ESC LAUSANNE 1989 (34ª)

1989

  • Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 06 May 1989 – 21:00 CEST
  • Host – Venue & Location: Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Presenter (s): Jacques Deschenaux and Lolita Morena
  • Musical Director: Benoit Kaufman
  • Director: Alain Bloch
  • Executive Producer: Raymond Zumsteg
  • Executive Supervisor: Frank Naef
  • Multicamera Director: Alain Bloch
  • Host broadcaster: Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR)
  • Opening Act: Ne partez pas sans moi” and “Where Does My Heart Beat Now” performed by Céline Dion
  • Interval Act: Guy Tell (Arrow-phantom)
  • Participants – Number of entries: 22 [🇧🇪 Belgium (31ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (31ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (31ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (29ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (26ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (30ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (25ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (26ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (22ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (27ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (27ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (22ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (12ª), 🇫🇷 France (30ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (21ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (13ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (4ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (30ª),  Yugoslavia (23ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (11ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (28ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (8ª)]
  • Debuting countries:
  • Return:
  • Non-returning countries: 🇨🇾 Cyprus (8ª)
  • Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs.
  • Nil Points: 🇮🇸 Iceland (1ª)
  • Winning song: 1f3c6 “Rock Me” – Riva –  Yugoslavia (1ª) 

Logo ESC 1989

AboutFollowing Céline Dion’s victory the preceding year in Dublin, Switzerland staged the Eurovision Song Contest in Lausanne. 22 countries participated in the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest. Switzerland hosted the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 but did not host again until 1989. Céline Dion opened the show with a shortened reprise of her winning song from 1988, “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi” and also performed her new English language single, “Where Does My Heart Beat Now”. The song would go on to be her first major hit in the United States. True to form, Italy sent its biggest stars to Eurovision. This year it was the turn of Fausto Leali and Anna Oxa who had won the festival of San Remo some weeks prior to the Eurovision Song Contest. Germany and Austria’s entries were both written by German pop titan, Dieter Bohlen. Bohlen became famous in Germany in the 1980’s as one half of the duo Modern Talking. Since then, he has gone on to have a successful career as one of the country’s most successful pop producers and also became a judge in the German version of Pop Idol. The Swiss entry “Viver Senza Tei” by the group Furbaz was the first entry ever to be sung in Romansch, one of the four official languages of Switzerland.

Yugoslavia wins – just in time. Yugoslavia’s win in 1989 came as a surprise to many. “Rock Me” by the group Riva was performed last on the night and in a year of many ballads the uptempo track stood out. Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest just in time. By 1989 cracks were beginning to appear in the country and Yugoslavia disintegrated into war in the following years. 

Facts and figures. The French participant, Nathalie Pâque, was just 11 years old and Israel’s singer, Gili Netanel, was just one year older which led to a change of rules. Performers had to be 16 years old in the year of the contest; The tie-break rule was also adapted; the country with the most 12 points would be declared the winner. If a tie remained then the country with the most 10 points would be declared the winner.

