist, recipient of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword The Military Order of Saint James of the Sword ( pt, Ordem Militar de Sant'Iago da Espada) ...

. Ten songs took part in the final. The results were determined by a distrital jury, that had 20 votes each, and a selection jury, composed of nine elements, to vote, each one with 10 votes to distribute among the songs in the contest. For the first time,

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...

was called to vote

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Carvalho performed 16th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The voting system tried between 1971 and 1973 was abandoned, and for 1974 returned to the previous system of ten jury members in each country awarding one vote each. At the close of the voting the song had received 3 points, placing joint last (along with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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 the ...

and Switzerland). The orchestra during the Portuguese entry was conducted by

José Calvário José Carlos Barbosa Calvário (1951, Porto – 17 June 2009, Oeiras) was a Portuguese songwriter and conductor. He was also a composer, and conducted at many Portuguese festivals.

Voting

Aftermath

Despite the modest showing in Brighton at the Contest itself, the song achieved considerable fame as one of the two signals to launch the Carnation Revolution in Portugal against the Estado Novo regime of

Marcelo Caetano Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano (; 17 August 1906 – 26 October 1980) was a Portuguese politician and scholar. He was the second and last leader of the Estado Novo after succeeding António Salazar. He served as prime minister from 196 ...

- the other being the folk song " Grândola Vila Morena" by

Zeca Afonso Zeca may refer to: * José Afonso (1929–1987), Portuguese folk and political musician also known mononymously as Zeca * Zeca (footballer, born 1946), full name Jose Luiz Ferreira Rodrigues, Brazilian football manager known mononymously as Zeca ...

, which was the signal for the coup leaders to announce that they had taken control of strategic parts of the country. It was broadcast at 22.55 on 24 April 1974 by 'Emissores Associados de Lisboa'. Histories of the Contest tend to take a facetious view of this fact. In his Official History of The Eurovision Song Contest author

John Kennedy O'Connor John Kennedy O'Connor (born 1964) is a television and radio broadcaster, author and entertainment commentator. He was born in North London, but is a naturalized citizen of the United States. He has written, reported and broadcast for numerous m ...

, for example, describes it as "the only Eurovision entry to have actually started a revolution", while Des Mangan suggests that other Portuguese entries (he mentions

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

's " Se eu te pudesse abraçar") would not be likely to inspire coups.O'Connor, John Kennedy (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1974 1974 Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 Eurovision