ESC MUNICH 1983 (28ª)

1983

  • 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: 1f3c6 “Si la vie est cadeau” – Corinne Hermès – 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (5ª)

Logo ESC 1983

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

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 1983

ESC 1983 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

Scoreboard - Eurovision Song Contest 1983

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.

Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, Munich – host venue of the 1983 contest.

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.

  • 🇫🇷 France – François Rauber
  • 🇳🇴 Norway – Sigurd Jansen
  • 🇬🇧 United Kindom – John Coleman
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden – Anders Ekdahl
  • 🇮🇹 Italy – Maurizio Fabrizio
  • 🇹🇷 Turkey – Buğra Uğur 
  • 🇪🇸 Spain– José Miguel Evoras
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Robert Weber
  • 🇫🇮 Finland – Ossi Runne
  • 🇬🇷 Greece – Mimis Plessas
  • 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Piet Souer
  •  Yugoslavia – Radovan Papović
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Michalis Rozakis 
  • 🇩🇪 Germany – Dieter Reith
  • 🇩🇰 Denmark – Allan Botschinsky
  • 🇮🇱 Israel – Silvio Brandes 
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal – Mike Sergeant
  • 🇦🇹 Austria – Richard Oesterreicher 
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium – Freddy Sunder 
  • 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Michel Bernholc

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: 

🇨🇾 Cyprus Stavros and Constantina – “I agapi akoma zi” (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει)
🇮🇹 Italy Riccardo Fogli – “Per Lucia
🇱🇺 Luxembourg Corinne Hermès – “Si la vie est cadeau
🇪🇸 Spain Remedios Amaya – “¿Quién maneja mi barca?

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
Franța Norvegia Regatul Unit Suedia Italia Turcia Spania Elveția Finlanda Grecia Țările de Jos Iugoslavia Cipru Germania Danemarca Israel Portugalia Austria Belgia Luxemburg
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.

  • 🇫🇷 France – Nicole André
  • 🇳🇴 Norway – Erik Diesen
  • 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Colin Berry
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden – Agneta Bolme Börjefors
  • 🇮🇹 Italy – Paola Perissi
  • 🇹🇷 Turkey – Fatih Orbay
  • 🇪🇸 Spain – Rosa Campano
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Michel Stocker
  • 🇫🇮 Finland – Solveig Herlin
  • 🇬🇷 Greece – Irini Gavala
  • 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Flip van der Schalie
  •  Yugoslavia – TBD
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Anna Partelidou
  • 🇩🇪 Germany – Carolin Reiber
  • 🇩🇰 Denmark– Bent Henius
  • 🇮🇱 Israel – Yitzhak Shim’oni
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal – João Abel Fonseca
  • 🇦🇹 Austria – Tilia Herold
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium – An Ploegaerts
  • 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Jacques Harvey

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.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1982 • Eurovision Song Contest 1983 • Eurovision Song Contest 1984

Countries (in order of appearance)

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

Artists (in order of appearance)

Final Guy Bonnet ⦁ Jahn Teigen ⦁ Sweet Dreams ⦁ Carola Häggkvist ⦁ Riccardo Fogli ⦁ Çetin Alp ⦁ Remedios Amaya ⦁ Mariella Farré ⦁ Ami Aspelund ⦁ Christie Stasinopoulou ⦁ Bernadette • Daniel ⦁ Stavros and Constantina ⦁ Hoffmann and Hoffmann ⦁ Gry Johansen • Ofra Haza ⦁ Armando Gama ⦁ Westend • Pas de Deux • Corinne Hermès (winner)

Songs (in order of appearance)

Final Vivre” ⦁ “Do Re Mi” ⦁ “I’m Never Giving Up” ⦁ “Främling” ⦁ “Per Lucia” ⦁ “Opera” ⦁ “¿Quién maneja mi barca?” ⦁ “Io così non ci sto” ⦁ “Fantasiaa” ⦁ “Mou les” (Μου λες) ⦁ “Sing Me a Song” • “Džuli” (Џули) ⦁ “I agapi akoma zi” (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) ⦁ “Rücksicht” ⦁ “Kloden drejer” • “Hi” (חי)  ⦁ “Esta balada que te dou” • “Hurricane” • “Rendez-vous” • “Si la vie est cadeau” (winner)

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