This week we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, on Saturday 3rd April – the first to be held in Ireland and the only Contest to be held at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.

The Contest was only RTE’s second colour broadcast. Along with the participating broadcasters, the Contest was broadcaster in Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland and the United States.

Before the Contest took place, it became mandatory in 1971 for all the participating broadcasters to show all the preview videos of the entries. Malta made their debut, while Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all returned to the Contest.

The 1971 Eurovision Song Contest saw groups of up to 6 allowed for the first time. Up until then, only soloists or duos were allowed to perform. The voting system also had a revamp. Each country had two jurors, one under and one over 25 years old, with at least ten years between them. They awarded each country between 1 and 5 points.

Over the course of the week, culminating on the 50th Anniversary, we will take a look back at all the participating entries in results order – from worst to winner.

18th – Malta

Joe Grech was the Maltese debut entry. He sang “Marija l-Maltija” in Dublin, resulting in an 18th and last place for the debutants. Malta secured a total of 52 points. They came from:

• 5 points – The Netherlands and Spain
• 4 points – Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Italy
• 3 points – Finland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom
• 2 points – Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Yugoslavia

17th – Norway

Hanne Krogh was the Norwegian entry. She sang “Lykken er” in Dublin, resulting in a 17th place and a total of 65 points. They came from:

• 7 points – Ireland and the United Kingdom
• 6 points – Belgium and Monaco
• 5 points – France and Portugal
• 4 points – Switzerland and Yugoslavia
• 3 points – Austria, Finland and Malta
• 2 points – Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden

16th – Austria

Marianne Mendt was the Austrian entry. She sang “Musik” in Dublin, resulting in a 16th place and a total of 66 points. They came from:

• 7 points – Germany
• 6 points – Ireland and Italy
• 5 points – Monaco, Norway and Portugal
• 4 points – Sweden and Yugoslavia
• 3 points – Belgium, Finland, France, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
• 2 points – Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland

Join us back here tomorrow, as we look back at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, 50 years on – Belgium, Luxembourg and Yugoslavia will be the three countries in focus.

Let us know what you think about the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest and its 50th Anniversary – either in the comments below or on our FACEBOOK and TWITTER pages.

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland