The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual
Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...
,
SR Croatia
The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Sociali ...
,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
, following the country's victory at the with the song "
Rock Me" by
Riva
Riva may refer to:
People
* Riva (surname)
* Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author
* Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat
* Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereira (b ...
. It was the only time Yugoslavia hosted the contest. Organised by the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...
(EBU) and host broadcasters
Yugoslav Radio Television
Yugoslav Radio Television (''Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija''/Југославенска радиотелевизија or ''Jugoslavenska radio-televizija''/Југославенска радио-телевизија; JRT/ЈРТ) was the national ...
(JRT) and
Radiotelevision Zagreb
''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into thr ...
(RTZ), the contest was held at
Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall on 5 May 1990 and was hosted by Croatian television presenters
Helga Vlahović and
Oliver Mlakar.
It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
as well as the first and only contest held in a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
or
socialist state
A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term ''communist state'' is ofte ...
.
Twenty-two countries took part in the contest, the same countries that had participated the previous year.
The winner was with the song "
Insieme: 1992" by
Toto Cutugno
Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno (; born 7 July 1943) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for his worldwide hit song, " L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Con ...
. Cutugno was aged 46 years and 302 days at the time of his victory, making him the oldest winner of the contest to date, the first to be aged in their forties since 1958. He held the record until 2000. The 1990 contest also notably remains the last time that the five countries that would later become known as the "
Big Five" – , , , the and – all placed in the top 10 (Italy won, France tied for second, Spain came fifth, the UK came sixth and Germany came ninth).
Location
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...
, the capital of Croatia, was the second largest city in Yugoslavia.
Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall was chosen to host the contest. The
concert hall
A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats.
This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that m ...
and
convention center is named after
Vatroslav Lisinski
Vatroslav Lisinski (, 8 July 1819 – 31 May 1854) was a Croatian composer.
Lisinski was born Ignatius Fuchs to a German Jewish family. He would later change his name to Vatroslav Lisinski, which is a Croatian calque of his original name. For a ...
, a 19th-century Croatian composer.
The building has a big hall with 1,841 seats and a small hall with 305 seats.
In order to host the 1990 contest, the venue underwent its first major renovation in 1989.
In 1992, the hall's copper roof cover was completely replaced.
Further reconstruction and redecoration work was done in 1999 and 2009.
Format
The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the first to implement an age rule. The
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...
(EBU) were forced to bring in a restriction rule after criticism arose over the ages of two performers at
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...
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
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
at the
1986 competition, was just 13 years old.
The lyrics of several entries celebrated the
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
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.
From a musical perspective both Spain's "
Bandido" and France's "
White and Black Blues
"White and Black Blues" was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, performed in French (with some words in English) by Joëlle Ursull, from her album ''Black French''. The song was performed fourteenth on the night of the competition. At ...
" 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
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...
and
calypso respectively.
The 1990 contest was the first year to feature an official
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...
, ''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.
Participating countries
Conductors
Each performance had a
conductor
Conductor or conduction may refer to:
Music
* Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra.
* ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas
* Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
who directed the orchestra.
* Eduardo Leiva
*
* Rony Brack
* Ümit Eroğlu
*
Harry van Hoof
Harry van Hoof (born 16 March 1943) is a Dutch conductor, composer and music arranger.
Van Hoof has written many successful productions to his name already, he has his own production company and he had his first success as an arranger with "Sof ...
* Thierry Durbet
*
Alyn Ainsworth
* Jon Kjell Seljeseth
*
* Rami Levin
*
* Bela Balint
*
* Régis Dupré
*
*
*
Noel Kelehan
*
Curt-Eric Holmquist
Curt-Eric Gunnar Holmquist (20 June 1948 – 20 July 2021) was a Swedish conductor.
Holmquist first helped the Swedish dance band Curt Haagers in 1966. He played the organ in the band until he left in 1969. He conducted the Swedish entry, " Dig ...
* Gianni Madonini
*
* Stanko Selak
*
Olli Ahvenlahti
Olli Ahvenlahti (born 6 August 1949, in Helsinki) is a Finnish pianist, composer and conductor. He is of Russian descent.
Ahvenlahti succeeded Ossi Runne as the Finnish conductor at the Eurovision Song Contest for the 1990 Contest. In all, ...
Returning artists
Participants and results
Detailed voting results
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
Spokespersons
Each country announced their votes in the order of performance. The following is a list of spokespersons who announced the votes for their respective country.
# Matilde Jarrín
# Fotini Giannoulatou
# Jacques Olivier
#
Korhan Abay
Korhan Abay (born 1954) is a Turkish actor, author, film director and producer.
Career
Abay is a show-business icon in Turkey, well known for his work as an actor, writer, host and producer of numerous national and international TV shows and ev ...
# Joop van Os
#
#
Colin Berry
# Árni Snævarr
#
# Yitzhak Shim'oni
#
# Michel Stocker
# Gabi Schnelle
#
# Drago Čulina
# João Abel Fonseca
#
Eileen Dunne
Eileen Dunne (born 28 April 1958) is a retired Irish journalist, newsreader and presenter with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's national radio and television station, where she presented the main television news programmes '' Six One ...
#
#
#
# Anna Partelidou
# Solveig Herlin
Broadcasts
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, host Helga Vlahović mentioned several countries as among the non-participants broadcasting the contest (
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
,
China,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
,
Japan,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
); however, no information is known about which broadcasters showed the contest and who, if anyone, provided commentary for each.
Incidents
Presenter resignations
There was a slightly uncomfortable beginning to the rehearsal week when, offended by press comments concerning their ages (Vlahović being 45 at the time and Mlakar being 54), the two presenters quit the show. They were briefly replaced by
Rene Medvešek
Rene Medvešek (born 21 June 1963) is a Croatian film and theatre actor and director. He was born in Velika Gorica.
He has appeared in more than 10 films and several television series. To the international audience he is probably best known for ...
and
Dubravka Marković
Dubravka or Dúbravka may refer to:
Places
* Dúbravka, Bratislava, a district of Bratislava, Slovakia
* Dubravka, Croatia, a village in Konavle, Croatia
* Dúbravka, Michalovce, a village in the Michalovce District, Slovakia
Other
* ''D ...
, who were much younger, but the misunderstandings were eventually allayed and Vlahović and Mlakar returned to the contest.
Technical issues
A notorious mishap occurred at the start of the first song, when a noticeably long delay caused by problems with the backing track (the sound engineer having forgotten to switch on the sound on the headphones of Spain's conductor Eduardo Leiva, who had to count in the orchestra playing the strings and brass along to 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.
Notes and references
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Eurovision Song Contest
1990
Music festivals in Yugoslavia
1990 in music
1990 in Yugoslavia
1990s in Zagreb
1990 in Croatia
May 1990 events in Europe
Events in Zagreb
Music in Zagreb