• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 23 April 1983 – 21:00 CEST
• Host – Venue & Location: Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle (Audi Dome), Munich, West 🇩🇪 Germany
• Presenter (s): Marlene Charell
• Musical Director: Piet Souer
• Director: Rainer Bertram
• Executive Producer: Christian Hayer & Gunther Lebram
• Executive Supervisor: Frank Naef
• Multicamera Director: Rainer Bertram
• Host broadcaster:  Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) / Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
• Opening Act: Marlene Charell introducing each act and calling all of them on stage together.
• Interval Act: Classical music films medley performed by Marlene Charell.
• Participants – Number of entries: 20 [🇧🇪 Belgium (25ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (25ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (25ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (25ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (23ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (20ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (24ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (19ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (20ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (16ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (21ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (21ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (16ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (6ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (7ª),   Yugoslavia (18ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (3ª), 🇫🇷 France (24ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (6ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (23ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: 🇫🇷 France (24ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (6ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (23ª)
• Non-returning countries: 🇮🇪 Ireland (15ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: 🇪🇸 Spain (2ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (1ª)
• Winning song: “Si la vie est cadeau” – Corinne Hermès – 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (5ª)

About. After trying to win for many years, German broadcaster ARD finally hosted the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest in Munich. In 1983 the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Germany for the first time since 1957. The host for the evening was Marlene Charell who presented the show in three languages, German, French and English. Due to the trilingual presentation, the contest lasted more than 3 hours for the first time ever. The total number of participants rose to 20 again as Italy, France and Greece returned. This year marked the first performance of Sweden’s Carola Häggkvist who reached third place and 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, perhaps even more than her winning song from 1991. For France’s Guy Bonnet, it was the second time he represented his country. After coming 4th in 1970, he ended up 6th in 1983. For Italian superstar Riccardo Fogli, the 1983 contest ended with disappointment; after winning the prestigious San Remo festival the year before, he only ended up 11th with his song “Per Lucia”.

About the winner. Luxembourg won the 1983 contest with the dramatic presentation of “Si La Vie Est Cadeau” by French singer Corinne Hermès. 1983 is the last time Luxembourg won the Eurovision Song Contest. Unlike the previous winner, “Si La Vie Est Cadeau” did not set the European charts alight.

O/R	country	participant(s)	song – translate – LANGUAGE	points	rank
01	🇫🇷 France A2F	Guy Bonnet	Vivre (Living) French	056	08
02	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Jahn Teigen	Do Re Mi (Do-Re-Mi) Norwegian	053	09
03	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Sweet Dreams	I’m never giving up English	079	06
04	🇸🇪 Sweden SVT	Carola Häggkvist	Främling (Stranger) Swedish	126	03
05	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Riccardo Fogli	Per Lucia (For Lucia) Italian	041	11
06	🇹🇷 Turkey TRT	Çetin Alp & The Short Wave	Opera Turkish	000	19
07	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Remedios Amaya	¿Quién maneja mi barca? (Who sails my boat?) Spanish	000	19
08	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Mariella Farré	Io così non ci sto (I don’t like it this way) Italian	028	15
09	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Ami Aspelund	Fantasiaa (Fantasy) Finnish	041	11
10	🇬🇷 Greece ERT	Christie Stasinopoulou (Κρίστη Στασινοπούλου)	Mou les (Μου λες, You tell me) Greek	032	14
11	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Bernadette	Sing me a song Dutch	066	07
12	Yugoslavia JRT	Danijel (Данијел, Daniel, Даниел)	Džuli (Џули, Julie) Serbo-Croatian	125	04
13	🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC	Stavros & Constantina (Σταύρος (Σταύρος Σιδεράς) & Κωνσταντίνα (Κωνσταντίνα Κωνσταντίνου))	I agapi akoma zi (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει, Love is still alive) Greek	026	16
14	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Hoffmann & Hoffmann	Rücksicht (Consideration) German	094	05
15	🇩🇰 Denmark DR	Gry Johansen	Kloden drejer (The planet’s spinning) Danish	016	17
16	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Ofra Haza (עפרה חזה‎, عوفرة حازة‎)	Hi (חי, Alive) Hebrew	136	02
17	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Armando Gama	Esta balada que te dou (This ballad that I give to you) Portuguese	033	13
18	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Westend	Hurricane German	053	09
19	🇧🇪 Belgium BRT	Pas de Deux	Rendez-vous (Meeting) Dutch	013	18
1	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Corinne Hermès	Si la vie est cadeau (If life is a gift) French	142	01

Participation map

Participating countries  Countries that participated in the past but not in 1983

ESC 1983 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, following the country’s victory at the 1982 contest with the song “Ein bißchen Frieden” by Nicole. Despite their first victory the year before, this was the second time Germany had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1957. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the contest was held at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle on 23 April 1983 and was hosted by German dancer Marlene Charell.

