• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 05 May 1990 – 21:00 CEST
• Host – Venue & Location: Koncertna Dvorana Vatroslav Lisinski (Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, Koncertna dvorana Vatroslava Lisinskog), Zagreb, Yugoslavia / SR Croatia, SFR  Yugoslavia
• Presenter (s): Helga Vlahović Brnobić & Oliver Vlacar (Oliver Mlakar)
• Musical Director: Igor Kuljerić, Stanko Selak (assistant)
• Director: Nenad Puhovski
• Executive Producer: Goran Radman
• Executive Supervisor: Frank Naef
• Multicamera Director: Nenad Puhovski
• Host broadcaster: Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT), Radiotelevision Zagreb (RTZ)
• Opening Act: A short film “Zagreb: City of Music”
• Interval Act: Yugoslav Changes – a film about tourism in the country
• Participants – Number of entries: 22 [🇧🇪 Belgium (32ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (32ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (32ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (30ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (27ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (31ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (26ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (27ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (23ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (28ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (28ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (23ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (13ª), 🇫🇷 France (31ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (22ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (14ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (5ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (31ª),  Yugoslavia (24ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (12ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (29ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (9ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: —
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song: “Insieme: 1992” – Toto Cutugno – 🇮🇹 Italy (2ª)

About. The 1990 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Zagreb following Yugoslavia’s win the previous year. As communism fell in Europe, many of the songs reflected the wider political context. 22 countries participated in the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest, the same line up as in 1989. Many of the songs reflected the wider political developments that were taking place in Europe. The Spanish performance was beset by technical problems. First the backing track failed to play, then it started too early. The delegation’s conductor completely lost control and the Spanish duo, Azúcar Moreno, left the stage. The second attempt was successful and the duo ended up in fifth place. Eurovision veteran, Serge Gainsbourg, wrote the French entry “White And Black Blues” performed by Joelle Ursull which finished in second place along with Ireland’s song “Somewhere in Europe”.

United for Italy. The well-known Italian singer Toto Cutugno won this year’s song contest with the song “Insieme: 1992” which was about a united Europe.

Facts and figures. The postcards featured travelogues of each of the participating countries to mark the European Year of Tourism 1990; The UK sent its youngest ever representative, Emma Booth, who was fifteen at the time of the contest. She was allowed to compete however since she turned 16 in the year of that particular competition; At the end of the voting Toto Cutugno splashed water on his face and hair which caused his hair dye to run. He covered this up with a jacket that he wore for the winning reprise. 

o/R	COUNTRY	PaRTicipant(s)	song – translatE – LANGUAGE	Points	rank
01	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Azúcar Moreno	Bandido (Bandit) Spanish	096	05
02	🇬🇷 Greece ERT	Christos Callow & Wave (Χρήστος Κάλοου & Wave)	Horis skopo (Χωρίς σκοπό, Without a purpose) Greek	011	19
03	🇧🇪 Belgium RTBF	Philippe Lafontaine	Macédomienne (My Macedonian woman) French	046	12
04	🇹🇷 Turkey TRT	Kayahan (Kayahan Açar)	Gözlerinin hapsindeyim (I’m caught in your eyes) Turkish	021	17
05	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Maywood	Ik wil alles met je delen (I want to share everything with you) Duch	025	15
06	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Céline Carzo	Quand je te rêve (When I dream of you) French	038	13
07	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Emma	Give a little love back to the world English	087	06
08	🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV	Stjórnin	Eitt lag enn (One more song) Icelandic	124	04
09	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Ketil Stokkan	Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) Norwegian	008	21
10	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Rita (ריטה)	Shara barechovot  (שרה ברחובות, Shara Barkhovot, Singing in the streets) Hebrew	016	18
11	🇩🇰 Denmark DR	Lonnie Devantier	Hallo hallo (Hello hello) Danish	064	08
12	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Egon Egemann	Musik klingt in die welt hinaus (Music resounds in the world) German	051	11
13	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac	Frei zu leben (Free to live) German	060	09
14	🇫🇷 France A2F	Joëlle Ursull	White and black blues French	132	02
15	Yugoslavia  JRT	Tajči (Тајчи)	Hajde da ludujemo (Хајде да лудујемо, Let’s go crazy) Serbo-Croatian	081	07
16	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Nucha	Há sempre alguém (There’s always someone) Portuguese	009	20
17	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Liam Reilly	Somewhere in Europe English	132	02
18	🇸🇪 Sweden SVT	Edin-Ådahl	Som en vind (Like a wind) Swedish	024	16
19	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Toto Cutugno	Insieme: 1992 (Together: 1992) Italian[b]	149	01
20	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Simone	Keine mauern mehr (No walls anymore) German[c]	058	10
21	🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC	Anastasiou (Αναστάζιο, Haris Anastasiou)	Milas poli (Μιλάς πολύ, You talk too much) Greek	036	14
22	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Beat	Fri? (Free?) Swedish	008	21

