| Eurovision Song Contest | |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Final: | 30 April 1988 |
| Musdirector: | Noel Kelehan |
| Director: | Declan Lowney |
| Exsupervisor: | Frank Naef |
| Exproducer: | Liam Miller |
| Host: | Irish: [[RTÉ|Radio Telefís Éireann]]|i=unset (RTÉ) |
| Venue: | RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion, Dublin, Ireland |
| Winner: | "French: [[Ne partez pas sans moi]]|i=unset" |
| Vote: | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Entries: | 21 |
| Debut: | None |
| Return: | None |
| Map Nosemis: | Y |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1988 in the RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion in Dublin, Ireland and presented by Pat Kenny and Michelle Rocca. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Irish: [[RTÉ|Radio Telefís Éireann]]|i=unset (RTÉ), the contest was held in Ireland following the country's victory at the with the song "Hold Me Now" by Johnny Logan.
Twenty-two countries submitted entries to participate, however ultimately rescinded its entry after its selected song was determined to have been performed several years' prior to the contest, breaking the contest rules. The winner was with the song "French: [[Ne partez pas sans moi]]|i=unset", composed by Atilla Şereftuğ, written by Nella Martinetti and performed by Céline Dion. It was Switzerland's second contest win, and remains the last winning song to be performed in French. The,, and rounded out the top five positions, with the UK achieving its eleventh runner-up placing, while placed last for the sixth time, receiving nul points for the second time.
The 1988 contest took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hold Me Now", performed by Johnny Logan. It was the third time that Ireland had hosted the contest, following the and events also held in Dublin.[1]
The selected venue was the Simmonscourt Pavilion of the Royal Dublin Society, a multi-purpose venue situated in the Ballsbridge area of the city, which had previously hosted the 1981 contest.[2] Space for approximately 1,500 people in the audience was expected following construction of the stage and other technical aspects.
The same twenty-two countries which had participated the submitted entries for the 1988 contest, with the draw to determine the running order of the 1988 contest held on 11 December 1987. However, a number of weeks before the event, it was discovered that the song selected to represent, "Greek, Modern (1453-);: Thimame|i=unset", written by John Vickers and Aristos Moschovakis and sung by Yiannis Dimitrou, had previously competed in the under the title "Greek, Modern (1453-);: San to rok-en-rol|i=unset", and was therefore ineligible to compete at Eurovision.[3] [4] The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) subsequently announced on 12 March 1988 that it had nullified the selection of "Greek, Modern (1453-);: Thimame|i=unset" as the Cypriot entry; as the rules of the 1988 Cypriot selection did not provide for a second-placed song to be declared, and as there was not enough time to stage a second selection process to determine a replacement entry, CyBC was ultimately unable to participate in the contest.[5]
Several of the artists which competed in this year's contest has performed in previous editions of the event. 's Tommy Körberg has competed in the ;[6] the duo Hot Eyes, also known as Kirsten and Søren, represented for a third time, following appearances at the and contests;[7] the group MFÖ returned for after also competing in 1985;[8] 's Dora competed again her previous entry;[9] and 's Yardena Arazi returned to compete as a solo artist, after previously representing her country as part of the group Chocolate Menta Mastik in, and co-hosting the held in Jerusalem.[10] Additionally, 's Boulevard had previously performed as the backing group for the previous year's Finnish entrant Vicky Rosti, and among Yardena Arazi's backing vocalists was Yehuda Tamir and, members of the Israeli group Milk and Honey which had won the .[11] [12]
A separate musical director could be nominated by each country to lead the orchestra during their performance, with the host musical director also available to conduct for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor. All entries were accompanied by the orchestra, except for and, who were accompanied solely by backing track. In the case of the Italian entry, their backing track featured the contest's first, and only, fade-out ending.
| + Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1988[13] | |||||||
| Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter(s) | Conductor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORF | Wilfried | "Lisa Mona Lisa" | German | Harald Neuwirth | |||
| RTBF | Reynaert | "French: Laissez briller le soleil|i=unset" | French | Dany Willem | |||
| DR | Hot Eyes | "Danish: Ka' du se hva' jeg sa'|i=unset" | Danish | Henrik Krogsgaard | |||
| YLE | Boulevard | "Finnish: Nauravat silmät muistetaan|i=unset" | Finnish | Ossi Runne | |||
| French: [[France 2|Antenne 2]]|i=unset | Gérard Lenorman | "French: Chanteur de charme|i=unset" | French | Guy Mattéoni | |||
| BR | Maxi and Chris Garden | "German: Lied für einen Freund|i=unset" | German | Michael Thatcher | |||
| ERT | Afroditi Fryda | "Clown" (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Κλόουν) | Greek | Dimitris Sakislis | Haris Andreadis | ||
| RÚV | Beathoven | "Icelandic: Sókrates|i=unset" | Icelandic | Sverrir Stormsker | |||
| RTÉ | Jump the Gun | "Take Him Home" | English | Peter Eades | Noel Kelehan | ||
| IBA | Yardena Arazi | "Hebrew: Ben Adam|i=unset" (Hebrew: בן אדם) | Hebrew | Eldad Shrem | |||
| RAI | Luca Barbarossa | "Italian: Ti scrivo|i=unset" | Italian | Luca Barbarossa | |||
| CLT | Lara Fabian | "French: [[Croire]]|i=unset" | French | Régis Dupré | |||
| NOS | Gerard Joling | "Shangri-La" | Dutch | Peter de Wijn | Harry van Hoof | ||
| NRK | Karoline Krüger | "Norwegian: For vår jord|i=unset" | Norwegian | Arild Stav | |||
| RTP | Dora | "Portuguese: Voltarei|i=unset" | Portuguese | José Calvário | |||
| TVE | La Década | "Spanish; Castilian: La chica que yo quiero|i=unset (Made in Spain)" | Spanish | Javier de Juan | |||
| SVT | Tommy Körberg | "Swedish: Stad i ljus|i=unset" | Swedish | Py Bäckman | Anders Berglund | ||
| SRG SSR | Céline Dion | "French: [[Ne partez pas sans moi]]|i=unset" | French | Atilla Şereftuğ | |||
| TRT | MFÖ | "Sufi (Hey Ya Hey)" | Turkish | Turhan Yükseler | |||
| BBC | Scott Fitzgerald | "Go" | English | Julie Forsyth | Ronnie Hazlehurst | ||
| JRT | [[Srebrna krila]]|i=unset | "Mangup|i=unset" (Мангуп) | Serbo-Croatian | Nikica Kalogjera |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was produced by the Irish public broadcaster Irish: [[RTÉ|Radio Telefís Éireann]]|i=unset (RTÉ). Liam Miller served as executive producer, Declan Lowney served as director, Paula Farrell and Michael Grogan served as designers, and Noel Kelehan served as musical director, leading the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.[14] On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Frank Naef as executive supervisor.[15] [16] The presenters of the contest were broadcaster Pat Kenny and television announcer and Miss Ireland 1980 Michelle Rocca; the duo were announced by RTÉ in February 1988 following auditions held in the previous weeks.[17] [18] It was the first time since that more than one person had presented the contest.[19]
Several technical innovations and improvements were introduced to the contest for the first time, spearheaded by executive producer Liam Miller and director Declan Lowney, who were eager to make the contest more to a younger audience. The traditional physical scoreboard was replaced by a computer-generated version, displayed on two video walls constructed on either side of the stage. These video walls also displayed the performances and footage of the artists in the green room during the voting sequence, allowing the audience in the arena to see the televised footage within the venue for the first time. A modern feel was also implemented within the stage design by Paula Farrell and Michael Grogan, and the graphic design by Maria Quigley, aspects which had already been modernised for the previous year's edition.[20] The stage, at over 40 metres in length, was the largest ever built for the contest at that point, and took up almost a third of the 18,000m2 space within the Simmonscourt Pavilion. The stage design, which created an illusion of depth, alongside tight camera shots of the audience and creative lighting use, resulted in an overall impression that the contest was being held in a vast and packed arena, rather than the modest space of the Simmonscourt Pavilion.