o/r  Country PaRticipant(s) song – translate – Language  Points  rank
01 🇮🇹 Italy RAI Anna Oxa & Fausto Leali Avrei voluto (I would’ve wanted) Italian 056 09
02 🇮🇱 Israel IBA Gili and Galit (גילי וגלית) Derekh hamelekh (דרך המלך (Derech Ha’melech), The King’s road) Hebrew 050 12
03 🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ Kiev Connolly & The Missing Passengers The Real Me English 021 18
04 🇳🇱 The Netherlands  NOS Justine Pelmelay Blijf zoals je bent (Stay the way you are) Dutch 045 15
05 🇹🇷 Turkey TRT Pan (Grup Pan) Bana bana (To me, to me) Turkish 005 21
06 🇧🇪 Belgium BRT Ingeborg Door de wind (Through the wind) Dutch 013 19
07 🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC Live Report Why do I always get it wrong? English 130 02
08 🇳🇴 Norway NRK Britt Synnøve Johansen Venners nærhet (The closeness of friends) Norwegian 030 17
09 🇵🇹 Portugal RTP Da Vinci Conquistador (Conqueror) Portuguese 039 16
10 🇸🇪 Sweden SVT Tommy Nilsson En dag (One Day) Swedish 110 04
11 🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT Park Café Monsieur (Mister) French 008 20
12 🇩🇰 Denmark DR Birthe Kjær Vi maler byen rød (We’re painting the town red) Danish 111 03
13 🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF Thomas Forstner Nur ein lied (Just a song) German 097 05
14 🇫🇮 Finland  YLE Anneli Saaristo La dolce vita (The good life) Finnish 076 07
15 🇫🇷 France  A2F Nathalie Pâque J’ai volé la vie (I stole life) French 060 08
16 🇪🇸 Spain TVE Nina Nacida para amar (Born to love) Spanish 088 06
17 🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC Fani Polymeri & Yiannis Savvidakis (Γιάννης Σαββιδάκης & Φανή Πολυμέρη) Apopse as vrethoume (Απόψε ας βρεθούμε, Let’s meet tonight) Greek 051 11
18 🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG Furbaz Viver senza tei (To live without you, Vivre sans toi, Ohne dich leben, Vivere senza te) Romansh 047 13
19 🇬🇷 Greece ERT Marianna (Μαριάννα, Marianna Efstratiou, Μαριάννα Ευστρατίου) To diko sou asteri (Το δικό σου αστέρι) Greek 056 09
20 🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson Það sem enginn sér (What no one sees) Icelandic 000 22
21 🇩🇪 Germany ARD Nino de Angelo Flieger (Flyers) German 046 14
22  Yugoslavia JRT Riva (Рива) Rock me Serbo-Croatian 137 01

Participant map

A coloured map of the countries of Europe

Transmitirá a 2º semifinal noutro horário. Participating countries  Transmitirá a 1º semifinal em direto. Countries that participated in the past but not in 1989

ESC 1989 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

Scoreboard - Eurovision Song Contest 1989

The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the 34th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, following Céline Dion’s victory at the 1988 contest with the song “Ne partez pas sans moi”. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), the contest was held at Palais de Beaulieu on 6 May 1989 and was hosted by Swiss model Lolita Morena and journalist Jacques Deschenaux.

Twenty-two countries took part in the contest with Cyprus returning after having been disqualified the year before.

The winner was Yugoslavia with the song “Rock Me” by Croatian band Riva. This was the only victory for Yugoslavia as a unified state.

Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne – host venue of the 1989 contest.

1.Location. Lausanne is a city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and the capital and biggest city of the canton of Vaud. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman, or simply Le Léman). It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura Mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located 62 kilometres (38.5 miles) northeast of Geneva.

Palais de Beaulieu, a convention and exhibition centre, was chosen to host the 1989 contest. The centre includes the 1,844 seat Théâtre de Beaulieu concert, dance and theatre hall. Inaugurated in 1954, the Théâtre de Beaulieu is the biggest theatre in Switzerland. The Eurovision Song Contest took place in the Hall 6 + 7 of the Palais, to the right from the main hall and the theatre.

2.Contest overview. The United Kingdom’s Ray Caruana, lead singer of Live Report was outspoken about coming second to what he considered a much less worthy song. They had been defeated by 7 points.

Two of the performers, Nathalie Pâque and Gili Natanael were respectively 11 and 12 years old at their time of competing. Due to bad publicity surrounding their participation, the European Broadcasting Union introduced a rule stating that no performer would be allowed to take part before the year of their 16th birthday. This rule remains in place to the present day.

The previous year’s winner, Céline Dion, opened the show with a mimed performance of her winning song and a mimed performance of her first English-language single, “Where Does My Heart Beat Now”. The song became a top ten hit in the US a year later – effectively launching her into international success.

3.Participating countries.

3.1.Conductors. Each performance (except Austria, Iceland and Germany) had a conductor who led the orchestra. Unlike in most years and like in 1988, the conductors took their bows after each song, not before.