Twenty countries took part this year, with France, Greece and Italy all returning this year, while Ireland decided not to participate.

The winner was Luxembourg with the song “Si la vie est cadeau” by Corinne Hermes, which equalled the record of 5 victories set by France in 1977. This record would in turn be beaten by Ireland in 1994. 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. For the third year in a row, at least one country ended up with nul points, and in this case, it happened to be two countries, Spain and Turkey, neither of whom were able to get off the mark.

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 on to become popular in Australia, leading to the country’s eventual debut at the 60th anniversary contest in 2015.

1.Location. Munich is a German city and capital of the Bavarian state. As the capital, Munich houses the parliament and state government. Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle was chosen to host the contest. It was initially named after the president of the Bavarian State Sport Association. The 6,700-seat hall opened in 1972 to host basketball events for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

2.Format.

2.1.Stage design. 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.

2.2.Presentation format. Hostess Marlene Charell made all of her announcements in German before translating a repetition in both French and English. After presenting all of the 20 participating acts at the start of the show and then making a formal welcome, Charell also introduced each song individually, standing in front of elaborate floral arrangements, all of which she had designed herself, in place of a pre-filmed ‘postcard’. In all three languages, Charel named the country, song title, performing artist, author, composer and conductor. Together with an on screen title card naming the upcoming country prior to her verbal introductions, this extended the break in between each song to three minutes minimally.

Due to host Marlene 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 second time ever, after 1979. 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 the Finnish singer Ami Aspelund as “Ami Aspesund”, furthermore she introduced the Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as “…Johannes…Skorgan…”, having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductor’s name.

2.3.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.

2.4.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”.

2.5.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”).

3.Participating countries. Twenty countries took part in the contest, with France, Greece, and Italy returning to the competition. On the other hand, Ireland was absent this year for the first time because RTÉ workers were in strike action at the time.

3.1.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra.

3.2.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Guy Bonnet	🇫🇷 France	1970
Sandra Reemer (backing singer)	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	1972 (along with Andres Holten), 1976, 1979 (as Xandra)
Jahn Teigen	🇳🇴 Norway	1978, 1982
Anita Skorgan (backing singer)		1977, 1979, 1982
Izolda Barudžija (backing singer)	Yugoslavia	1982 (part of Aska)

3.3.Participants and results. 

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1983: 

• National Selections in 1983:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇦🇹 Austria	(Austrian Selection 1983)	Westend – “Hurricane”
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1983	Pas de Deux – “Rendez-vous“
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 1983	Gry Johansen – “Kloden drejer”
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1983)	Ami Aspelund – “Fantasiaa“
🇫🇷 France	(French Selection 1983)	Guy Bonnet – “Vivre“
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für München	Hoffmann & Hoffmann – “Rücksicht“
🇬🇷 Greece	(Greek Selection 1983)	Christie Stasinopoulou – “Mou les” (Μου λες)
🇮🇱 Israel	Kdam Eurovision 1983	Ofra Haza – “Hi” (חי)
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1983	Bernadette – “Sing Me a Song”
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1983	Jahn Teigen – “Do Re Mi”
🇵🇹 Portugal	Festival da Canção 1983	Armando Gama – “Esta balada que te dou“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1983	Carola Häggkvist – “Främling“
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1983	Mariella Farré – “Io così non ci sto“
🇹🇷 Turkey	Şarkı Yarışması 1983	Çetin Alp & the Short Waves – “Opera”
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1983	Sweet Dreams – “I’m Never Giving Up”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1983	Danijel – “Džuli” (Џули)

• Internal Selections in 1983: 

3.5.Connections:

