ESC OSLO 1996 (41ª)

1996.jpg

  • Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 18 May 1996 – 21:00 CEST
  • Host – Venue & Location: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, 🇳🇴 Norway
  • Presenter (s): Ingvild Bryn & Morten Harket
  • Musical Director: Frode Thingnæs.
  • Director: Pål Veiglum
  • Executive Producer: Odd Arvid Strømstad
  • Executive Supervisor: Christine Marchal-Ortiz
  • Multicamera Director: Pal Veiglum
  • Host broadcaster: Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
  • Opening Act: “Heaven’s Not for Saints” performed by Morten Harket.
  • Interval Act: “Beacon Burning”, performed by Nils Gaup and Runar Borge feat. Aamil Paus.
  • Participants – Number of entries: 23 [🇬🇧 United Kindom (36ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (33ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (33ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (29ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (34ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (34ª), 🇫🇷 France (37ª)🇮🇪 Ireland (28ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (11ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (18ª),  🇨🇾 Cyprus (15ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (9ª) 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina (4ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (4ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (3ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (37ª), 🇸🇮 Slovenia (3ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (18ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (2ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (31ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (35ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (37ª)]29 Qualifying round [🇩🇪 Germany (37ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (36ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (33ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (33ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (29ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (34ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (34ª), 🇫🇷 France (37ª)🇮🇪 Ireland (28ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (11ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (18ª),  🇨🇾 Cyprus (15ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (9ª) 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina (4ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (4ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (2ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (3ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (2ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (37ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (27ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (18ª), 🇸🇮 Slovenia (3ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (18ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (2ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (31ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (35ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (37ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (1ª)]
  • Debuting countries:
  • Return: 🇪🇪 Estonia (2ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (31ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (35ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (37ª)
  • Non-returning countries: 🇩🇰 Denmark (27ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (37ª)🇭🇺 Hungary (2ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (18ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (2ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (1ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (1ª)
  • Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs.
  • Nil Points:
  • Winning song: 1f3c6 “The Voice” – Eimear Quinn – 🇮🇪 Ireland (7ª)

Logo ESC 1996

AboutThe 1996 Eurovision Song Contest moved to a new destination, after it had been in Ireland for the three preceding years. Norway’s capital Oslo had the honour of hosting the contest for the first time.

From 29 to 23…. For the 1996 contest the European Broadcasting Union replaced the relegation system with an audio preselection. Apart from the host country of Norway, all other potential participants – 29 countries in total – competed in this audio preselection, in which the national juries solely listened to audio tapes with the recordings of the 29 songs. 22 out of the 29 countries plus the host nation Norway were allowed access into the final on 18th May in Oslo. Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, FYR Macedonia and Romania all failed to qualify. The 1996 contest was groundbreaking in many ways. Host broadcaster NRK introduced virtual reality in the voting and digital filters were applied during some of the performances. Each participant received a good luck message from a representative of their respective country. The seniority of these figures varied from presidents and prime ministers to junior government ministers. The contest was threatened by a conductor’s strike after Norwegian TV-station NRK, wanting to save time, said it would cut out the orchestra conductor’s appearance. Luckily, the dispute was settled amicably. The show was hosted by Morten Harket, from the group A-ha and Norwegian journalist, Ingvild Bryn.

About the winner. Ireland scored its seventh victory in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “The Voice” performed by Eimear Quinn. This was the fourth victory for Ireland in just five years. However, the winner was not the biggest commercial success in record sales this year. The United Kingdom’s song “Ooh…Aah…Just A Little Bit” by Australian Gina G, only reached eighth place in the contest but went on to become a huge international hit and was even nominated for a Grammy Award. 

Facts and figures. The 1996 contest is the only contest where Germany missed out on a place in the final due to the pre-selection round; The contest was re-branded and referred to throughout the broadcast as Eurosong ’96 however the name was dropped the following year. 

Finale

o/r  country PaRticipant(s) SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE Points  rank
01

