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Eurovision Song Contest 1983
Final	23 April 1983
Presenter(s)	Marlene Charell
Conductor	Dieter Reith
Director	Rainer Bertram
Host broadcaster	ARD
Venue	Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle Munich, West Germany
Winning song	Luxembourg "Si la vie est cadeau"
Voting system
Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Number of entries	20
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	France  Greece  Italy
Withdrawing countries	Ireland
Nul points	Spain  Turkey
Opening act	Marlene Charell introducing each act and calling all of them on stage together.
Interval act	Marlene Charell
Participation Map      Participating participants      Countries who have participated in the past but did not this year
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1982        1984►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983, the 28th in the series, was held in Munich, then West Germany, on 23 April 1983. The presenter was Marlene Charell, who delivered her introductions in German, English and French. Corinne Hermes was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, "Si la vie est cadeau". This was Luxembourg's fifth victory in the contest which equalled the record set by France in 1977.

The set that year was rather peculiar, with 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.

This year's contest was the first to be televised live to Australia, over the SBS, although that country has never actually participated. Nevertheless, previous winners Abba and Bucks Fizz had been huge in Australia, to which many Europeans had emigrated.

Voting

Toward the end of the voting, it became evident that Luxembourg was going to win, but early on, Germany, Sweden, and Yugoslavia all threatened to take Luxembourg's lead, which they earned halfway through the jury vote. At one point, murmurs and boos arose from the crowd at the Greek jury's decision to give host country Germany only one point; at another point, most of the other teams applauded the Dutch jury's choice to give Luxembourg only one point, causing host Marlene Charell to chuckle nervously at the crowd reaction.

Language troubles

Due to Charell's choice to announce points in three languages instead of the traditional two, the voting went on for nearly an hour, stretching the Eurovision contest past three hours for the first time ever.^[1] In addition, Charell made 13 language mistakes throughout the voting,^[1] 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 Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as "...Johannes...Skorgan...",^[2] having been forced to make up a name on the spot as she could not pronounce "Sigurd."

Song success

Ofra Haza from Israel, who took the second place, had an enduring success with her song "Chai" 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 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 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 mega hit in Europe. Singer Daniel released an English language version as "Julie".

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 popular tastes and conventional perception of melody and harmony. 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").

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.

Individual Entries

Results

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	English Translation	Place	Points
01	France	French	Guy Bonnet	"Vivre"	Living	8	56
02	Norway	Norwegian	Jahn Teigen	"Do Re Mi"	Do Re Mi	9	53
03	United Kingdom	English	Sweet Dreams	"I'm Never Giving Up"	-	6	79
04	Sweden	Swedish	Carola Häggkvist	"Främling"	Stranger	3	126
05	Italy	Italian	Riccardo Fogli	"Per Lucia"	For Lucia	11	41
06	Turkey	Turkish	Çetin Alp & the Short Waves	"Opera"	Opera	19	0
07	Spain	Spanish	Remedios Amaya	"¿Quién maneja mi barca?"	Who sails my boat?	19	0
08	Switzerland	Italian	Mariella Farré	"Io così non ci sto"	I don't like it this way	15	28
09	Finland	Finnish	Ami Aspelund	"Fantasiaa"	Fantasy	11	41
10	Greece	Greek	Christie Stasinopoulou	"Mou Les" (Μου λες)	You tell me	14	32
11	Netherlands	Dutch	Bernadette	"Sing Me a Song"	-	7	66
12	Yugoslavia	Serbo-Croatian	Daniel	"Džuli"	Julie	4	125
13	Cyprus	Greek	Stavros & Constantina	"I Agapi Akoma Zi" (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει)"	Love is still alive	16	26
14	Germany	German	Hoffmann & Hoffmann	"Rücksicht"	Consideration	5	94
15	Denmark	Danish	Gry Johansen	"Kloden drejer"	The planet's spinning	17	16
16	Israel	Hebrew	Ofra Haza	"Khay" (חי)	Alive	2	136
17	Portugal	Portuguese	Armando Gama	"Esta balada que te dou"	This ballad that I give to you	13	33
18	Austria	German	Westend	"Hurricane"	-	9	53
19	Belgium	Dutch	Pas de Deux	"Rendez-vous"	-	18	13
20	Luxembourg	French	Corinne Hermès	"Si la vie est cadeau"	If life is a gift	1	142

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.