Missed participation

• 🇦🇹 Austria: “Das Beste” (German) – Duett. ÖRF used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, with the winner being decided through a mixture of televoting (50%) and an expert jury (50%). The winner of the final was Duett with the song “Das Beste”, however they were disqualified after it was revealed they had competed with the same song in the 1988 German National semi-final. The winner was then declared as Simone Stelzer with the song “Keine Mauern Mehr”.

Participant map

Participating countries Countries that participated in the past but not in 1990

ESC 1990 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia,^[a] following the country’s victory at the 1989 contest with the song “Rock Me” by Riva. It was the only time Yugoslavia hosted the contest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT) and Radiotelevision Zagreb (RTZ), the contest was held at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall on 5 May 1990 and was hosted by Croatian television presenters Helga Vlahović and Oliver Mlakar. It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in the Balkans as well as the first contest held in a communist or socialist state.

Twenty-two countries took part in the contest, the same countries that had participated the previous year.

The winner was Italy with the song “Insieme: 1992” by Toto Cutugno. Cutugno was aged 46 years and 302 days at the time of his victory, making him the oldest winner of the contest to date, the first to be aged in their forties since 1958. He held the record until 2000. The 1990 contest also notably remains the last time that the five countries that would later become known as the “Big Five” – Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany – all placed in the top 10 (Italy won, France tied for second, Spain came fifth, the UK came sixth and Germany came ninth).

1.Location. Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, was the second largest city in Yugoslavia. Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall was chosen to host the contest. The concert hall and convention center is named after Vatroslav Lisinski, a 19th-century Croatian composer. The building has a big hall with 1,841 seats and a small hall with 305 seats.

In order to host the 1990 contest, the venue underwent its first major renovation in 1989. In 1992, the hall’s copper roof cover was completely replaced. Further reconstruction and redecoration work was done in 1999 and 2009.

2.Format. The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the first to implement an age rule. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) were forced to bring in a restriction rule after criticism arose over the ages of two performers at 1989 contest, being just 11 and 12 years old. From 1990, no artist under the age of 16 on the day of the contest could perform on stage. This rule meant that the record for the youngest ever winner at Eurovision could never be broken, as Sandra Kim, who won for Belgium at the 1986 competition, was just 13 years old.

The lyrics of several entries celebrated the revolution and democratisation that had occurred in central and eastern Europe in the preceding months, focusing especially on the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, such as in the Norwegian and Austrian entries. However, the winning song was an even more sweeping evocation of European unity, in anticipation of the completion of the European single market, due at the end of 1992.

From a musical perspective both Spain’s “Bandido” and France’s “White and Black Blues” can be said to be the first entries to signal a new trend at Eurovision, with both songs fusing contemporary dance music with ethnic influences, from flamenco and calypso respectively.

The 1990 contest was the first year to feature an official mascot, Eurocat, created by Joško Marušić. This mischievous purple cat popped up during the ‘postcards’ of each of the 22 entries, which also included travelogues of the country about to perform, in conjunction with the European Year of Tourism 1990.

3.Participating countries. 

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

3.2.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Ketil Stokkan	🇳🇴 Norway	1986
Pepel in kri (backing vocalists)	🇮🇹 Italy	1975 (for  Yugoslavia)

3.3.Participants and results.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1990: 