🇹🇷 Turkey TRT

Şebnem Paker Beşinci mevsim (The fifth season) Turkish 057 01
02 🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC Gina G Ooh… Aah… Just a little bit English 077 08
03 🇪🇸 Spain TVE Antonio Carbonell ¡Ay, qué deseo! (Oh, what desire!) Spanish 017 20
04 🇵🇹 Portugal RTP Lúcia Moniz O meu coração não tem cor (My heart has no colour) Portuguese 092 06
05 🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC Constantinos (Κωνσταντίνος, Constantinos Christoforou, Κωνσταντίνος Χριστοφόρου) Mono yia mas (Μόνο Για Μας, Only for us) Greek 072 09
06 🇲🇹 Malta PBS Miriam Christine In a woman’s heart English 068 10
07 🇭🇷 Croatia HRT Maja Blagdan (Маја Благдан) Sveta ljubav (Света љубав, Holy love) Croatian 098 04
08 🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF George Nussbaumer Weil’s dr guat got (Weil es dir gut geht, Because you feel good) Vorarlbergish 068 10
09 🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG Kathy Leander Mon cœur l’aime (My heart loves him) French 022 16
10 🇬🇷 Greece ERT Marianna Efstratiou (Μαριάνα Ευστρατίου) Emeis forame to himona anixiatika (Εμείς Φοράμε το Χειμώνα Ανοιξιάτικα, We wear spring clothes
in winter time) Greek
036 14
11 🇪🇪 Estonia ERR Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna Kaelakee hääl (Sound of necklace) Estonian 094 05
12 🇳🇴 Norway NRK Elisabeth Andreassen I evighet (For eternity) Norwegian 114 02
13 🇫🇷 France FT2 Dan Ar Braz (Dan Ar Braz & L’Héritage des Celtes) Diwanit bugale (Puissiez-vous fleurir, enfants; May you blossom, children) Breton 018 19
14 🇸🇮 Slovenia RTVSLO Regina (Регина) Dan najlepših sanj (The day of the
most beautiful dream) Slovene
016 21
15 🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS Maxine & Franklin Brown De erste keer (The first time) Dutch 078 07
16 🇧🇪 Belgium BRTN Lisa del Bo Liefde is een kaartspel (Love is a cardgame) Dutch 022 16
17 🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ Eimear Quinn The Voice English 162 01
18 🇫🇮 Finland YLE Jasmine Niin kaunis on taivas (So beautiful is the sky) Finnish 009 23
19 🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV Anna Mjöll (Anna Mjöll Ólafsdóttir) Sjúbídú (Shoobe-doo) Icelandic 051 13
20 🇵🇱 Poland TVP Kasia Kowalska Chcę znać swój grzech… (I want to know my sin…) Polish 031 15
21 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina RTVBIH Amila Glamočak (Амила Гламочак) Za našu ljubav (За нашу љубав, For our love) Bosnian 013 22
22 🇸🇰 Slovakia STV Marcel Palonder Kým nás máš (As long as you have us) Slovak 019 18
23 🇸🇪 Sweden SVT One More Time Den vilda (The wild one) Swedish 100 03

Missed participation (Eurovision Song Contest 1996 Qualifying Round)

Pre-qualifying competitions were held in advance of the 1993 and 1996 editions of the contest, as a measure to reduce the number of competing entries. In 1993 Kvalifikacija za Millstreet was held between seven new Eastern European countries competing for three places in the contest proper; in 1996 an audio-only competition was held for all interested participants, with Norway automatically qualified as host country and 29 additional countries competing for 22 places in the contest. Unlike the semi-final system in place since 2004, in which countries that do not advance from the semi-finals are still credited as having participated in the contest, countries which competed in these pre-qualifying rounds but failed to progress to the main contest have not been credited with having participated in that year’s contest.

  • 🇩🇰 Denmark: “Kun med dig” (Danish) – Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft .
  • 🇩🇪 Germany: “Planet of Blue” (German[c]) – Leon.
  • • 🇭🇺 Hungary: “Fortuna” (Hungarian) – Gjon Delhusa.
  • 🇮🇱 Israel: “Shalom Olam” (שלום עולם) (Hebrew) – Galit Bell.
  • • 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia: “Samo ti” (Само ти) (Macedonian) – Kaliopi.
  • 🇷🇴 Romania: “Rugă pentru pacea lumii” (Romanian) – Monica Anghel and Sincron.
  • 🇷🇺 Russia: “Ya eto ya” (Я это я) (Russian) – Andrey Kosinskiy.

 

Paesi partecipanti

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 1996 Transmitirá a Final em direto. Countries that participated in the past but not in 1996

ESC 1996 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

Scoreboard - Eurovision Song Contest 1996

Oslo Spektrum, Oslo – host venue of the 1996 contest

1.Location. Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. For the first time, the Norwegian capital hosted the contest. This was the second time the event was staged in Norway, after the 1986 contest in Bergen. Oslo Spektrum, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was chosen as the host venue. Opened in December 1990, it is primarily known for hosting major events such as the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert and concerts by artists of national and international fame.

2.Format. The presenters were Morten Harket and Ingvild Bryn. Harket, lead singer of a-ha, opened the show with a performance of his single “Heaven’s Not for Saints”, which was a hit in Norway at the time.

The 1996 contest also introduced three novelties which failed to become traditions in the contest. Firstly a short ‘good luck message’ for each entry, recorded by a political leader or official from their country. The seniority of the figure who delivered the message varied wildly from country to country, ranging from Presidents and Prime Ministers on one end of the spectrum to junior ministers or ambassadors on the other, but a few very significant European political figures did appear, including long-serving Swedish premier Göran Persson, President Alija Izetbegović of Bosnia and Herzegovina and future UN Secretary-General António Guterres, then Prime Minister of Portugal. But of course the only good luck wish that was fully rewarded in the end was that of Irish Taoiseach John Bruton, who introduced the song that took his country to a fourth win in five years.

Secondly, the voting section was conducted using chroma key virtual reality technology provided by Silicon Graphics. The host Ingvild Bryn introduced the viewers to the “blue room”, upon which a 3D scoreboard, views of the green room, the jury spokespersons and country graphics appeared. The only physical aspects were Ingvild herself and two podiums. For the first time in the contest’s history, a jury spokesperson came to stage to deliver the scores rather than via telephone or video link. The Norwegian spokesperson Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft joined Ingvild Bryn in the blue screen set to announce Norway’s scores. The virtual scoreboard only listed the name of the country and their total score, omitting the nation’s flags for the first time since 1984. Prior to 1985, flags had only appeared on the scoreboard in 1977 and 1982. Scoreboard flags returned in 1997 and have appeared regularly on most scoreboards since; the only exceptions being 2000 and 2001.

