Festival da Canção (; "Song Festival") or Festival RTP da Canção is the name given to the national festival, produced and broadcast by

Rádio e Televisão de Portugal Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) is the public service broadcasting organisation of Portugal. It operates four national television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several satellite and cable offerings. The current co ...

(RTP) to choose the for 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 ...

. It was first held in 1964.

History

Like most music festivals in isolated countries, the Festival da Canção was a very important event for the still-incipient Portuguese music industry of the 1960s and 1970s. Left-wing composers and writers would try to squeeze subversive lyrics in the contest, with great effect. After the 1974 revolution, incidentally code-triggered by that year's winner being played on national radio, Portugal became increasingly open to foreign culture, thus deeming the Festival as a lesser musical event, dominated by below-standard pop songs with little or no impact in the industry, although remaining a popular TV show. The 1990s saw a recovery of the contest's image, then considered a viable means for a new singer to start a career. Internationally acclaimed Portuguese singers

Dulce Pontes Dulce José Silva Pontes (; born 8 April 1969) is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk, and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist. Her songs contributed to the 1990s ...

and

Sara Tavares Sara Alexandra Lima Tavares (born 1 February 1978) is a Portugal, Portuguese singer, composer, guitarist and percussionist. She was born and brought up in Lisbon, Portugal, where she still lives. Second-generation Portuguese of Cape Verdean d ...

made their debut in the 1991 and 1994 editions, respectively. Many other unknown performers like Lucia Moniz and Anabela leaped to national stardom after taking the RTP trophy. After reaching an all-time high 6th place in the 1996 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the festival steadily declined from then on. In 2000, the winner ''Liana'' did not participate in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2000 The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the 45th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson. Organised by the Europea ...

, as Portugal had been relegated from the 2000 contest after two consecutive poor showings in 1998 and 1999; this would be the second time in the festival's history that the winner did not participate in Eurovision. In 2002, the Festival da Canção was placed on hiatus, contradicting the tradition of staging a Festival da Canção even without participating in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, as happened in 2000 and 1970. Since 2001, the festival saw consecutive changes of format. 2005 saw RTP commissioning a song for Eurovision, rather than organizing some kind of competition. Since 2006, RTP settled for a traditional multi-singer, multi-composer competitive format, claiming the memory of older contests and songs. Producers have since been invited to come up with songs, lyrics and singers, and the 2007 result with Sabrina almost making it to the Eurovision final, gave RTP the necessary confidence to maintain the current format. In 2009, an open call for songs was held by RTP, abolishing the invited producers method, with online voting deciding the qualifiers to the televised final from a list of 24 songs, with 12 competing in the live contest. More changes to the format of the contest were made in 2010. Two semi-finals and a final are now held to select the winner. Foreign composers were once again allowed to compete. Since 2017, different languages are allowed to compete. The 2020 edition of the festival marked the third time in its history where the winner was unable to participate in Eurovision, as the contest itself was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Hosts

*1964:

Henrique Mendes Henrique Mendes (January 2, 1931 – July 8, 2004) was a Portuguese television presenter and actor, he is best known for hosting several editions of Festival da Canção. Mendes joint Rádio Renascença in 1950 as a radio announcer and in 1958 he ...

and Maria Helena Fialho Gouveia *1965: Henrique Mendes *1966: Henrique Mendes and Maria Fernanda *1967: Henrique Mendes and Isabel Wolmar *1968: Henrique Mendes and Maria Fernanda *1969: *1970: Maria Fernanda 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 ...

*1971: Henrique Mendes and *1972: and Carlos Cruz *1973: Alice Cruz 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) ...

*1974: and Artur Agostinho *1975:

Maria Elisa Maria Elisa Domingues, known as Maria Elisa (born June 4, 1950) is a Portuguese journalist and television presenter. Early years Maria Elisa was born in Lisbon, Portugal. After attending the Medical School of the University of Lisbon for two y ...

and *1976:

Eládio Clímaco Eládio Taboas Clímaco (born 27 October 1941, in Lisbon) is a Portuguese television presenter best known for hosting ''Festival da Canção'', ''Jeux Sans Frontières'', commentating on the Eurovision Song Contest for RTP viewers, and providing ...

and Ana Zanatti *1977:

Nicolau Breyner João Nicolau de Melo Breyner Moreira Lopes GOIH GOM (30 July 1940 – 14 March 2016), better known as Nicolau Breyner, was a Portuguese actor, screenwriter, producer, director and television host. He was one of the most well-known figures i ...

and

Herman José Hermann José von Krippahl , known as Herman José (born 19 March 1954), is a Portuguese-born German comedian, television host, actor and musician. He is best known for his numerous TV shows and comedy sketches. Starting his career in the mid- ...

*1978: Eládio Clímaco and Maria José Azevedo *1979:

José Fialho Gouveia José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

and *1980: Eládio Clímaco and Ana Zanatti *1981: Eládio Clímaco and *1982: Alice Cruz, José Fialho Gouveia, and *1983: Eládio Clímaco and

Valentina Torres Valentina may refer to: Entertainment Film * ''Valentina'' (1950 film), a 1950 Argentine film * ''Valentina'' (2008 film), a 2008 Argentine film Television * ''Valentina'' (1993 telenovela), a 1993 Mexican telenovela * Valentina (2013 telenov ...