  • 🇮🇹 Italy – Mario Natale
  • 🇮🇱 Israel – Shaike Paikov
  • 🇮🇪 Ireland – Noel Kelehan
  • 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Harry van Hoof
  • 🇹🇷 Turkey – Timur Selçuk
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium – Freddy Sunder
  • 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Ronnie Hazlehurst
  • 🇳🇴 Norway – Pete Knutsen
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal – Luís Duarte
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden – Anders Berglund
  • 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Benoît Kaufman
  • 🇩🇰 Denmark – Henrik Krogsgaard and Benoît Kaufman
  • 🇦🇹 Austria – no conductor
  • 🇫🇮 Finland – Ossi Runne
  • 🇫🇷 France – Guy Mattéoni
  • 🇪🇸 Spain – Juan Carlos Calderón
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Haris Andreadis
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Benoît Kaufman
  • 🇬🇷 Greece – Giorgos Niarchos
  • 🇮🇸 Iceland – no conductor
  • 🇩🇪 Germany – no conductor
  •  Yugoslavia – Nikica Kalogjera

3.2.Returning artists.

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Marianna Efstratiou 🇬🇷 Greece 1987 (as a backing vocalist for Bang)
Søren Bundgaard (Backing vocal) 🇩🇰 Denmark 1984, 1985, 1988 (as a part of Hot Eyes)

3.3.Participants and results. 

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1989: 

• National Selections in 1989:

COUNTRY EVENT WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium Eurosong 1989 Ingeborg – “Door de wind
🇩🇰 Denmark Melodi Grand Prix 1989 Birthe Kjær – “Vi maler byen rød
🇫🇮 Finland (Finnish Selection 1989) Anneli Saaristo – “La dolce vita
🇩🇪 Germany Ein Lied für Lausanne Nino de Angelo – “Flieger
🇬🇷 Greece (Greek Selection 1989) Mariana / Marianna Efstratiou – “To diko sou asteri” (Το δικό σου αστέρι)
🇮🇸 Iceland Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 1989 Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson – “Það sem enginn sér
🇮🇪 Ireland (Irish Selection 1989) Kiev Connolly & The Missing Passengers – “The Real Me”
🇮🇱 Israel Kdam Eurovision 1989 Gili & Galit – “Derekh Hamelekh” (דרך המלך)
🇱🇺 Luxembourg (Luxembourgish Selection 1989) (song selection) [a]  Park Café – “Monsieur
🇳🇱 The Netherlands Nationaal Songfestival 1989 Justine Pelmelay – “Blijf zoals je bent
🇳🇴 Norway Melodi Grand Prix 1989 Britt-Synnøve Johansen – “Venners nærhet
🇵🇹 Portugal Festival da Canção 1989 Da Vinci – “Conquistador
🇸🇪 Sweden Melodifestival 1989 Tommy Nilsson – “En dag
🇨🇭 Switzerland Concours Eurovision 1989 Furbaz – “Viver senza tei
🇹🇷 Turkey Şarkı Yarışması 1989 Pan – “Bana Bana
🇬🇧 United Kindom A Song for Europe 1989 Live Report – “Why Do I Always Get It Wrong?”
 Yugoslavia Jugovizija 1989 Riva – “Rock Me”

• Internal Selections in 1989: 

🇦🇹 Austria Thomas Forstner – “Nur ein Lied
🇨🇾 Cyprus Fanny / Fani Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis – “Apopse as vrethoume” (Απόψε ας βρεθούμε)
🇫🇷 France Nathalie Pâque – “J’ai volé la vie
🇮🇹 Italy Anna Oxa and Fausto Leali – “Avrei voluto
🇪🇸 Spain Nina – “Nacida para amar

3.5.Connections:

4.Voting. Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. There was also a change of rule in case of a tie; prior to 1989, both countries would perform their songs again until a final decision was made. However from 1989 onwards, if there was a tie at the end of the voting, the country that scored the most twelves would be declared the winner. If there was still a tie, the winner was the country that scored the most tens. And if there still was a tie after that, both countries would be declared joint winners.

