From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eurovision Song Contest 1979
Final	31 March 1979
Presenter(s)	Daniel Peer Yardena Arazi
Conductor	Kobi Oshrat
Host broadcaster	IBA
Venue	International Convention Center, Jerusalem, Israel
Winning song	Israel "Hallelujah"
Voting system
Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Number of entries	19
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	None
Withdrawing countries	Turkey
Nul points	None
Interval act	Shalom '79
Participation Map      Participating participants      Countries who have participated in the past but did not this year
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1978        1980►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 31 March 1979 in Jerusalem, Israel. The presenters were Daniel Pe'er and Yardena Arazi, and the event was staged at the International Convention Center. Representing Israel, Gali Atari and Milk and Honey were the winners of this Eurovision with the song, Hallelujah. This was a second victory in a row for Israel, it was also their second victory in the contest.

As noted in author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor's book The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, at one point before the contest Turkey was going to participate. The country would have appeared 11th on stage (between Israel and France), represented by Maria Rita Epik and 21.Peron with the song "Seviyorum" (I'm loving). However Turkey was forced to retire from the contest under pressure from Arab states who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in a contest held in Israel.^[1]

As well as being broadcast live in the 19 competing countries the contest was broadcast in Romania, Hong Kong and Iceland.

Individual Entries

Results

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation	Place	Points
01	Portugal	Portuguese	Manuela Bravo	"Sobe, sobe, balão sobe"	Rise, rise, balloon, rise	9	64
02	Italy	Italian	Matia Bazar	"Raggio di luna"	Moonbeam	15	27
03	Denmark	Danish	Tommy Seebach	"Disco Tango"	—	6	76
04	Ireland	English	Cathal Dunne	"Happy Man"	—	5	80
05	Finland	Finnish	Katri Helena	"Katson sineen taivaan"	I'm looking at the blue sky	14	38
06	Monaco	French	Laurent Vaguener	"Notre vie c'est la musique"	Our life is music	16	12
07	Greece	Greek	Elpida	"Sokrati" (Σωκράτη)	Socrates	8	69
08	Switzerland	German	Peter, Sue, Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri	"Trödler und Co"	Second-handers and Co.	10	60
09	Germany	German	Dschinghis Khan	"Dschinghis Khan"	Genghis Khan	4	86
10	Israel	Hebrew	Gali Atari and Milk and Honey	"Hallelujah" (הללויה)	—	1	125
11	France	French	Anne-Marie David	"Je suis l'enfant soleil"	I'm the sun-child	3	106
12	Belgium	Dutch	Micha Marah	"Hey Nana"	—	18	5
13	Luxembourg	French	Jeane Manson	"J'ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux"	I've already seen that in your eyes	13	44
14	Netherlands	Dutch	Xandra	"Colorado"	—	12	51
15	Sweden	Swedish	Ted Gärdestad	"Satellit"	Satellite	17	8
16	Norway	Norwegian	Anita Skorgan	"Oliver"	—	11	57
17	United Kingdom	English	Black Lace	"Mary Ann"	—	7	73
18	Austria	German	Christina Simon	"Heute in Jerusalem"	Today in Jerusalem	18	5
19	Spain	Spanish	Betty Missiego	"Su canción"	Their song	2	116

Voting structure

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for their top ten songs. This was the last year in which the points were announced via order of appearance, as opposed to order of preference.

The voting was extremely close. Israel gained a good lead in the early stages of the voting, but Spain eventually caught up and took a good lead themselves. At the close of the penultimate jury's votes, Israel were one point behind Spain, and only the Spanish jury had yet to give their votes. Spain ended up giving Israel 10 points, causing the crowd to erupt into enormous cheers.

Score sheet

		Results
	Portugal		6	0	0	2	5	0	4	4	0	10	5	3	3	3	6	0	7	6
	Italy	8		0	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	8
	Denmark	0	0		2	0	3	12	1	10	12	6	7	4	8	1	0	3	3	4
	Ireland	5	5	5		6	0	10	6	6	3	0	10	7	0	8	5	4	0	0
	Finland	0	7	0	0		0	7	8	5	0	5	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Monaco	1	2	4	0	0		0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
	Greece	10	0	1	4	0	7		7	2	10	4	1	5	7	2	0	0	2	7
	Switzerland	0	0	7	1	10	2	2		7	4	7	0	0	0	0	8	0	12	0
	Germany	2	1	12	5	3	12	0	0		6	12	4	1	2	6	0	8	0	12
	Israel	12	0	6	12	12	8	4	5	0		1	2	8	1	12	12	12	8	10
	France	6	10	0	0	1	10	8	10	0	5		6	12	12	5	7	6	5	3
	Belgium	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		0	0	0	0	2	0	0
	Luxembourg	7	0	0	3	4	4	5	3	0	0	2	0		4	0	2	10	0	0
	Netherlands	0	0	8	10	5	0	3	0	3	7	0	3	0		4	4	0	4	0
	Sweden	0	0	0	6	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0
	Norway	3	3	0	8	0	6	0	0	0	2	0	8	2	6	10		7	1	1
	United Kingdom	4	8	10	7	7	1	0	2	8	0	0	0	0	5	0	10		6	5
	Austria	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		0
	Spain	0	12	3	0	0	0	6	12	12	8	8	12	10	10	7	1	5	10
THE TABLE IS ORDERED BY APPEARANCE

12 points

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

Commentators

• Portugal - Fialho Gouveia
• Italy - Tullio Grazzini
• Denmark - Jørgen de Mylius
• Ireland - Mike Murphy
• Finland - Anja-Maija Leppänen
• Monaco - TBD
• Greece - Mako Georgiadou
• Switzerland - Theodor Haller (SRG), Georges Hardy (SSR), Giovanni Bertini (TSI)
• Germany - Ado Schlier & Gaby Schnelle
• Israel - No commentator
• France - Marc Menant
• Belgium - Luc Appermont (BRT), Paule Herreman (RTBF)
• Luxembourg - Jacques Navadic
• The Netherlands - Willem Duys
• Sweden - Ulf Elfving
• Norway - Egil Teige
• United Kingdom - John Dunn
• Austria - Ernst Grissemann
• Spain - Miguel de los Santos

Spokespersons

• Portugal - Nicolau Breyner
• Italy - TBC
• Denmark - Bent Henius
• Ireland - David Heffernan
• Finland - Kaarina Pönniö
• Monaco - TBC
• Greece - TBC
• Switzerland - Michel Dénériaz
• Germany - Lotti Ohnesorge
• Israel - Dan Kaner
• France - Marie Myriam
• Belgium - Monique Delvaux
• Luxembourg - Jean Octave
• The Netherlands - TBC
• Sweden - Sven Lindahl
• Norway - Sverre Kristoffersen
• United Kingdom - Colin Berry
• Austria - TBC
• Spain - Manuel Almendros

References