Festival da Canção explained

Genre:Song contest
Presenter:List of presenters
Country:Portugal
Language:Portuguese
Num Episodes:56 editions (in 2024)
Location:Multiple cities in Portugal (Host cities)
Runtime:
  • 2 hours (semi-finals)
  • 3 hours 30 minutes (final)
Last Aired:present
Related:
  • Eurovision Song Contest (1956–present)
Italic Title:no

Portuguese: Festival da Canção|italic=no (pronounced as /pt/; "Song Festival") or Festival RTP da Canção is the name given to the national festival produced and broadcast by Portuguese: [[Rádio e Televisão de Portugal]]|i=no (RTP) to select for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was first held in 1964.

History

Like most music festivals in isolated countries, the Portuguese: Festival da Canção|italic=no was a very important event for the still-incipient Portuguese music industry of the 1960s and 1970s. Left-wing composers and writers would try to squeeze subversive lyrics in the contest, with great effect. After the 1974 revolution, incidentally code-triggered by that year's winner being played on national radio, Portugal became increasingly open to foreign culture, thus deeming the Festival as a lesser musical event, dominated by below-standard pop songs with little or no impact in the industry, although remaining a popular TV show.

The 1990s saw a recovery of the contest's image, then considered a viable means for a new singer to start a career. Internationally acclaimed Portuguese singers Dulce Pontes and Sara Tavares made their debut in the 1991 and 1994 editions, respectively. Many other unknown performers like Lucia Moniz and Anabela leaped to national stardom after taking the RTP trophy.

After reaching an all-time high 6th place in the 1996 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the festival steadily declined from then on. In 2000, the winner Liana did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, as Portugal had been relegated from the 2000 contest after two consecutive poor showings in 1998 and 1999; this would be the second time in the festival's history that the winner did not participate in Eurovision. In 2002, the Portuguese: Festival da Canção|italic=no was placed on hiatus, contradicting the tradition of staging a Portuguese: Festival da Canção|italic=no even without participating in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, as happened in 2000 and 1970. Since 2001, the festival saw consecutive changes of format. 2005 saw RTP commissioning a song for Eurovision, rather than organizing some kind of competition.

Since 2006, RTP settled for a traditional multi-singer, multi-composer competitive format, claiming the memory of older contests and songs. Producers have since been invited to come up with songs, lyrics and singers, and the 2007 result with Sabrina almost making it to the Eurovision final, gave RTP the necessary confidence to maintain the current format. In 2009, an open call for songs was held by RTP, abolishing the invited producers method, with online voting deciding the qualifiers to the televised final from a list of 24 songs, with 12 competing in the live contest.

More changes to the format of the contest were made in 2010. Two semi-finals and a final are now held to select the winner. Foreign composers were once again allowed to compete. Since 2017, different languages are allowed to compete.[1]

The 2020 edition of the festival marked the third time in its history where the winner was unable to participate in Eurovision, as the contest itself was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hosts

1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s

Green room presenters

YearPresenter(s)
2009Sérgio Mateus
2010
2011Joana Teles
2012
2014
2015Jorge Gabriel and Joana Teles
(1st semi-final)
José Carlos Malato and Sílvia Alberto
(2nd semi-final)
Júlio Isidro and Catarina Furtado
(final)
2017Filomena Cautela
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024Inês Lopes Gonçalves and Wandson Lisboa