Finally, the name itself of the Eurovision Song Contest was changed this year, re-branded and referred to this year as Eurosong ’96. The name was quickly dropped and reverted back to the Eurovision Song Contest the following year.

2.1.Good luck messages. In 1996 all contestants were wished good luck by a politician from their own country in their own language. These pre-recorded messages were shown right before their performance. This was the only year in Eurovision with such wishes. The individuals who provided messages are shown below, alongside the position which they held at the time of the contest and the language in which they recorded their message.

  • 🇹🇷 Turkey – Süleyman Demirel, President of Turkey (Turkish)
  • 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Virginia Bottomley, Secretary of State for National Heritage (English)
  • 🇪🇸 Spain – Alberto Escudero Claramunt, Spanish Ambassador to Norway (Spanish)
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal – António Guterres, Prime Minister of Portugal (Portuguese)
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Glafcos Clerides, President of Cyprus (Greek)
  • 🇲🇹 Malta – Edward Fenech Adami, Prime Minister of Malta (Maltese)
  • 🇭🇷 Croatia – Zlatko Mateša, Prime Minister of Croatia (Croatian)
  • 🇦🇹 Austria – Elisabeth Gehrer, Federal Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs (German)
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Michel Coquoz, Swiss chargé d’affaires in Norway (French)
  • 🇬🇷 Greece – Caterína Dimaki, Greek chargé d’affaires in Norway (Greek)
  • 🇪🇪 Estonia – Tiit Vähi, Prime Minister of Estonia (Estonian)
  • 🇳🇴 Norway – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway (Norwegian)
  • 🇫🇷 France – Philippe Douste-Blazy, Minister of Culture (French)
  • 🇸🇮 Slovenia – Milan Kučan, President of Slovenia (Slovene)
  • 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Aad Nuis, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science (Dutch)
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium – Luc Van den Brande, Minister-President of Flanders (Dutch)
  • 🇮🇪 Ireland – John Bruton, Taoiseach (English)
  • 🇫🇮 Finland – Riitta Uosukainen, Speaker of the Parliament of Finland (Finnish)
  • 🇮🇸 Iceland – Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (Icelandic)
  • 🇵🇱 Poland – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (Polish)
  • 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina – Alija Izetbegović, President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian)
  • 🇸🇰 Slovakia – Vladimír Mečiar, Prime Minister of Slovakia (Slovak)
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden – Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden (Swedish)

3.Participating countries.

3.1.Qualification. The European Broadcasting Union continued to experiment in their efforts to find a broadly acceptable method of whittling down the large number of potential participating countries to a more realistic figure. This year, they reverted to including a qualifying round that had been used for the 1993 contest, but this time with just one country exempt from the process – the host Norway. The audio-only qualification round, which was never televised or broadcast on radio, was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final. With exception to the hosts Norway, audio entries from twenty-nine countries were played to national juries, of which only twenty-two proceeded to the televised final in Oslo.

Countries listed below submitted entries for the audio-only qualification round, which was not televised. Countries were ordered alphabetically by ISO two-letter country code. Planned entries from Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine have been reported which ultimately did not materialise, with Bulgaria’s name still appearing on the qualifier jury voting sheets. All three countries would eventually make their debut in the 2000s.

Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Romania and Russia all failed to qualify. As a result, Macedonia’s submission was never classified as a debut entry by the EBU, with the nation eventually going on to make their official televised debut in 1998. The full results of the qualifying round were not made public at the time, but have since become available. Hungary and Finland tied on the same score for the final qualification place, however Finland qualified for the final due to them having received the highest individual score (8 points) compared to Hungary (7 points).

It rapidly became evident that this system was no more sustainable than any other the EBU had tried, as it meant that several countries had gone through their traditional full-blown national selection procedure to come up with an entry, only to suffer the anti-climax of having their challenge quietly extinguished without even having had the opportunity of presenting the song to an international audience. As a leading financial contributor to the contest, Germany were particularly aggrieved that their entry was one of the seven cast aside. It was the only year in the history of the ESC in which Germany did not participate in the final.

Semi-Finale (Pre-qualifiying round)

O/R  COUNTRY PARTICIPANT(S) SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE POINTS  RANK

01

🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF George Nussbaumer  Weil’s dr guat got (Weil es dir gut geht, Because you feel good) Vorarlbergish

080

06

02

🇧🇪 Belgium BRTN Lisa Del Bo Liefde is een kaartspel (Love is a cardgame) Dutch

045

12

03

🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina RTVBIH Amila Glamočak (Амила Гламочак) Za našu ljubav (За нашу љубав, For our love) Bosnian

029

21

04

🇭🇷 Croatia HRT Maja Blagdan (Маја Благдан) Sveta ljubav (Света љубав, Holy love) Croatian