*1984: and José Fialho Gouveia *1985: Eládio Clímaco, and José Fialho Gouveia *1986: Eládio Clímaco, Ana Zanatti, José Fialho Gouveia, Henrique Mendes and Maria Helena *1987: Ana Zanatti *1988: Ana Paula Reis, Valentina Torres and

António Sequeira Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

*1989: and

António Vitorino de Almeida Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

*1990: Ana do Carmo and

*1991:

Júlio Isidro Júlio José de Pinho Isidro do Carmo ComIH (born 5 January 1945 in Lisbon), better known as Júlio Isidro is a Portuguese television presenter, radio announcer and entertainer. Early career When fifteen, Isidro was hired by RTP to host the dai ...

and Ana Paula Reis *1992:

and Ana Zanatti (final); Júlio Isidro (semi-final) *1993: Margarida Mercês de Melo and (final); Júlio Isidro (semi-final) *1994: Ana Paula Reis and

(final); Ana do Carmo and

Luís de Matos Luis de Matos (born 23 August 1970, full name Luis Manuel Curcialeiro Godinho de Matos) is a Portuguese magician. He has been called “the best known illusionist in Portugal” and was the co-winner of the "Golden Grolla" in 2013 alongside L ...

(semi-final) *1995:

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 ...

Sofia Morais Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. ...

and

*1996: Isabel Angelino and

*1997: and (final); Isabel Angelino (semi-final) *1998:

Lúcia Moniz Ana Lúcia Pereira Moniz (born 9 September 1976) is a Portuguese singer and actress. Moniz represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and has released five music albums She has also acted in several television shows, in theat ...

and *1999:

Manuel Luís Goucha Manuel Luís Nunes Sousa Goucha (born 25 December 1954) is a Portuguese television presenter and journalist ( TVI). The presenter of a long-lasting morning show in RTP (''Praça da Alegria''), followed by another in rival TVI, Goucha was also k ...

and Alexandra Lencastre *2000: and Gaspar Borges *2001:

Sónia Araújo Sónia Araújo (born 24 November 1970) is a Portuguese TV hostess, known for her work in the Portuguese talk show '' Praça da Alegria''. She participated in the 2007 edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest, in which she won the fifth place. ...

and Cristina Möhler *2002: Not held *2003:

Catarina Furtado Catarina Cardoso Garcia da Fonseca Furtado (born 25 August 1972) is a Portuguese television presenter, actress and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. Catarina was born in Lisbon and is a daughter of RTP journalist Joaquim Furtado. Career Throughout ...

*2004: Catarina Furtado *2005:

and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira *2006: and

Jorge Gabriel Jorge Gabriel Mendes Fialho, simply referred to as Jorge Gabriel, (born 29 May 1968 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese television presenter. The TV shows presented by him included ''Quem Quer Ser Milionário?'' (the Portuguese version of ''Who Wants ...

*2007: Isabel Angelino and Jorge Gabriel *2008:

Sílvia Alberto Sílvia Alberto (born 18 May 1981) is a Portuguese television presenter and actress, currently employed by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. She began her career in 2000, presenting ''Clube Disney'' on RTP1. She was one of the hosts of the 2018 ...

*2009: Sílvia Alberto *2010: Sílvia Alberto *2011: Sílvia Alberto *2012: Sílvia Alberto and *2013: Not held *2014:

José Carlos Malato José Carlos Malato (born 7 March 1964, in Monforte) is a Portuguese TV presenter, radio broadcaster, copywriter and college teacher. In 2018, he publicly declared himself as gay. In 2022, he declared himself as non-binary. Television programs ...

and Sílvia Alberto *2015:

and Catarina Furtado *2016: Not held *2017:

and

(1st semi-final);

and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (2nd semi-final);

, Sílvia Alberto and

Filomena Cautela Filomena Cautela (born 16 December 1984) is a Portuguese television presenter and actress. Cautela started her acting career in the theatre in the year 2000. In 2004, she made her debut in cinema, and in 2005, she was cast as a presenter by MTV Po ...

(final) *2018: Jorge Gabriel and José Carlos Malato (1st semi-final); Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (2nd semi-final); Filomena Cautela and (final) *2019: Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (1st semi-final); José Carlos Malato and Jorge Gabriel (2nd semi-final); Filomena Cautela and (final) *2020: Jorge Gabriel and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (1st semi-final); José Carlos Malato and Sónia Araújo (2nd semi-final); Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final) *2021: Jorge Gabriel and Sónia Araújo (1st semi-final); Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato (2nd semi-final); Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final) *2022: Jorge Gabriel and Sónia Araújo (1st semi-final); Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato (2nd semi-final); Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final)

Green room presenters

Winners

Venues

Final

Venues (since 2017)

Key: SF = Semi-final; F = Final

References

External links

Festival da Canção Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Festival da Cancao Eurovision Song Contest selection events Music festivals in Portugal Rádio e Televisão de Portugal original programming Music festivals established in 1964 Pop music festivals 1964 establishments in Portugal Annual events in Portugal