Voting results
Total score
Italia Israel Irlanda Țările de Jos Turcia Belgia Regatul Unit Norvegia Portugalia Suedia Luxemburg Danemarca Austria Finlanda Franța Spania Cipru Elveția Grecia Islanda Germania Iugoslavia
C
o
n
t
e
s
t
a
n
t
s
🇮🇹 Italy 56 7 10 12 6 2 4 7 8
🇮🇱 Israel 50 1 7 3 2 5 5 5 7 5 3 7
🇮🇪 Ireland 21 7 3 3 2 4 2
🇳🇱 The Netherlands 45 10 3 3 1 4 4 7 6 1 6
🇹🇷 Turkey 5 1 4
🇧🇪 Belgium 13 5 5 2 1
🇬🇧 United Kindom 130 6 7 4 7 1 12 12 10 12 1 8 6 12 10 2 2 12 6
🇳🇴 Norway 30 2 2 5 8 2 6 4 1
🇵🇹 Portugal 39 4 2 1 3 7 6 2 8 6
🇸🇪 Sweden 110 6 6 4 8 8 6 12 12 2 5 8 3 8 2 8 12
🇱🇺 Luxembourg 8 5 3
🇩🇰 Denmark 111 5 1 10 12 6 4 10 10 2 12 3 7 12 6 10 1
🇦🇹 Austria 97 12 8 3 12 7 4 1 2 10 8 12 8 5 5
🇫🇮 Finland 76 10 8 6 10 1 4 4 3 10 7 3 10
🇫🇷 France 60 3 5 6 4 5 1 8 3 5 3 7 5 2 3
🇪🇸 Spain 88 8 2 7 7 4 10 8 8 4 10 10 10
🇨🇾 Cyprus 51 2 3 1 6 6 8 2 4 7 12
🇨🇭 Switzerland 47 4 4 10 8 8 3 2 1 7
🇬🇷 Greece 56 1 1 5 6 10 1 4 12 12 4
🇮🇸 Iceland 0
🇩🇪 Germany 46 7 2 5 1 5 6 7 1 6 3 3
 Yugoslavia 137 12 12 8 12 10 12 7 4 8 5 10 10 7 3 5 5 6 1

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

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

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.

  • 🇮🇹 Italy – Peppi Franzelin 
  • 🇮🇱 Israel – Yitzhak Shim’oni
  • 🇮🇪 Ireland – Eileen Dunne
  • 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Joop van Os
  • 🇹🇷 Turkey – Canan Kumbasar
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium – An Ploegaerts
  • 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Colin Berry
  • 🇳🇴 Norway – Sverre Christophersen 
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal – Margarida Mercês de Melo
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden – Agneta Bolme Börjefors
  • 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Jean-Luc Bertrand 
  • 🇩🇰 Denmark – Bent Henius 
  • 🇦🇹 Austria – Tilia Herold 
  • 🇫🇮 Finland – Solveig Herlin
  • 🇫🇷 France – Marie-Ange Nardi
  • 🇪🇸 Spain – Matilde Jarrín
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Anna Partelidou
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Michel Stocker
  • 🇬🇷 Greece – Fotini Giannoulatou
  • 🇮🇸 Iceland – Erla Björk Skúladóttir
  • 🇩🇪 Germany – Gabi Schnelle
  •  Yugoslavia – Dijana Čulić