030

19

05

🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC Constantinos (Κωνσταντίνος, Constantinos Christoforou, Κωνσταντίνος Χριστοφόρου) Mono yia mas (Μόνο Για Μας, Only for us) Greek

042

15

06

🇩🇰 Denmark DR Dorthe Andersen & Martin Loft Kun med dig (Only with you) Danish

022

25

07

🇪🇪 Estonia ERR Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna Kaelakee hääl (Sound of necklace) Estonian

106

05

08

🇫🇮 Finland YLE Jasmine Niin kaunis on taivas (So beautiful is the sky) Finnish

026

22

09

🇫🇷 France FT2 Dan Ar Braz (Dan Ar Braz & L’Héritage des Celtes) Diwanit bugale (Puissiez-vous fleurir, enfants; May you blossom, children) Breton

055

11

10

🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia MKRTV Kaliopi (Калиопи) Samo ti (Само ти, Only you) Macedonian

014

26

11

🇩🇪 Germany ARD Leon Planet of Blue (Blauer planet) German

024

24

12

🇬🇷 Greece ERT Mariana Efstratiou (Μαριάνα Ευστρατίου) Emeis forame to himona anixiatika
(Εμείς Φοράμε το Χειμώνα Ανοιξιάτικα, We wear spring clothes
in winter time) Greek

45

12

13

🇭🇺 Hungary MTV Gjon Delhusa Fortuna Hungarian

026

22

14

🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV Anna Mjöll (Anna Mjöll Ólafsdóttir) Sjúbídú (Shoobe-doo) Icelandic

059

10

15

🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ Eimear Quinn The Voice English

198

02

16

🇮🇱 Israel IBA Galit Bell (גלית בל) Shalom olam (שלום עולם, Hello/peace world) Hebrew

012

28

17

🇲🇹 Malta PBS Miriam Christine In a woman’s heart English

138

04

18

🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS Maxine & Franklin Brown De erste keer (The first time) Dutch

063

09

19

🇵🇱 Poland TVP Kasia Kowalska Chcę znać swój grzech… (I want to know my sin) Polish

042

15

20

🇵🇹 Portugal RTP Lúcia Moniz O meu coração não tem cor (My heart has no colour) Portuguese

032

18

21

🇷🇴 Romania TVR Monica Anghel & Sincron Rugă pentru pacea lumii (Prayer for world peace) Romanian

011

29

22

🇷🇺 Russia RTR Andrej Kosinskij (Андрей Косинский) Ya eta ya / Ja eto ja (Я это я, I am what I am) Russian

014

26

23

🇸🇰 Slovakia STV Marcel Palonder Kým nás máš (As long as you have us) Slovak

036

17

24

🇸🇮 Slovenia RTVSLO Regina (Регина) Dan najlepših  Slovene

030

19

25

🇪🇸 Spain TVE Antonio Carbonell ¡Ay, qué deseo! (Oh, what desire!) Spanish

043

14

26

🇸🇪 Sweden SVT One More Time Den vilda (The wild one) Swedish

227

1

27

🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG Kathy Leander Mon cœur l’aime (My heart loves him) French

67

08

28

🇹🇷 Turkey TRT Şebnem Paker Beşinci mevsim (The fifth season) Turkish

069

07

29

🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC Gina G Ooh… Aah… Just a little bit English

153

03

3.2.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra. This marked the final year in which every song featured the orchestra to some extent, although some more minimally than others (such as Austria or the United Kingdom); from 1997 full backing tracks were permitted, and from 1999 the orchestra was abolished in its entirety.

  • 🇹🇷 Turkey – Levent Çoker
  • 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Ernie Dunstall
  • 🇪🇸 Spain – Eduardo Leiva
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal – Pedro Osório 
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Stavros Lantsias
  • 🇲🇹 Malta – Paul Abela
  • 🇭🇷 Croatia – Alan Bjelinski
  • 🇦🇹 Austria – Mischa Krausz 
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Rui dos Reis
  • 🇬🇷 Greece – Mihalis Rozakis 
  • 🇪🇪 Estonia – Tarmo Leinatamm
  • 🇳🇴 Norway – Frode Thingnæs
  • 🇫🇷 France – Fiachra Trench
  • 🇸🇮 Slovenia – Jože Privšek
  • 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Dick Bakker
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium – Bob Porter
  • 🇮🇪 Ireland – Noel Kelehan
  • 🇫🇮 Finland – Olli Ahvenlahti
  • 🇮🇸 Iceland – Ólafur Gaukur 
  • 🇵🇱 Poland – Wiesław Pieregorólka 
  • 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina – Sinan Alimanović
  • 🇸🇰 Slovakia – Juraj Burian
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden – Anders Berglund

3.3.Returning artists.

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Mariana Efstratiou 🇬🇷 Greece 1987 (backing vocalist for Bang), 1989
Elisabeth Andreassen 🇳🇴 Norway 1982 (for 🇸🇪 Sweden, member of Chips), 1985 (member of Bobbysocks!), 1994 (with Jan Werner Danielsen)

3.4.Participants and results.

