Final 23 April 1983 Conductor Dieter Reith Executive supervisor Frank Naef | Presenter(s) Marlene Charell Director Rainer Bertram | |
 | ||
Venue Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle,
Munich, West Germany | ||
The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, on 23 April 1983. The presenter was Marlene Charell. Corinne Hermes was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, "Si la vie est cadeau". This was Luxembourg's fifth victory in the contest which equalled the record set by France in 1977. It was also the second year in a row where the winning entry was performed last on the night and the second year in a row in which Israel won 2nd place.
Contents
- Voting
- Language troubles
- Song success
- Nul points
- Interval act
- Conductors
- Voting structure
- 12 points
- Spokespersons
- National jury members
- References
The set that year was a quite small, arc-shaped stage surrounding the orchestra section, and a large background resembling giant electric heaters, which lit up in different sequences and combinations depending on the nature and rhythm of the songs. The 1983 contest was the first to be televised in Australia, via Channel 0/28 (now SBS Television) in Sydney and Melbourne. The contest went to become a very popular show in Australia, leading to an intended one-off participation in the 60th anniversary contest in 2015, and their invitation to return to the 2016 contest. Ireland was not in the contest because RTÉ was in strike action at that time.
Voting
Toward the end of the voting, it became evident that Luxembourg was going to win, but early on, Germany, Sweden, and Yugoslavia all threatened to take Luxembourg's lead, which they earned halfway through the jury vote. At one point, murmurs and boos arose from the crowd at the Greek jury's decision to give host country Germany only one point. This was the only occasion in which Greece didn't award any point to Cyprus.
Language troubles
Due to Charell's choice to announce points in three languages instead of two, the voting went on for nearly an hour, stretching the Eurovision contest past three hours for the first time ever. In addition, Charell made 13 language mistakes throughout the voting, some as innocuous as mixing up the words for "points" between the three languages, some as major as nearly awarding points to "Schweden" (Sweden) that were meant for "Schweiz" (Switzerland).
The language problems also occurred during the contest introductions, as Charell introduced Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as "...Johannes...Skorgan...", having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductor's name.
Song success
Ofra Haza from Israel, who took the second place, had an enduring success with her song "Hi" (חי) which became a hit in Europe, launching her career. This year also marked the first performance of Sweden's Carola Häggkvist, who took the third place, went on to win the contest in 1991 and represented her country again in 2006 (coming fifth). Her song, "Främling", became very popular in Sweden and in various other European countries. In the Netherlands, the song reached the top five, coupled with a Dutch-language version ("Je ogen hebben geen geheimen") which was performed by Carola herself. The 4th placed "Džuli", also became a hit in Europe. Singer Daniel released an English-language version as "Julie".
Nul points
This year's nul points were shared by Spain and Turkey. Spain's Remedios Amaya presented a song which was a stark departure from pop tastes and conventional perception of melody and harmony as it was a flamenco one, a style traditionally tied with the international image of Spain. Additionally, she sang her song barefoot. Some olés were heard from the present audience when she ended her performance. Turkey's entry, Opera, performed by Çetin Alp & the Short Waves, could on the other hand be said to fit in well with the spirit of Eurovision of that time. Nevertheless, the overinterpretation of the theme of the song, as well as the fact that the lyrics of the song consisted for the most part of the often-repeated word "opera" and names of well-known operas and composers, and Çetin's breaking into operatic "lay lay la", prompted extensive derision of the song, including the usual sardonic words from BBC commentator Terry Wogan ("a nicely understated performance there").
Interval act
The interval show was a dance number set to a medley of German songs which had become internationally famous, including Strangers in the Night. The host, Marlene Charell, was the lead dancer.
Conductors
Host conductor in bold
Voting structure
Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs.
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
Spokespersons
Each country announced their votes in the order of performance. The following is a list of spokespersons who announced the votes for their respective country.