Cuba in the OTI Festival explained

Cuba
Member Station:Cuban Institute of Radio and Television
Apps:9
First:1991
Last:2000
Best:3rd: 1995

The participation of Cuba in the OTI Festival first began at the twentieth OTI Festival in 1991 held in Acapulco and continued continuously until the last edition in 2000 held also in Acapulco. The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, member of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), was responsible for the Cuban participation. It was the very last Ibero-American country making its debut in the festival.

History

The very first Cuban entry in the contest was "Si todos saben de ti" performed by Delia Díaz de Villegas, which was moderately successful making it to the top 10.[1] The song was selected in a national final. In 1992, 1993, and 1994 their participation was selected in a national final titled De La Habana a Valencia. After 1995 they selected their entrants internally.[2]

The best scoring Cuban entry came in 1995 in San Bernardino (Paraguay) with the song "Hoy que no estás" performed by Cristina Rebull, which came third in the festival.[3] The following Cuban competing songs in the contest from 1996 to 2000 were also successful, managing again to reach the top 10. Due to the short trajectory of Cuba in the OTI Festival, the country never won or hosted the festival which came to an end in 2000.

Participation overview

+ Table key
3Third place
FFinalist
XContest cancelled
YearArtistSongConductorPlacePoints
1991Delia Díaz de Villegas"Si todos saben de ti"Miguel PatersonF
1992Augusto"Sólo para mí"
1993Manolo Sánchez"Amor de miedo"Guillermo Valverde9
1994Oswaldo Rodríguez"Amor y cadenas"Guillermo Valverde93
1995Cristina Rebull"Hoy que no estás"Oscar Cardozo Ocampo3
1996Eduardo Antonio"Me queda la canción"Claudio Jácome Harb
1997Tania Tania"Golondrina"Víctor SalazarF
1998Osnel Odit Bavastro"Un sueño loco"Álvaro Esquivel ValverdeF
1999Contest cancelled X
2000Indira Hernandez"Una vida nueva"Hernando HernándezF

References

  1. Web site: Delia Díaz de Villegas represented Cuba in the OTI Festival. 24 April 1999.
  2. Web site: El blog de Pedraza Ginori: MIS OTROS FESTIVALES DE LA OTI / DE 1992 A 1995. Ginori. Yin Pedraza. 2015-11-18. El blog de Pedraza Ginori. 2017-04-05.
  3. Web site: Cristina Rebull presentada por Luis de la Paz en Viernes de Tertulia. Vida!. Zoé Valdés ¡Libertad y. 2017-02-12. ¡Libertad y Vida! Zoé Valdés Publicación Digital. 2017-04-05.