3.5.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1996: 

• National Selections in 1996:

COUNTRY EVENT WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium De gouden zeemeermin Lisa del Bo – Liefde is een kaartspel
🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina BH Eurosong 1996 (song selection) Amila Glamočak – Za našu ljubav
🇭🇷 Croatia Dora 1996 Maja Blagdan – Sveta ljubav
🇨🇾 Cyprus (Cypriot Selection 1996) Constantinos – Mono gia mas
🇩🇰 Denmark Melodi Grand Prix 1996 Dorthe Andersen & Martin Loft – Kun med dig
🇪🇪 Estonia Eurolaul 1996 Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna –
Kaelakee hääl
🇫🇮 Finland (Finnish Selection 1996) Jasmine – Niin kaunis on taivas
🇩🇪 Germany Ein bißchen Glück Leon – Planet Of Blue
🇭🇺 Hungary (Hungarian Selection 1996) Gjon Delhusa – Fortuna
🇮🇪 Ireland (Irish Selection 1996) Eimear Quinn – The Voice
🇮🇱 Israel Kdam Eurovision 1996 Galit Bell – Shalom olam
🇲🇹 Malta (Maltese Selection 1996) Miriam Christine Borg – In a woman’s heart
🇳🇱 The Netherlands Nationaal Songfestival 1996 Maxine & Franklin Brown – De eerste keer
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia Skopje Fest 1996 Kaliopi Grill – Samo ti
🇳🇴 Norway Melodi Grand Prix 1996 Elisabeth Andreassen – I evighet
🇵🇹 Portugal Festival da Canção 1996 Lúcia Moniz – O meu coração não tem cor
🇷🇴 Romania Selecția Națională 1996 Monica Anghel & Sincron – Rugă pentru pacea lumii
🇷🇺 Russia Pesnya dlya Evropy Andrey Kosinsky – Ya eto ya
🇸🇮 Slovenia EMA 1996 Regina – Dan najlepših sanj
🇸🇪 Sweden Melodifestival 1996 One More Time – Den vilda
🇹🇷 Turkey Şarkı Yarışması 1996 Şebnem Paker – Beşinci mevsim
🇬🇧 United Kindom The Great British Song Contest 1996 Gina G – Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit

• Internal Selections in 1996:

🇦🇹 Austria George Nußbaumer – Weil’s Dr Guat Got
🇫🇷 France Dan Ar Braz et l’Héritage des Celtes – Diwanit Bugale
🇬🇷 Greece Marianna Efstratiou – Emis Forame To Himona Anixiatika
🇮🇸 Iceland Anna Mjöll – Sjúbídú
🇵🇱 Poland Kasia Kowalska – Chce Znac Swój Grzech
🇸🇰 Slovakia Marcel Palonder – Kým Nás Máš
🇪🇸 Spain Antonio Carbonell – ¡Ay, Qué Deseo!
🇨🇭 Switzerland Cathy Leander – Mon Coeur L’aime

3.6.Connections:

4.Detailed voting results. Each country had a jury that awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. One year later, televoting would be introduced in only some countries, such as Sweden and the United Kingdom. When Belén Fernández de Henestrosa, the Spanish spokesperson, announced the votes of the Spanish jury, she awarded two points to “Czechoslovakia” (while meaning ‘Slovakia’). Furthermore, she awarded six points to “Holland” (the Netherlands), which host Ingvild Bryn misheard as “Poland”. The official results table corrected this error, and the Netherlands’ seventh-place result was restored at the expense of the United Kingdom, who ultimately finished eighth. Because originally Poland was awarded six points from Spain, Greece was placed 14th over Poland after the official results table corrected this error. Norway’s entry, “I evighet”, is notable for being the only runner-up not to receive a single “12 points” score in a Eurovision final since this voting method was introduced in 1975.

4.1.Qualifying round.