Score sheet

		Results
	France	56		3	0	0	10	0	0	10	6	7	2	3	4	4	0	1	3	0	0	3
	Norway	53	0		5	3	0	6	0	0	0	0	8	0	0	1	8	4	6	3	7	2
	United Kingdom	79	5	5		12	2	5	0	8	0	5	5	0	6	3	5	0	2	10	0	6
	Sweden	126	6	12	8		8	7	2	5	10	10	3	1	7	12	10	8	4	8	5	0
	Italy	41	7	0	0	2		4	3	0	1	2	0	8	1	0	0	6	7	0	0	0
	Turkey	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Switzerland	28	0	1	0	0	7	0	1		0	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	6	1	5
	Finland	41	1	2	6	0	0	3	0	4		8	0	0	0	7	0	7	0	2	0	1
	Greece	32	3	0	0	0	0	0	12	0	5		0	0	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Netherlands	66	2	7	1	6	4	2	0	12	3	0		5	5	2	4	3	0	4	2	4
	Yugoslavia	125	0	8	12	0	1	12	10	0	12	6	7		8	6	12	10	0	1	12	8
	Cyprus	26	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	6		5	1	5	0	0	4	0
	Germany	94	10	10	7	8	6	0	0	2	4	1	10	0	0		3	0	8	7	6	12
	Denmark	16	0	0	2	7	0	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	0		0	0	0	0	0
	Israel	136	8	6	10	5	3	0	6	7	7	3	12	10	0	10	7		10	12	10	10
	Portugal	33	4	0	0	1	0	0	5	6	2	0	6	2	0	0	0	0		0	0	7
	Austria	53	0	0	3	4	5	10	0	0	0	4	4	4	3	0	6	2	5		3	0
	Belgium	13	0	0	4	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		0
	Luxembourg	142	12	0	0	10	12	8	7	3	8	12	1	12	10	8	2	12	12	5	8

12 points

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

Commentators

• France - Léon Zitrone
• Norway - Ivar Dyrhaug
• United Kingdom - Terry Wogan
• Sweden - Ulf Elfving
• Italy - Paolo Frajese
• Turkey - Bülent Özveren
• Spain - José Miguel Ullán
• Switzerland - Theodor Haller (SRG), Georges Hardy (SSR), Giovanni Bertini (TSI)
• Finland - Erkki Pohjanheimo
• Greece - Mako Georgiadou
• Netherlands - Willem Duys
• Yugoslavia - No commentator
• Cyprus - Fryni Papadopoulou
• Germany - Ado Schlier
• Denmark - Jørgen de Mylius
• Israel - No commentator
• Portugal - Eládio Clímaco
• Austria - Ernst Grissemann
• Belgium - Luc Appermont (BRT), Jacques Mercier (RTBF)
• Luxembourg - Valérie Sarn

Spokespersons

• France - Marie Myriam
• Norway - Sverre Kristoffersen
• United Kingdom - Colin Berry
• Sweden - Agneta Bolme-Börjefors
• Italy - TBC
• Turkey - Fatih Orbay
• Spain - Rosa Campano
• Switzerland - Michel Dénériaz
• Finland - Solveig Herlin
• Greece - Naki Agathou
• Netherlands - Flip van der Schalie
• Yugoslavia - TBC
• Cyprus - Aliki Fereou
• Germany - Carolin Reiber
• Denmark - Bent Henius
• Israel - Daniel Pe'er
• Portugal - Nicolau Breyner
• Austria - Tilia Herold
• Belgium - Monique Delvaux
• Luxembourg - Jean Octave

References