Rehearsals for the participating artists began on 25 April 1988. Two technical rehearsals were conducted for each participating delegation in the week approaching the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. The first rehearsals, comprising a 15-minute stage call and 35-minute performance, were held on 25 and 26 April, followed by a press conference for each delegation and the accredited press. Each country's second rehearsals were held on 27 and 28 April, with a 10-minute stage call and 25 minutes for performances. On 28 April, the contest venue received a visit from the Taoiseach Charles Haughey.[21] Three dress rehearsals were held with all artists, held in the afternoon and evening of 29 April and in the afternoon of 30 April; the second of these rehearsals was filmed as a production stand-by in case the live event was disrupted, with a live audience present. During the contest week, 's Tommy Körberg had been suffering from a throat infection; although he was able to perform during the event-proper, for the 29 April evening dress rehearsal the songwriter of the Swedish entry Py Bäckman performed the entry in his stead.[22]
Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented.[23] [24] A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance.[25] Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-only backing tracks, however any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage being mimed by the performers.[26]
The results of the 1988 contest were determined through the same scoring system as had first been introduced in : each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry.[27] The points awarded by each country were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, who were all required to be members of the public with no connection to the music industry, split evenly between men and women and across four age groups: 15–25; 26–35; 36–45; and 46–60. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing. The jury composition and voting process was modified slightly compared to the 1987 contest, due to the increase in the number of participating countries in recent years, expanding from eleven members who awarded between one and five votes for each song.
As established at the, in the event that two or more countries finished in first place with the same number of points, the artists representing these countries would perform their entries again, and the juries in all countries not involved in the tie-break would determine the winner, with each country's jury selecting their favourite of the entries by a show of hands of all jurors. If after all countries had determined their favourites and there was still a tie for first place, the countries involved in this tie would be declared joint winners.[28]
The contest was opened by a video montage highlighting ancient Celtic structures, items and mythology pertaining to prehistoric Ireland, transitioning to footage of modern-day Ireland and Dublin. This was followed by a performance of the previous year's winning entry, "Hold Me Now", by Johnny Logan.[29] The interval act was the Irish rock group Hothouse Flowers, with a music video of their song "Don't Go"; the group's lead singer Liam Ó Maonlaí also appeared on stage before the music video played to explain the meaning behind the songfirst in Irish, then in Englishwhile playing the piano.[30] The music video, featuring performances of the song by the band in eleven European countries, received funding from the European Economic Community as part of the organisation's goal of advancing European integration.[31] The trophy awarded to the winners was presented at the end of the broadcast by Johnny Logan.
The winner was represented by the song "French: [[Ne partez pas sans moi]]|i=unset", composed by Atilla Şereftuğ, written by Nella Martinetti and performed by Céline Dion.[32] It was Switzerland's second Eurovision win, following their victory at the in 1956.[33] It also remains the last time that a song in the French language has won.[34] The finished in second place for the eleventh time, and for the second time it had lost by a single point. Meanwhile, finished in last place for the sixth time, and achieved its second nul points result.[35] [36]
| + Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1988[37] | ||||||
| Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beathoven | "Icelandic: Sókrates|i=unset" | 20 | 16 | ||
| 2 | "Swedish: Stad i ljus|i=unset" | 52 | 12 | |||
| 3 | Boulevard | "Finnish: Nauravat silmät muistetaan|i=unset" | 3 | 20 | ||
| 4 | "Go" | 136 | 2 | |||
| 5 | MFÖ | "Sufi (Hey Ya Hey)" | 37 | 15 | ||
| 6 | "Spanish; Castilian: La chica que yo quiero|i=unset (Made in Spain)" | 58 | 11 | |||
| 7 | "Shangri-La" | 70 | 9 | |||
| 8 | "Hebrew: Ben Adam|i=unset" | 85 | 7 | |||
| 9 | "French: [[Ne partez pas sans moi]]|i=unset" | 137 | 1 | |||
| 10 | Jump the Gun | "Take Him Home" | 79 | 8 | ||
| 11 | "German: Lied für einen Freund|i=unset" | 48 | 14 | |||
| 12 | Wilfried | "Lisa Mona Lisa" | 0 | 21 | ||
| 13 | Hot Eyes | "Danish: Ka' du se hva' jeg sa'|i=unset" | 92 | 3 | ||
| 14 | "Clown" | 10 | 17 | |||
| 15 | "Norwegian: For vår jord|i=unset" | 88 | 5 | |||
| 16 | Reynaert | "French: Laissez briller le soleil|i=unset" | 5 | 18 | ||
| 17 | "French: [[Croire]]|i=unset" | 90 | 4 | |||
| 18 | "Italian: Ti scrivo|i=unset" | 52 | 12 | |||
| 19 | "French: Chanteur de charme|i=unset" | 64 | 10 | |||
| 20 | Dora | "Portuguese: Voltarei|i=unset" | 5 | 18 | ||
| 21 | [[Srebrna krila]]|i=unset | "Mangup|i=unset" | 87 | 6 |
Each country nominated a spokesperson, connected to the contest venue via telephone lines and responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for their respective country.[38] Known spokespersons at the 1989 contest are listed below.