Detailed voting results in the qualifying round
Total score
Austria Bosnia și Herțegovina Belgia Elveția Cipru Germania Danemarca Estonia Spania Finlanda Franța Regatul Unit Grecia Croația Ungaria Irlanda Israel Islanda Republica Macedonia Malta Țările de Jos Norvegia Polonia Portugalia România Rusia Suedia Slovenia Slovacia Turcia
C
o
n
t
e
s
t
a
n
t
s
🇦🇹 Austria 80 6 1 6 1 2 5 2 12 6 3 10 12 5 2 7
🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina 29 2 3 3 1 6 2 12
🇧🇪 Belgium 45 8 4 7 4 6 2 4 6 2 2
🇨🇭 Switzerland 67 3 3 3 7 5 7 8 5 6 3 7 4 6
🇨🇾 Cyprus 42 4 2 12 5 5 4 4 6
🇩🇪 Germany 24 5 5 10 3 1
🇩🇰 Denmark 22 4 3 1 2 2 1 4 5
🇪🇪 Estonia 106 5 5 4 8 8 8 1 6 5 1 10 10 5 5 3 12 7 3
🇪🇸 Spain 43 2 4 4 8 8 1 4 8 4
🇫🇮 Finland 26 6 8 5 7
🇫🇷 France 55 6 8 3 5 6 10 6 4 4 3
🇬🇧 United Kindom 153 10 7 10 5 7 2 7 10 1 7 8 12 3 7 8 1 10 8 12 1 5 12
🇬🇷 Greece 45 12 7 7 2 5 5 7
🇭🇷 Croatia 30 1 7 2 1 3 1 1 8 6
🇭🇺 Hungary 26 1 2 1 6 2 3 3 7 1
🇮🇪 Ireland 198 12 12 8 7 8 3 10 2 10 8 12 10 2 10 12 6 6 10 3 7 10 10 10 10
🇮🇱 Israel 12 3 4 5
🇮🇸 Iceland 59 5 7 5 6 7 12 6 8 3
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia 14 2 4 2 1 5
🇲🇹 Malta 138 6 10 8 7 6 1 12 4 7 10 8 6 4 7 2 12 3 6 12 7
🇳🇱 The Netherlands 63 4 3 10 2 12 3 3 7 12 5 2
🇵🇱 Poland 42 7 10 3 1 1 8 10 2
🇵🇹 Portugal 32 4 6 6 5 1 4 3 2 1
🇷🇴 Romania 11 4 1 6
🇷🇺 Russia 14 5 4 5
🇸🇪 Sweden 227 8 10 12 12 1 12 12 12 12 7 8 10 12 8 8 12 12 7 12 8 10 6 8 8
🇸🇮 Slovenia 30 2 1 4 3 5 10 1 2 2
🇸🇰 Slovakia 38 2 5 6 3 12 10
🇹🇷 Turkey 69 8 10 10 6 4 4 4 4 7 8 1 3

4.1.1.12 points. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the qualifying round.

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
10 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇨🇭 Switzerland
4 🇮🇪 Ireland 🇦🇹 Austria, 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina, 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
3 🇲🇹 Malta 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇸🇰 Slovakia, 🇪🇸 Spain
🇬🇧 United Kindom 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇹🇷 Turkey
2 🇦🇹 Austria 🇫🇷 France, 🇲🇹 Malta 
🇳🇱 The Netherlands 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇵🇹 Portugal
1 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇸🇮 Slovenia
🇨🇾 Cyprus 🇬🇷 Greece
🇪🇪 Estonia 🇷🇺 Russia
🇬🇷 Greece 🇨🇾 Cyprus
🇮🇸 Iceland 🇳🇴 Norway
🇸🇰 Slovakia 🇭🇷 Croatia

4.2.Final.

Detailed voting results in the final
Total score
Turcia Regatul Unit Spania Portugalia Cipru Malta Croația Austria Elveția Grecia Estonia Norvegia Franța Slovenia Țările de Jos Belgia Irlanda Finlanda Islanda Polonia Bosnia și Herțegovina Slovacia Suedia
C
o
n
t
e
s
t
a
n
t
s
🇹🇷 Turkey 57 6 8 10 1 6 4 7 5 5 5
🇬🇧 United Kindom 77 3 12 1 6 7 3 4 2 8 12 3 4 6 6
🇪🇸 Spain 17 2 5 4 6
🇵🇹 Portugal 92 5 2 12 10 1 10 5 12 5 6 6 3 10 1 4
🇨🇾 Cyprus 72 12 7 3 2 8 2 5 12 2 1 6 10 2
🇲🇹 Malta 68 10 10 12 8 1 4 6 12 5
🇭🇷 Croatia 98 8 4 5 10 8 7 1 1 6 7 3 5 4 6 5 2 10 5 1
🇦🇹 Austria 68 4 5 12 2 7 12 1 8 8 6 3
🇨🇭 Switzerland 22 3 2 4 2 4 4 3
🇬🇷 Greece 36 7 10 1 2 3 1 1 8 3
🇪🇪 Estonia 94 10 4 7 5 8 1 8 3 2 12 12 10 12
🇳🇴 Norway 114 2 8 2 3 5 8 7 5 7 10 10 8 7 7 8 4 3 10
🇫🇷 France 18 1 1 3 4 7 2
🇸🇮 Slovenia 16 1 6 1 8
🇳🇱 The Netherlands 78 1 6 7 5 12 3 4 10 5 1 5 2 7 2 8
🇧🇪 Belgium 22 5 12 2 1 2
🇮🇪 Ireland 162 12 8 6 4 7 12 10 12 10 6 12 12 3 10 12 12 7 7
🇫🇮 Finland 9 2 7
🇮🇸 Iceland 51 3 6 6 3 8 5 6 10 3 1
🇵🇱 Poland 31 7 4 4 7 7 2
🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 6 3 3 1
🇸🇰 Slovakia 19 2 8 4 5
🇸🇪 Sweden 100 4 10 8 10 6 3 7 8 10 12 8 6 4 4