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 FS1 Ernst Grissemann 
Hitradio Ö3 Hans Leitinger
🇧🇪 Belgium BRT TV1 Dutch: Luc Appermont
RTBF1 French: Jacques Mercier
BRT Radio 2 Dutch: Ann Lepère
RTBF La Première French: Claude Delacroix
🇨🇾 Cyprus RIK Neophytos Taliotis
RIK Deftero Pavlos Pavlou
🇩🇰 Denmark DR TV Jørgen de Mylius
DR P3 Kurt Helge Andersen
🇫🇮 Finland YLE TV1 Heikki Harma
YLE 2-verkko Jake Nyman and Kati Bergman
🇫🇷 France Antenne 2 Lionel Cassan 
France Inter Patrick Sabatier
🇩🇪 Germany Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen Thomas Gottschalk
NDR Radio 2 Peter Urban
🇬🇷 Greece ET1 Dafni Bokota
ERA 1 Dimitris Konstantaras 
🇮🇸 Iceland Sjónvarpið Arthúr Björgvin Bollason
🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ 1 Ronan Collins and Michelle Rocca
RTÉ Radio 1 Larry Gogan
🇮🇱 Israel Israeli Television No commentator
Reshet Gimel Yigal Ravid
🇮🇹 Italy Rai Uno Gabriella Carlucci
Rai Radio 2 Antonio De Robertis
🇱🇺 Luxembourg RTL Télévision Valérie Sarn 
RTL André Torrent 
🇳🇱 The Netherlands Nederland 3 Willem van Beusekom
Radio 3 Lex Harding
🇳🇴 Norway NRK John Andreassen
NRK P2 Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal RTP1 Ana Zanatti
RDP Antena 2 TBC
🇪🇸 Spain TVE 2 Tomás Fernando Flores 
🇸🇪 Sweden Kanal 1 Jacob Dahlin
SR P3 Kent Finell and Janeric Sundquist
🇨🇭 Switzerland TV DRS German: Bernard Thurnheer 
TSR French: Thierry Masselot
TSI Italian: Giovanni Bertini
🇹🇷 Turkey TV1 Bülend Özveren
TRT Radyo 3 Fatih Orbay
🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC1 Terry Wogan
BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce
 Yugoslavia TVB 1, TVZ 1 Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
TVL 1 Slovene: Marjeta Keršič Svetel
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s)
🇦🇺 Australia SBS TV Unknown

6.Notes.

  • [a] The band Park Café was internally selected to represent Luxembourg at Eurovision 1989. The song “Monsieur” that Park Café performed at Eurovision was selected through a national final with three songs.

7.Trivial / Fun facts.

  • During the opening act, last year’s winner Céline Dion performed the song Where Does My Heart Beat Now.
  • This would turn out to be a top 10 hit for Céline Dion two years later.
  • True to form, Italy sent its biggest stars to the contest. This year it was the turn of Fausto Leali and Anna Oxa.
  • The Swiss entry Viver Senza Tei was the first entry ever in Romansch, one of the four languages of Switzerland.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1988 • Eurovision Song Contest 1989 • Eurovision Song Contest 1990 →

Countries (in order of appearance)

Final Italy ⦁ Israel ⦁ Ireland ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Turkey ⦁ Belgium ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Norway ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Sweden • Luxembourg ⦁ Denmark ⦁ Austria ⦁ Finland • France • Spain • Cyprus • Switzerland • Greece • Iceland ⦁ Germany • Yugoslavia (winner) 

Artists (in order of appearance)

Final Anna Oxa and Fausto Leali ⦁ Gili and Galit ⦁ Kiev Connolly and the Missing Passengers ⦁ Justine Pelmelay ⦁ Pan ⦁ IngeborgLive ReportBritt Synnøve JohansenDa VinciTommy Nilsson ⦁ Park Café • Birthe Kjær ⦁ Thomas Forstner ⦁ Anneli Saaristo ⦁ Nathalie Pâque ⦁ Nina • Fani Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis ⦁ Furbaz • Marianna • Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson ⦁ Nino de Angelo • Riva (winner)

Songs (in order of appearance)

Final Avrei voluto” ⦁ “Derekh Hamelekh” (דרך המלך) ⦁ “The Real Me” ⦁ “Blijf zoals je bent” ⦁ “Bana Bana” ⦁ “Door de wind” ⦁ “Why Do I Always Get It Wrong” ⦁ “Venners nærhet” ⦁ “Conquistador” ⦁ “En dag” ⦁ “Monsieur” • “Vi maler byen rød” ⦁ “Nur ein Lied” ⦁ “La dolce vita” ⦁ “J’ai volé la vie” • “Nacida para amar • “Apopse as vrethoume” (Απόψε ας βρεθούμε) • “Viver senza tei” • “To diko sou asteri” (Το δικό σου αστέρι) • “Það sem enginn sér” • “Flieger” • “Rock Me” (winner) 

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