Winners

Table key
Winner
Second place
Third place
◁Last place
Entry selected but did not compete
YearSongArtistSongwriter(s)FinalPointsSemiPoints
1964"Oração"António CalvárioJoão Nobre, Francisco Nicholson, Rogério Bracinha13th ◁0rowspan="32" colspan="2" data-sort-value="99999"
1965"Sol de inverno"Simone de OliveiraCarlos Nóbrega e Sousa, Jerónimo Bragança13th1
1966"Ele e ela"Madalena IglésiasCarlos Canelhas13th6
1967"O vento mudou"Eduardo NascimentoNuno Nazareth Fernandes, João Magalhães Pereira12th3
1968"Verão"Carlos MendesPedro Vaz Osório, José Alberto Diogo11th5
1969"Desfolhada portuguesa"Simone de OliveiraNuno Nazareth Fernandes, José Carlos Ary dos Santos15th4
1970"Onde vais rio que eu canto"Sérgio BorgesCarlos Nóbrega e Sousa, Joaquim Pedro Gonçalvescolspan="2"
1971"Menina do alto da serra"TonichaNuno Nazareth Fernandes, José Carlos Ary dos Santos9th83
1972"A festa da vida"Carlos MendesJosé Calvário, José Niza7th90
1973"Tourada"Fernando TordoFernando Tordo, José Carlos Ary dos Santos10th80
1974"E depois do adeus"Paulo de CarvalhoJosé Calvário, José Niza14th ◁3
1975"Madrugada"Duarte MendesJosé Luís Tinoco16th16
1976"Uma flor de verde pinho"Carlos do CarmoJosé Niza, Manuel Alegre12th24
1977"Portugal no coração"Os AmigosFernando Tordo, José Carlos Ary dos Santos14th18
1978"Dai li dou"GeminiVítor Mamede, Carlos Quintas17th5
1979"Sobe, sobe, balão sobe"Manuela BravoCarlos Nóbrega e Sousa9th64
1980"Um grande, grande amor"José CidJosé Cid7th71
1981"Playback"Carlos PaiãoCarlos Paião18th9
1982"Bem bom"DocePedro Brito, Tozé Brito, António Pinho13th32
1983"Esta balada que te dou"Armando GamaArmando Gama13th33
1984"Silêncio e tanta gente"Maria GuinotMaria Guinot11th38
1985"Penso em ti (eu sei)"AdelaideTozé Brito, Adelaide Ferreira, Luís Fernando18th9
1986"Não sejas mau para mim"DoraGuilherme Inês, Zé Da Ponte, Luís Manuel de Oliveira Fernandes14th28
1987"Neste barco à vela"NevadaAlfredo Azinheira, Jorge Mendes18th15
1988"Voltarei"DoraJosé Niza, José Calvário18th5
1989"Conquistador"Da VinciRicardo, Pedro Luís16th39
1990"Sempre, há sempre alguém"NuchaLuís Filipe, Ian van Dijck, Frederico Pereira, Francisco Pereira20th9
1991"Portuguese: [[Lusitana paixão]]|italic=no"Dulce PontesJorge Quintela, José Da Ponte, Fred Micaelo8th62
1992"Amor d'água fresca"DinaOndina Veloso, Rosa Lobato de Faria17th26
1993"A cidade (até ser dia)"AnabelaPaulo de Carvalho, Marco Quelhas, Pedro Abrantes10th60
1994"Chamar a música"Sara TavaresJoão Mota Oliveira, Rosa Lobato de Faria8th73
1995"Baunilha e chocolate"Tó CruzAntónio Vitorino d'Almeida, Rosa Lobato de Faria21st5
1996"O meu coração não tem cor"Lúcia MonizPedro Osório, José Fanha6th92 1832
1997"Antes do adeus"Célia LawsonRosa Lobato de Faria, Thilo Krassman24th ◁0rowspan="6" colspan="2" data-sort-value="99999"
1998"Se eu te pudesse abraçar"Alma LusaJosé Cid12th36
1999"Como tudo começou"Rui BandeiraJorge do Carmo, Tó Andrade21st12
2000"Sonhos mágicos"LianaGerardo Rodrigues, Maria da Conceição Nortecolspan="2"
2001"Só sei ser feliz assim"MTMMarco Quelhas17th18
2003"Deixa-me sonhar"Rita GuerraPaulo Martins22nd13
2004"Foi magia"Sofia VitóriaPaulo Neves15th38
2006"Coisas de nada"NonstopJosé Manuel Afonso, Elvis Veiguinha19th26
2007"Dança comigo"SabrinaEmanuel, Tó Maria Vinhas11th88
2008"Senhora do mar"Vânia FernandesAndrej Babić, Carlos Coelho13th692120
2009"Todas as ruas do amor"Flor-de-LisPaulo Pereira, Pedro Marques15th57870
2010"Há dias assim"Filipa AzevedoAugusto Madureira18th43489
2011"A luta é alegria"Homens da LutaJel18th22
2012"Vida minha"Filipa SousaAndrej Babić, Carlos Coelho13th39
2014"Quero ser tua"SuzyEmanuel11th39
2015"Há um mar que nos separa"Leonor AndradeMiguel Gameiro14th19
2017"Amar pelos dois"Salvador SobralLuísa Sobral1st7581370
2018"O jardim"Cláudia PascoalIsaura26th ◁39
2019"Telemóveis"Conan OsírisConan Osíris15th51
2020"Medo de sentir"ElisaMarta Carvalhocolspan="4"
2021"Love Is on My Side"The Black MambaTatanka12th1534239
2022"Saudade, saudade"MaroMaro, John Blanda9th2074208
2023"Ai coração" MimicatMarisa Mena, Luís Pereira23rd59974
2024"Grito"IolandaAlberto Hernández, Iolanda Costa10th152858

Venues

Final

TotalCityVenues (years)
45LisbonRTP Television Center (1964–1968, 1976–1977, 1986, 1988, 2005, 2012, 2015, 2021–2024)
Teatro São Luiz (1969, 1972, 1980, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998)
Cinema Monumental (1970, 1979)
Cinema Tivoli (1971, 1995)
Teatro Maria Matos (1973–1975, 1981, 1982)
(1978)
Auditório Europa (1984)
Coliseu dos Recreios (1985, 1997, 2017)
(1991, 2006)
Teatro Politeama (1996)
Sala Tejo do Pavilhão Atlântico (1999–2000, 2007)
Teatro Camões (2008, 2009, 2011)
Praça de Touros do Campo Pequeno (2010)
Convento do Beato (2014)
1PortoColiseu do Porto (1983)
1FunchalCasino Park Funchal (1987)
1Évora (1989)
1EstorilCasino Estoril (1990)
1Santa Maria da Feira (2001)
1Venda do PinheiroEndemol Studios (2003)
1Mem MartinsEndemol Studios (2004)
1GuimarãesMultiusos de Guimarães (2018)
1PortimãoPortimão Arena (2019)
1Elvas (2020)

Venues (since 2017)

CityVenueYear
20172018201920202021202220232024
LisbonRTP Television CenterSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSF
FFFF
Coliseu dos RecreiosF
GuimarãesMultiusos de GuimarãesF
PortimãoPortimão ArenaF
ElvasColiseu Comendador Rondão AlmeidaF

Key: SF = Semi-final; F = Final

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Foreigners can compete in 'Festival da Canção' . Costa . Nelson . 2009-11-19 . Oikotimes . 2009-11-19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100206044454/http://oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=6868 . 2010-02-06 .

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