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

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
7 🇮🇪 Ireland 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina, 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇸🇮 Slovenia, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇹🇷 Turkey
3 🇪🇪 Estonia 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇸🇪 Sweden
2 🇦🇹 Austria 🇫🇷 France, 🇲🇹 Malta
🇨🇾 Cyprus 🇬🇷 Greece, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
🇲🇹 Malta 🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇸🇰 Slovakia
🇵🇹 Portugal 🇨🇾 Cyprus, 🇳🇴 Norway
🇬🇧 United Kindom 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇵🇹 Portugal
1 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇪🇸 Spain
🇳🇱 The Netherlands 🇦🇹 Austria
🇸🇪 Sweden 🇮🇪 Ireland
4.2.2.Spokespersons. The spokespersons announced the score from their respective country’s national jury in running order.
  • 🇹🇷 Turkey – Ömer Önder 
  • 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Colin Berry
  • 🇪🇸 Spain – Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal – Cristina Rocha
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Marios Skordis
  • 🇲🇹 Malta – Ruth Amaira
  • 🇭🇷 Croatia – Daniela Trbović 
  • 🇦🇹 Austria – Martina Rupp 
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Yves Ménestrier
  • 🇬🇷 Greece – Niki Venega
  • 🇪🇪 Estonia – Annika Talvik
  • 🇳🇴 Norway – Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft
  • 🇫🇷 France – Laurent Broomhead
  • 🇸🇮 Slovenia – Mario Galunič 
  • 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Marcha
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium – An Ploegaerts
  • 🇮🇪 Ireland – Eileen Dunne
  • 🇫🇮 Finland – Solveig Herlin
  • 🇮🇸 Iceland – Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir
  • 🇵🇱 Poland – Jan Chojnacki
  • 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina – Segmedina Srna
  • 🇸🇰 Slovakia – Alena Heribanová 
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden – Ulla Rundqvist

5.Broadcasts. Most countries sent commentators to Oslo or commented from their own country, in order to provide coverage of the contest, such as add insight to the participants.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s)
🇦🇹 Austria ORF 1 Ernst Grissemann 
FM4 Stermann & Grissemann
🇧🇪 Belgium BRTN TV1 Dutch: Michel Follet and Johan Verstreken
RTBF1 French: Jean-Pierre Hautier and Sandra Kim
BRTN Radio 2 Dutch: Guy De Pré and Bart Pieters
RTBF La Première French: Alain Gerlache and Adrien Joveneau
🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina BHT Sead Bejtović
🇭🇷 Croatia HRT 1 Aleksandar “Aco” Kostadinov
HR2 Draginja Balaš
🇨🇾 Cyprus RIK 1 Evi Papamichail
RIK Deftero Pavlos Pavlou
🇪🇪 Estonia ETV Jüri Pihel 
Raadio 2 Marko Reikop
🇫🇮 Finland YLE TV1 Erkki Pohjanheimo and Sanna Kojo
YLE Radio Suomi Iris Mattila and Pasi Hiihtola
🇫🇷 France France 2 Olivier Minne
France Inter Laurent Boyer
🇬🇷 Greece ET1 Dafni Bokota
ERA 1 Giorgos Mitropoulos
🇮🇸 Iceland Sjónvarpið Jakob Frímann Magnússon
🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ One Pat Kenny
RTÉ Radio 1 Larry Gogan
🇲🇹 Malta TVM Charles Saliba
🇳🇱 The Netherlands Nederland 2 Willem van Beusekom
Radio 2 Hijlco Span
🇳🇴 Norway NRK Jostein Pedersen
NRK P1 Stein Dag Jensen and Anita Skorgan
🇵🇱 Poland TVP1 Dorota Osman
🇵🇹 Portugal RTP1 Maria Margarida Gaspar
🇸🇰 Slovakia STV2 Stanislav Ščepán
🇸🇮 Slovenia SLO1 Miša Molk
🇪🇸 Spain La Primera José Luis Uribarri
🇸🇪 Sweden SVT2 Björn Kjellman
SR P3 Claes-Johan Larsson and Lisa Syrén
🇨🇭 Switzerland Schweiz 4  German: Sandra Studer
TSR French: Pierre Grandjean
TSI Italian: Joanne Holder
🇹🇷 Turkey TRT 1 Bülend Özveren
TRT Radyo 3 Ümit Tunçağ
🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC1 Terry Wogan
BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s)
🇦🇺 Australia SBS TV Unknown
🇩🇰 Denmark DR TV1 Jørgen de Mylius
DR P3 Camilla Miehe-Renard 
🇩🇪 Germany N3[a] Ulf Ansorge 
Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2 Thomas Mohr
🇭🇺 Hungary MTV 2 István Vágó
🇮🇱 Israel Channel 1 No commentator
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia MTV 1 Vlado Janevski
🇷🇴 Romania TVR1 Doina Caramzulescu and Costin Grigore
 Yugoslavia RTS 2 (delayed broadcast) Mladen Popović

6.Notes.

  • [a] The contest was broadcast live on the “Third Program” of Germany’s ARD, with a delayed broadcast on Das Erste at 00:35 (CEST).
  • [b] Amila Glamočak was internally selected to represent Bosnia & Herzegovina at Eurovision 1996. The song “Za Našu Ljubav” that Amila performed at Eurovision was selected through a national final with 10 songs.
  • [c] Contains words or phrases in English.

7.Trivial / Fun facts.