| + Detailed voting results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1988[41] [42] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| scope="col" | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iceland | 20 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 52 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Finland | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 136 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 3 | |||||
| Turkey | 37 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Spain | 58 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Netherlands | 70 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 7 | ||||||||||||
| Israel | 85 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 1 | ||||||
| Switzerland | 137 | 7 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 6 | ||||
| Ireland | 79 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | |||||||
| Germany | 48 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Austria | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Denmark | 92 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 6 | ||||||||
| Greece | 10 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Norway | 88 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 10 | |||||||
| Belgium | 5 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Luxembourg | 90 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 3 | |||||||
| Italy | 52 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| France | 64 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 12 | |||||||
| Portugal | 5 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Yugoslavia | 87 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 3 | ||||||||
The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia received the maximum score of 12 points from three of the voting countries, the Netherlands received two sets of 12 points, and France, Ireland, Norway and Sweden each received one maximum score.
| + | ||
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | ,, | |
| ,, | ||
| ,, | ||
| ,, | ||
| ,, | ||
| 2 | , | |
| 1 | ||
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
| + Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries | ||||
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORF | FS1 | Ernst Grissemann | [47] | |
| RTBF | RTBF1 | Pierre Collard-Bovy | [48] | |
| BRT | TV1 | Luc Appermont | [49] | |
| BRT 2 | ||||
| DR | DR TV, DR P2 | Jørgen de Mylius | [50] | |
| YLE | TV1, Finnish: {{ill|Rinnakkaisohjelma|fi|lt=2-verkko | Erkki Pohjanheimo | [51] [52] | |
| French: [[France 2|Antenne 2]]|i=unset | [53] [54] | |||
| ARD | German: [[Das Erste|Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen]]|i=unset | Nicole and Claus-Erich Boetzkes | [55] [56] | |
| ERT | ET1 | Dafni Bokota | [57] [58] | |
| RÚV | Icelandic: [[RÚV (TV channel)|Sjónvarpið]]|i=unset, Icelandic: [[Rás 1]]|i=unset | Hermann Gunnarsson | [59] | |
| RTÉ | RTÉ 1 | Mike Murphy | [60] [61] | |
| RTÉ FM3 | Larry Gogan | [62] | ||
| IBA | Israeli Television, | [63] | ||
| RAI | Italian: [[Rai 3|Rai Tre]]|i=unset | Daniele Piombi | [64] | |
| CLT | French: [[RTL9|RTL Télévision]]|i=unset | [65] | ||
| RTL plus | ||||
| NOS | Dutch; Flemish: [[NPO 3|Nederland 3]]|i=unset | Willem van Beusekom | [66] [67] | |
| NRK | Norwegian: [[NRK1|NRK Fjernsynet]]|i=unset, NRK P2 | John Andreassen | [68] [69] | |
| RTP | RTP1 | [70] | ||
| TVE | TVE 2 | [71] | ||
| SVT | TV2 | Bengt Grafström | [72] | |
| SR P3 | Kalle Oldby | [73] | ||
| SRG SSR | German: {{ill|SRG Sportkette|de | [74] | ||
| French: [[Radio Télévision Suisse|SSR Chaîne sportive]]|i=unset | [75] | |||
| Italian: [[Radiotelevisione svizzera|TSI Canale sportivo]]|i=unset | [76] | |||
| TRT | TV1 | [77] | ||
| BBC | BBC1 | Terry Wogan | [78] | |
| BBC Radio 2 | Ken Bruce | [79] | ||
| JRT | [[RTS1 (Serbian TV channel)|TV Beograd 1]]|i=unset, TV Novi Sad, TV Zagreb 1 | Oliver Mlakar | ||
| [80] | ||||
| + Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries | |||||
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBS | SBS TV | [81] | |||
| CBC | Radio-Canada | Céline Dion and René Angélil | [82] [83] | ||
| CyBC | RIK, Greek, Modern (1453-);: A Programma|i=unset | [84] [85] | |||
| ČST | ČST2 | [86] | |||
| ETV | [87] | ||||
| SvF | [88] | ||||
| KNR | KNR | [89] | |||
| MTV | MTV2 | [90] | |||
| JRTV | JTV2 | [91] | |||
| TP | TP1 | [92] | |||
| CT USSR | Programme One | [93] | |||