• National Selections in 1990:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇦🇹 Austria	(Austrian Selection 1990)	Simone / SiSimone Stelzer – “Keine Mauern mehr“
🇨🇾 Cyprus	(Cypriot Selection 1990)	Haris Anastasiou – “Milas poli” (Μιλάς πολύ)
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 1990	Lonnie Devantier – “Hallo Hallo”
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1990)	Beat – “Fri?“
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Zagreb	Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac – “Frei zu leben“
🇬🇷 Greece	(Greek Selection 1990)	Christos Callow & Wave – “Horis skopo” (Χωρίς σκοπό)
🇮🇸 Iceland	Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 1990	Stjórnin / Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir & Grétar Örvarsson) – “Eitt lag enn“
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1990)	Liam Reilly – “Somewhere in Europe”
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1990	Maywood – “Ik wil alles met je delen“
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1990	Ketil Stokkan – “Brandenburger Tor“
🇵🇹 Portugal	Festival da Canção 1990	Nucha – “Há sempre alguém” / “Sempre, há sempre alguém“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1990	Edin-Ådahl – “Som en vind“
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1990	Egon Egemann – “Musik klingt in die Welt hinaus“
🇹🇷 Turkey	Şarkı Yarışması 1990	Kayahan – “Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim“
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1990	Emma – “Give a Little Love Back to the World”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1990	Tajči – “Hajde da ludujemo” (Хајде да лудујемо)

• Internal Selections in 1990: 

3.5.Connections:

4.Detailed voting results.

Detailed voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇪🇸 Spain	96		8	1	10	2		1	4	5			6	12	5	3	5			8	8	8	10
	🇬🇷 Greece	11					5																6
	🇧🇪 Belgium	46					7	4			1			4	8	8		2	1	7		4
	🇹🇷 Turkey	21					3			2	4				5		7
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	25		1		3		1	4			2		3		6		1			2		2
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	38		4					3						3	12	2	3			1	5	5
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	87	7	5	12			3				10	3	10	1	10	10		6		6	1	3
	🇮🇸 Iceland	124	4	3	10	1		8	12		10	8	10	7			4	12	7	8	3	10		7
	🇳🇴 Norway	8										4	1						3
	🇮🇱 Israel	16					4							2	4		1							5
	🇩🇰 Denmark	64	6		3	2				7	7	7		1				7	4	3	7	6	4
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	51	1	12		6		2					12			1	5	8					1	3
	🇩🇪 Germany	60	8		6			12	7	1			4						10	4	5	3
	France	132	5		4	4	12			12	12	6	5	12	10		12	4	8	5		2	7	12
	Yugoslavia	81	3			12			5	10	3	12	7			2			5	1	10		10	1
	🇵🇹 Portugal	9						7	2
	🇮🇪 Ireland	132	10	7	7	5	10	6	10	8	8		8	5	7	7		6		12		12		4
	🇸🇪 Sweden	24	2	2			6		6		6				2
	🇮🇹 Italy	149	12	10	8	8	8	10		3		1	6	8	6	4	6	10	12	10		7	12	8
	🇦🇹 Austria	58			2	7	1	5	8	6						3	8		2	2	12			2
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	36		6	5						2	5	2							6	4			6
	🇫🇮 Finland	8								5		3

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

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

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. In addition to the participating countries, host Helga Vlahović mentioned several countries as among the non-participants broadcasting the contest (Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Romania, South Korea and the Soviet Union were mentioned by Vlahović); however, no information is known about which broadcasters showed the contest and who, if anyone, provided commentary for each.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	FS1	Barbara Stöckl
	Hitradio Ö3	Walter Richard Langer
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTBF1	French: Claude Delacroix	–
	BRT TV2	Dutch: Luc Appermont	–
	RTBF La Première	French: Stéphane Dupont and Patrick Duhamel
	BRT Radio 2	Dutch: Julien Put
🇨🇾 Cyprus	RIK	Neophytos Taliotis
	RIK Deftero	Pavlos Pavlou
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV	Jørgen de Mylius
	DR P3	Karlo Staunskær and Kurt Helge Andersen
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Erkki Pohjanheimo and Ossi Runne
	YLE 2-verkko	Jake Nyman and Kati Bergman
🇫🇷 France	Antenne 2	Richard Adaridi
	France Inter	Patrick Sabatier
🇩🇪 Germany	Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen	Fritz Egner
	Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2	Peter Urban
🇬🇷 Greece	ET1	Dafni Bokota
	ERA 1	Dimitris Konstantaras
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	Arthúr Björgvin Bollason	–
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ 1	Jimmy Greeley and Clíona Ní Bhuachalla
	RTÉ Radio 1	Larry Gogan
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	No commentator
	Reshet Gimel	Yigal Ravid
🇮🇹 Italy	Rai Due[d]	Nicoletta Orsomando
	Rai Radio 2	Antonio De Robertis
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	RTL Télévision	Valérie Sarn
	RTL	André Torrent
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 3	Willem van Beusekom	–
	Radio 2	Daniël Dekker	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	Leif Erik Forberg
	NRK P2	Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal	RTP Canal 1	Ana do Carmo
🇪🇸 Spain	TVE 2	Luis Cobos
🇸🇪 Sweden	TV2	Janne Jingryd
	SR P3	Kersti Adams-Ray
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Bernard Thurnheer
	TSR	French: Thierry Masselot
	TSI	Italian: Emanuela Gaggini
🇹🇷 Turkey	TV1	Başak Doğru
	TRT Radyo 3	Fatih Orbay
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	Terry Wogan, Emma (during the interval)	–
	BBC Radio 2	Ken Bruce	–
Yugoslavia	TVB 1, TVZ 1	Serbo-Croatian: Branko Uvodić
	TVL 1	Slovene: Saša Gerdej