  • The contest was threatened by a conductor’s strike after NRK wanted to leave out the orchestra conductor’s appearance.
  • In the introduction video postcards, every participant received the best wishes from a government representative.
  • The show was hosted by Norwegian pop-band a-ha front man Morten Harket and Norwegian journalist, Ingvild Bryn.
  • They greeted each country in their national language.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1995 • Eurovision Song Contest 1996 • Eurovision Song Contest 1997 →

Countries (in order of appearance)

Final Turkey ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Spain ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Cyprus ⦁ Malta ⦁ Croatia ⦁ Austria ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Greece ⦁ Estonia ⦁ Norway • France • Slovenia ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Belgium • Ireland (winner) ⦁ Finland • Iceland ⦁ Poland ⦁ Bosnia and Herzegovina ⦁ Slovakia ⦁ Sweden
Qualifying round only Austria ⦁ Bosnia and Herzegovina ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Cyprus ⦁ Germany ⦁ Denmark ⦁ Estonia ⦁ Spain ⦁ Finland • France ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Greece ⦁ Croatia • Hungary • Ireland ⦁ Israel ⦁ Iceland ⦁ FYRO Macedonia ⦁ Malta ⦁ The Netherlands • Poland ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Romania ⦁ Russia • Sweden • Slovenia ⦁ Slovakia ⦁ Turkey

Artists (in order of appearance)

Final Şebnem Paker ⦁ Gina G ⦁ Antonio Carbonell ⦁ Lúcia Moniz ⦁ Constantinos ⦁ Miriam Christine ⦁ Maja Blagdan ⦁ George Nussbaumer ⦁ Kathy Leander ⦁ Marianna Efstratiou • Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna ⦁ Elisabeth Andreassen ⦁ Dan Ar Braz and l’Héritage des Celtes ⦁ Regina • Maxine and Franklin Brown ⦁ Lisa del Bo ⦁ Eimear Quinn (winner) ⦁ Jasmine ⦁ Anna Mjöll • Kasia Kowalska ⦁ Amila Glamočak ⦁ Marcel Palonder ⦁ One More Time
Qualifying round only George Nussbaumer ⦁ Amila Glamočak ⦁ Lisa del Bo ⦁ Kathy Leander ⦁ Constantinos ⦁ Leon ⦁ Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft ⦁ Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna ⦁ Antonio Carbonell ⦁ Jasmine ⦁ Dan Ar Braz and l’Héritage des Celtes • Gina G ⦁ Marianna Efstratiou ⦁ Maja Blagdan ⦁ Gjon Delhusa • Eimear Quinn ⦁ Galit Bell ⦁ Anna Mjöll • Kaliopi ⦁ Miriam Christine • Maxine and Franklin Brown ⦁ Kasia Kowalska ⦁ Lúcia Moniz • Monica Anghel and Sincron ⦁ Andrey Kosinskiy • One More Time ⦁ Regina ⦁ Marcel Palonder ⦁ Şebnem Paker

Songs (in order of appearance)

Final Beşinci Mevsim” ⦁ “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” ⦁ “¡Ay, qué deseo!” ⦁ “O meu coração não tem cor” ⦁ “Mono gia mas” (Μόνο για μας) ⦁ “In a Woman’s Heart” ⦁ “Sveta ljubav” ⦁ “Weil’s dr guat got” ⦁ “Mon cœur l’aime” • “Emis forame to himona anixiatika
(Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα) ⦁ “Kaelakee hääl” ⦁ “I evighet” ⦁ “Diwanit bugale” • “Dan najlepših sanj” • “De eerste keer” • “Liefde is een kaartspel” • “The Voice” (winner) ⦁ “Niin kaunis on taivas” ⦁ “Sjúbídú” ⦁ “Chcę znać swój grzech…” ⦁ “Za našu ljubav” • “Kým nás máš” • “Den vilda
Qualifying round only Weil’s dr guat got” ⦁ “Za našu ljubav” ⦁ “Liefde is een kaartspel” ⦁ “Mon cœur l’aime” ⦁ “Mono gia mas” (Μόνο για μας) ⦁ “Planet of Blue” ⦁ “Kun med dig” ⦁ “Kaelakee hääl” ⦁ “¡Ay, qué deseo!” ⦁ “Niin kaunis on taivas” ⦁ “Diwanit bugale” • “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” ⦁ “Emis forame to himona anixiatika
(Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα) ⦁ “Sveta ljubav” ⦁ “Fortuna” • “The Voice” • “Shalom Olam” (שלום עולם) • “Sjúbídú” • “Samo ti” (Само ти) • “In a Woman’s Heart” • “De eerste keer” ⦁ “Chcę znać swój grzech…” • “O meu coração não tem cor” ⦁ “Rugă pentru pacea lumii” ⦁ “Ya eto ya” (Я это я) ⦁ “Den vilda” • “Dan najlepših sanj” • “Kým nás máš” • “Beşinci Mevsim
Non-participating entries: • Denmark: Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft – “Kun med dig” • Germany: Leon – “Planet of Blue” • Hungary: Gjon Delhusa – “Fortuna” • Israel: Galit Bell – “Shalom Olam” (שלום עולםFYRO Macedonia: Kaliopi – “Samo ti” (Само ти• Romania: Monica Anghel and Sincron – “Rugă pentru pacea lumii” • Russia: Andrey Kosinskiy – “Ya eto ya” (Я это я)