Eurovision Song Contest 1990



The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on 5 May 1990. The presenters were Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar. Toto Cutugno was the winner of this contest with the song "Insieme: 1992". This was the second victory for Italy, the first one having been "Non ho l'età", performed by Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964.

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.

Malta had wished to return to the contest for the first time in 15 years, but Eurovision rules prevented them from returning due to a maximum of 22 entries allowed to compete, this rule has since been removed. A national final was held in Malta, which was won by Maryrose Mallia with "Our Little World of Yesterday".

There was a slightly uncomfortable beginning to the rehearsal week when, offended by press comments concerning their ages (Brnobić 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 Brnobić and Mlakar returned to the contest.

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.

A notorious mishap occurred at the start of the first song, when a noticeably long delay caused by problems with 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.

From a musicological 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 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.

Results
Notes
 * 1. Contains some phrases in English, French and Serbo-Croatian.

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

Television

 * 🇪🇸 Spain - Luis Cobos (TVE2)
 * 🇬🇷 Greece - Dafni Bokota (ET1)
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium - Claude Delacroix (RTBF La Une), Luc Appermont (BRT TV2)
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey - Başak Doğru (TV1)
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Willem van Beusekom (Nederland 3)
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - Valérie Sarn (RTL TV)
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Terry Wogan (BBC1) Emma (at the interval act)
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland – Arthúr Björgvin Bollason (Sjónvarpið)
 * 🇳🇴 Norway - Leif Erik Forberg (NRK)
 * 🇮🇱 Israel - No commentator
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark - Jørgen de Mylius (DR TV)
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland - Bernard Thurnheer (DRS), Thierry Masselot (SSR), Emanuela Gaggini (TSI)
 * 🇩🇪 Germany - Fritz Egner (Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen)
 * 🇫🇷 France - Richard Adaridi (Antenne 2)
 * Yugoslavia - Branko Uvodić (TVZ1 & TVB1), Saša Gerdej (TVLJ1)
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal - Ana do Carmo (RTP Canal 1)
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland - Jimmy Greeley and Clíona Ní Bhuachalla (RTÉ1)
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden - Jan Jingryd (TV2)
 * 🇮🇹 Italy - Peppi Franzelin (Raidue)
 * 🇦🇹 Austria - Barbara Stöckl (FS1)
 * 🇨🇾 Cyprus - Neophytos Taliotis (RIK)
 * 🇫🇮 Finland - Erkki Pohjanheimo and Ossi Runne (YLE TV1)

Radio

 * 🇪🇸 Spain - N/A
 * 🇬🇷 Greece - Dimitris Konstantaras (ERA National Radio)
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium - Stéphane Dupont and Patrick Duhamel (RTBF La Première), Julien Put (BRT Radio 2)
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey - Fatih Orbay (TRT Radyo 3)
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Daniël Dekker (Radio 2)
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - André Torrent (RTL Radio)
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2)
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland - N/A
 * 🇳🇴 Norway - Erik Heyerdahl (NRK P1)
 * 🇮🇱 Israel - Yigal Ravid (Reshet Gimel)
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark - Karlo Staunskær and Kurt Helge Andersen (DR P3)
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland - TBC
 * 🇩🇪 Germany - Peter Urban (Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2)
 * 🇫🇷 France - Patrick Sabatier (France Inter)
 * Yugoslavia - TBC
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal - N/A
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland - Larry Gogan (RTÉ Radio 1)
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden - Kersti Adams-Ray (SR P3)
 * 🇮🇹 Italy - Antonio De Robertis (Rai Radio 2)
 * 🇦🇹 Austria - Walter Richard Langer (Hitradio Ö3)
 * 🇨🇾 Cyprus - Pavlos Pavlou (CyBC Radio 2)
 * 🇫🇮 Finland - Jake Nyman and Kati Bergman (YLE Radio Suomi)

Spokespersons

 * 🇪🇸 Spain - TBD
 * 🇬🇷 Greece - Fotini Giannoulatou
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium - Jacques Olivier
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey - Korhan Abay (presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004)
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Joop van Os
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - Jean-Luc Bertrand
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Colin Berry
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland – Árni Snævarr
 * 🇳🇴 Norway - Sverre Christophersen
 * 🇮🇱 Israel - Yitzhak Shim'oni
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark - Bent Henius
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland - Michel Stocker
 * 🇩🇪 Germany - Kerstin Schweighöfer
 * 🇫🇷 France - Valérie Maurice
 * Yugoslavia - Drago Čulina
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal - João Abel Fonseca
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland - Eileen Dunne
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden - Jan Ellerås
 * 🇮🇹 Italy - Paolo Frajese
 * 🇦🇹 Austria - Tilia Herold
 * 🇨🇾 Cyprus - Anna Partelidou
 * 🇫🇮 Finland - Solveig Herlin

National jury members

 * 🇪🇸 Spain – Amparo Mendiguren (housewife), Pedro Calleja (clinical assistant), Paloma Gómez (actress), José Ramón Gamo (student), Teresa del Río (actress), Emilio de Villota (racing driver), Fiorella Faltoyano (actress), Julián Lago (journalist at Tribuna), Raquel Revuelta (fashion model and Miss Spain 1990), Juan Carlos Arteche (footballer and businessman), Conchita de los Santos (journalist), Alfredo Roldán (senior civil servant), Margarita Girón (public relations), José Sanjuán (PhD in Chemistry), María José Olmedilla (lawyer), Javier Morera (lawyer)
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey – Murat Türkoğlu, Selda Güneş, Mithat Kaya, Özlem Şen, Sıla Yavuz, Nazif Eke, Hülya Okçay, Kadir Gökdemir, Aydan Özbey, Özlem Çelik, Ziya Fırat Doğançay, Meltem Altınörs, Nihal Müftüoğlu, Zeki Tatlıgil, Ahmet Hüseyin Uluçay, Mustafa Sarıkoç
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – Laura Gudim, Roland Gonzalez-Attwell
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal – Manuel Pinheiro