Eurovision_Song_Contest_1978

Eurovision Song Contest 1978

Eurovision Song Contest 1978

International song competition

The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the 1977 contest with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Télévision Française 1 (TF1), the contest was held at the Palais des Congrès on 22 April 1978 and was directed by Bernard Lion [fr].[1] The contest was presented by French television presenters Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. This was the first time that more than one presenter had hosted the contest as well as the first to have a male presenter since 1956.

Quick Facts Dates, Final ...

Twenty countries participated, the highest number of competing countries in the history of the competition at the time. Denmark and Turkey both returned to the contest. Denmark had not participated since 1966, 12 years before.

The winner of the contest was Israel with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. The winning entry was a love song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi (the title is an expansion of the Hebrew word ani, meaning "I"). This was Israel's first Eurovision win, and it was also the first winning song to be performed in one of the Semitic languages. Furthermore, it was also the only winning song to be conducted by a woman, Nurit Hirsh. Norway finished last for the fifth time, gaining the first nul points after the new voting system was implemented in 1975.

Location

Palais des Congrès, Paris – host venue of the 1978 contest.

The event took place in Paris, the capital and largest city of France, with the host venue being the Palais des congrès de Paris, which is a concert venue, convention centre and shopping mall in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, the venue was inaugurated in 1974.

Participating countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest
Quick Facts – Participation summaries by country ...

Denmark returned to the competition after having been absent for twelve years, while Turkey did so after missing out two years.[2] This meant that, for the first time, the contest had twenty participating nations competing.

More information Country, Broadcaster ...

Returning artists

More information Artist, Country ...

Format

The postcards were filmed live, featuring the artists making their way to the stage. They took a corridor, then an elevator. Leaving the lift, they were greeted by the previous participants and then made their entrances to the stage. The camera also made several shots of the audience, notably Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.

Each song was accompanied by a 45-piece orchestra.[1]

The Swedish participant Björn Skifs was unhappy with the rule that every country would have to perform in their native language. He planned to sing in English anyway, but changed his mind at the last moment, causing him to completely forget the lyrics. He therefore sang the first few lines in gibberish before finding the words again.

The Israeli win caused problems for several North African and Middle-Eastern nations that were televising the contest, even though they were not participating. According to author and political commentator John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, when Israel became the clear winners during the voting, most of the Arabic stations ended their transmission of the contest. Jordanian TV finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen, later announcing that the Belgian entry (which finished second) was the winner.[8]

Contest overview

The contest was held on 22 April 1978, beginning at 21:30 CEST (19:30 UTC).[9]

Fears of terrorist attacks like at the Summer Olympics 1972 in Munich and of stage invasions like in 1964 meant that security measures in and around the Palais des Congrès were particularly tight: 200 police officers, some of them as undercover agents, tried to prevent any potential incidents. Spectators had to go through metal detectors upon arrival at the Palais des Congrès.[9]

In addition to his duties as a host together with Denise Fabre, Léon Zitrone also served as commentator for France, in an own commentary box backstage.[9]

More information R/O, Country ...

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1978 contest are listed below.

Detailed voting results

More information Total score, Ireland ...

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

More information N., Contestant ...

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[15] TF1 provided 29 commentary boxes in the auditorium for foreign broadcasters.[9]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in 17 other countries, including Algeria, Iceland, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Yugoslavia, in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Hong Kong, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.[1][4][9] No official accounts of the viewing figures are known to exist. An estimate given in the French press ahead of the contest was 350 million viewers worldwide.[9]

More information Country, Broadcaster ...
More information Country, Broadcaster ...

See also

Notes

  1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[7]
  2. Deferred broadcast at 21:55 CET (20:55 UTC)[28]
  3. Broadcast through a second audio programme on TSI[16]
  4. Deferred broadcast on 23 April[46]
  5. Delayed broadcast on 23 May 1978 at 21:40 CET (20:40 UTC)[47]
  6. Delayed broadcast on 30 April 1978 at 21:20 WET (21:20 UTC)[48]
  7. Deferred broadcast at 0:50 CET (23:50 UTC) Broadcasted only in fragments.[49]
  8. Deferred broadcast at 20:45 CET (19:45 UTC)[28]
  9. Deferred broadcast on 23 April at 15:30 CET (14:30 UTC)[50]

References

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    Chaillet, Cathérine; TF1 Service de presse (4 April 1978). Concours Eurovision de la chanson (in French). Paris: TF1. pp. 1–4. OCLC 965372158.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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    Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 312–327. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
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    "Detailed overview: conductors in 1978". And the conductor is... Retrieved 5 July 2023.[permanent dead link]
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    "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
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    O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
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    Didi, Franklin (22 April 1978). "350 millions de téléspectateurs et 200 policiers". Télé 7 Jours (in French). No. 934. pp. 28–29.
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    "Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
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