4.Voting. Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) to their top ten songs.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇫🇷 France	56		3			10			10	6	7	2	3	4	4		1	3			3
	🇳🇴 Norway	53			5	3		6					8			1	8	4	6	3	7	2
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	79	5	5		12	2	5		8		5	5		6	3	5		2	10		6
	🇸🇪 Sweden	126	6	12	8		8	7	2	5	10	10	3	1	7	12	10	8	4	8	5
	🇮🇹 Italy	41	7			2		4	3		1	2		8	1			6	7
	🇹🇷 Turkey	0
	🇪🇸 Spain	0
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	28		1			7		1					7						6	1	5
	🇫🇮 Finland	41	1	2	6			3		4		8				7		7		2		1
	🇬🇷 Greece	32	3						12		5				12
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	66	2	7	1	6	4	2		12	3			5	5	2	4	3		4	2	4
	Yugoslavia	125		8	12		1	12	10		12	6	7		8	6	12	10		1	12	8
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	26		4						1				6		5	1	5			4
	🇩🇪 Germany	94	10	10	7	8	6			2	4	1	10				3		8	7	6	12
	🇩🇰 Denmark	16			2	7		1	4						2
	🇮🇱 Israel	136	8	6	10	5	3		6	7	7	3	12	10		10	7		10	12	10	10
	🇵🇹 Portugal	33	4			1			5	6	2		6	2								7
	🇦🇹 Austria	53			3	4	5	10				4	4	4	3		6	2	5		3
	🇧🇪 Belgium	13			4				8										1
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	142	12			10	12	8	7	3	8	12	1	12	10	8	2	12	12	5	8

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

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
6	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	🇫🇷 France, 🇬🇷 Greece, 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇵🇹 Portugal ,  Yugoslavia
5	Yugoslavia	🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇹🇷 Turkey, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
2	🇬🇷 Greece	🇨🇾 Cyprus, 🇪🇸 Spain
	🇮🇱 Israel	🇦🇹 Austria, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands
	🇸🇪 Sweden	🇩🇪 Germany, 🇳🇴 Norway
1	🇩🇪 Germany	🇱🇺 Luxembourg
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	🇨🇭 Switzerland
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇸🇪 Sweden

4.2.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.

5.Broadcasts. National broadcasters were able to send a commentary team to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	FS2	Ernst Grissemann	–
	Hitradio Ö3	Rudolf Klausnitzer
🇧🇪 Belgium	BRT TV1	Dutch: Luc Appermont	–
	RTBF1	French: Jacques Mercier
	BRT Radio 1	Dutch: Herwig Haes
	RTBF La Première	French: Jacques Olivier
🇨🇾 Cyprus	RIK	Fryni Papadopoulou	–
	RIK Deftero	Neophytos Taliotis
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV	Jørgen de Mylius	–
	DR P3	Karen Thisted
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Erkki Pohjanheimo	–
	YLE Rinnakkaisohjelma	Markus Similä
🇫🇷 France	Antenne 2	Léon Zitrone	–
	France Inter	Philippe Caloni
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Ado Schlier
	Deutschlandfunk/hr3/Bayern 2	Roger Horné
🇬🇷 Greece	ERT	Mako Georgiadou	–
	Proto Programma	Dimitris Konstantaras
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	No commentator
	Reshet Gimel	Daniel Pe’er
🇮🇹 Italy	Rete 1	Paolo Frajese
	Rai Radio 1	Antonio Caprarica
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	RTL Télévision	Valérie Sarn	–
	RTL	André Torrent
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 1	Willem Duys	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	Ivar Dyrhaug	–
	NRK P1	Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal	RTP1	Eládio Clímaco	–
🇪🇸 Spain	TVE 1	José-Miguel Ullán	–
🇸🇪 Sweden	TV1	Ulf Elfving	–
	SR P3	Kent Finell	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller	–
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
🇹🇷 Turkey	TRT	Başak Doğru
	TRT Radyo 3	Bülent Osma
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	Terry Wogan	–
	British Forces Radio	Richard Nankivell	–
Yugoslavia	TVB 2	Serbo-Croatian: Mladen Popović
	TVZ 1	Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
	TVL 1	Slovene: Tomaž Terček [sl]

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇺 Australia	Channel 0/28	Terry Wogan	–
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	Unknown
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ 1	Terry Wogan	–
	RTÉ Radio 1	Brendan Balfe

6.Notes.

7.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Due to the trilingual presentation, the contest lasted more than 3 hours for the first time ever.
• The 1983 Eurovision Song Contest didn’t have filmed postcards to present the artists as they were not ready in time.