Country Spain Language Spanish Lyricist(s) Isidro Muñoz | As Remedios Amaya Composer(s) José Miguel Évoras | |
Artist(s) María Dolores Amaya Vega | ||
"¿Quién maneja mi barca?" ([ˈkjem maˈnexa mi ˈβarka], "Who sails my boat?") was the Spanish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed in Spanish by flamenco singer Remedios Amaya.
Musically the song is in the late 1970s - early 1980s genre 'flamenco-rock', also referred to as New Flamenco, which fused Spain's Arabic, Andalusian, Sephardic and Gypsy heritage with contemporary Anglosaxon pop and rock instrumentation, in this case from 1980s synthpop; with the exception of bass and electric guitar the studio recording of "¿Quién maneja mi barca?" has a soundscape predominantly made up of drum machines, synthesizers and vocoders. When performed live at Eurovision in Munich these were however replaced by live drums, brass and woodwind.
Lyrically the song mirrors the music's dramatic nature, focussing on emotions of love, passion and jealousy by posing a series of metaphorical questions. The central theme is: "Who sails my boat? It's drifting me away. Tell me, who sails my boat?" and in the verses: "Your mother's braids, tell me, who braids them?". In the bridge Amaya confesses: "Whatever you ask of me, I'll give it to you." and then returns to the song's central question; "Who sails my boat?".
Remedios Amaya's performance of the song on stage in Munich, singing with the traditional Spanish 'cantaora' technique and dancing barefoot, was at the time described by BBC commentator Terry Wogan as "tempestuous" and "very, very ethnic indeed".
The song was performed 7th on the night, following Turkey's Çetin Alp and The Short Waves with "Opera" and preceding the Switzerland's Mariella Farré with "Io cosi non ci sto". At the close of voting, it had received 0 points, placing 19th (equal last) in a field of 20.
It was succeeded as Spanish representative at the 1984 contest by Bravo with "Lady, Lady".