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇺 Australia	SBS TV	Unknown

6.Incidents.

6.1.Presenter resignations. There was a slightly uncomfortable beginning to the rehearsal week when, offended by press comments concerning their ages (Vlahović being 45 at the time and Mlakar being 54), the two presenters quit the show. They were briefly replaced by Rene Medvešek and Dubravka Marković, who were much younger, but the misunderstandings were eventually allayed and Vlahović and Mlakar returned to the contest.

6.2.Technical issues. A notorious mishap occurred at the start of the first song, when a noticeably long delay caused by problems with the backing track (the sound engineer having forgotten to switch on the sound on the headphones of Spain’s conductor Eduardo Leiva, who had to count in the orchestra playing the strings and brass along to the backing track) was followed by the Spanish singers Azúcar Moreno missing their cue. They walked off the stage in barely concealed annoyance and the audience was left in confusion for a moment, but the song was then restarted without any further problems.

7.Notes.

1. [a] Located in present-day Croatia.
2. [b] Repeats two words in English.
3. [c] Contains some phrases in English, French and Serbo-Croatian.
4. [d] The contest was broadcast on delay by 2 hours 20 minutes.

8.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Eurovision veteran, Serge Gainsbourg, wrote the French entry White And Black Blues performed by Joelle Ursull.
• This was a spectacular multicultural song with lots of African drumming. It ended up sharing the second place with Ireland.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1989 • Eurovision Song Contest 1990 • Eurovision Song Contest 1991 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Spain ⦁ Greece ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Turkey ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Luxembourg ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Iceland ⦁ Norway ⦁ Israel • Denmark ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Germany ⦁ France • Yugoslavia • Portugal ⦁ Ireland ⦁ Sweden ⦁ Italy (winner) ⦁ Austria ⦁ Cyprus ⦁ Finland
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Azúcar Moreno ⦁ Christos Callow and Wave ⦁ Philippe Lafontaine ⦁ Kayahan ⦁ Maywood ⦁ Céline Carzo ⦁ Emma ⦁ Stjórnin ⦁ Ketil Stokkan ⦁ Rita ⦁ Lonnie Devantier • Egon Egemann ⦁ Chris Kempers and Daniel Kovac ⦁ Joëlle Ursull ⦁ Tajči • Nucha ⦁ Liam Reilly ⦁ Edin-Ådahl • Toto Cutugno (winner) ⦁ Simone • Haris Anastasiou • Beat
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Bandido” ⦁ “Horis skopo” (Χωρίς σκοπό) ⦁ “Macédomienne” ⦁ “Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim” ⦁ “Ik wil alles met je delen” ⦁”Quand je te rêve” ⦁ “Give a Little Love Back to the World” ⦁ “Eitt lag enn” ⦁ “Brandenburger Tor” ⦁ “Shara Barkhovot” (שרה ברחובות) ⦁ “Hallo Hallo” • “Musik klingt in die Welt hinaus” ⦁ “Frei zu leben” ⦁ “White and Black Blues” ⦁ “Hajde da ludujemo” (Хајде да лудујемо) • “Há sempre alguém” • “Somewhere in Europe” • “Som en vind” • “Insieme: 1992″ (winner) • “Keine Mauern mehr” • “Milas poli” (Μιλάς πολύ) • “Fri?“
Non-participating entries: Austria: Duett – “Das Beste”