Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979

Last updated

Eurovision Song Contest 1979
CountryFlag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
National selection
Selection processArtist: Internal selection
Song: Eurosong
Selection date(s)Semi-finals3 February 1979
10 February 1979
17 February 1979
24 February 1979
Final
3 March 1979
Selected entrant Micha Marah
Selected song"Hey Nana"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Charles Dumolin
  • Guy Beyers
Finals performance
Final result18th, 5 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1978 •1979• 1980►

Belgium was represented by the song "Hey Nana", performed by Micha Marah at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Jerusalem on 31 March.

Contents

Before Eurovision

Eurosong

Format

In the summer of 1978, BRT sent invites for a meeting to discuss the format of Eurosong 1979 to eleven artists. These artists were: Della Bosiers, Luk Bral, Lieven Coppieters, Kris De Bruyne, Wim De Craene, Jan De Wilde, Leen Persijn, Raymond van het Groenewoud, Erik Van Neygen, Zjef Vanuytsel, and Johan Verminnen. Four artists accepted the invitiation: Della Bosiers, Lieven Coppieters, Kris De Bruyne, and Wim De Craene. The original format was similar to Eurosong 1977. Each of the four artists would have a dedicated programme each where they perform their best known songs as well as new songs for the Eurovision Song Contest and one song from each programme would qualify to a final round. In the final, each artist would perform their qualified song and the winner would go to the Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem. [1]

However, for unknown reasons, the planned national final was scrapped and instead Micha Marah was selected to perform six songs across four semi-finals and a final. In the first three semi-finals, one song was eliminated. In the fourth semi-final, Micha Marah and her team chose one of the three previously eliminated songs to return to the competition and one song was eliminated. In the final, the winning song was chosen from the three remaining songs. [1]

Competing Entries

BRT opened a submission period for songs and six were chosen for the competition. Guy Beyers, a business partner of Micha Marah at the time, chose a selection of songs, from which a committee at BRT chose six songs for Eurosong 1979. All six songs had English lyrics, which meant that Guy Beyers had to translate the songs into Dutch. [1]

SongSongwriter(s)
"Alleen"Chris Van Oost, Guy Beyers
"Alles zal zich weer herhalen"Dirk Stuer, Guy Beyers
"Comment ça va?"Fred Beekmans, Bob Baelemans, Guy Beyers
"Hey Nana"Charles Dumolin, Guy Beyers
"Mijn dagboek"Chris De Wamme, J. G. Callebaut, Guy Beyers
"Mooi prater"Fred Beekmans, Bob Baelemans, Guy Beyers

Semi-finals

All four semi-finals were held in the Amerikaans Theater  [ nl ] in Brussels and were hosted by Micha Marah and Karel Buts. Francis Bay conducted the BRT Big band, and Anny Gérard, Joanna Lecomte, and Patricia Maessen provided backing vocals in each semi-final. Each semi-final was split into two parts. In the first part, Micha Marah hosts the show, sings well-known songs, and invites guests onto the show. In the second part, Karel Buts takes over hosting duties and Micha Marah performs the candidate songs. [1] [2]

The jury was intended to be a 200-member audience jury who give between 1 and 6 points to each song. The BRT Study Service would choose 100 families from which two members from two different generations would attend the programme. However, bad weather conditions on the days of the shows meant that there never was 200 jury members. [1]

Semi-final 1 – 3 February 1979
DrawSongPointsPlaceResult
1"Mijn dagboek"5713Advanced
2"Alleen"5045Advanced
3"Mooi prater"4546Eliminated
4"Alles zal zich weer herhalen"5494Advanced
5"Hey Nana"7662Advanced
6"Comment ça va?"8491Advanced
Guest performers
Dream Express, Bobbejaan Schoepen, Heddy Lester
Semi-final 2 – 10 February 1979
DrawSongPointsPlaceResult
1"Alleen"5164Advanced
2"Alles zal zich weer herhalen"4245Saved
3"Mijn dagboek"6853Advanced
4"Hey Nana"7132Advanced
5"Comment ça va?"7461Advanced
Guest performers
Nicole & Hugo, Hans Flower, Brotherhood of Man
Semi-final 3 – 17 February 1979
DrawSongPointsPlaceResult
1"Alleen"5094Eliminated
2"Mijn dagboek"6902Advanced
3"Hey Nana"6323Advanced
4"Comment ça va?"8521Advanced
Guest performers
Jacques Raymond, Tonia, Lenny Kuhr
Semi-final 4 – 24 February 1979
DrawSongPointsPlaceResult
1"Alles zal zich weer herhalen"2334Eliminated
2"Mijn dagboek"3813Advanced
3"Hey Nana"5762Advanced
4"Comment ça va?"7581Advanced
Guest performers
Pierre Rapsat, Pepe Lienhard Band

Final

The final was held on 3 March 1979 with the three surviving songs, this time voted on by a 20-member jury rather than the public. The Jury consisted of; five past Eurovision Song Contest participants: Lily Castel, Jacques Raymond, Nicole Josy, Hugo Sigal, and Luc Smets; five representatives of BRT television: Zaki, Herman Meyssen, Ward Bogaert, Jef Bruyninckx, and Guy Helsen; five representatives of BRT radio: Jos Baudewijn, Peter De Groot, Luk De Laet, Paul Verbruggen, and Frans Feyaerts; and five journalists: Emiel Janssens, Louis Van Raak, Roland Rentmeesters, Jan Van Hemeldonck, and Willy Schuyesmans. The jury voted in the same way as the public, by giving between 1 and 6 points to each song. [1] [3]

Final – 3 March 1979
DrawSongPointsPlace
1"Mijn dagboek"583
2"Hey Nana"961
3"Comment ça va?"832
Guest performers
Teach-In, Xandra

Controversy

Micha Marah had made it clear that "Comment ça va?" was her favourite song of the national final and the one she wanted to go to Eurovision with. Micha Marah and her team had been promoting the song up to the national final, with Micha Marah also promoting the song at the MIDEM music fair in 1979. Some jury members from television, radio, and the press were annoyed by Micha Marah's team's control over the national final and decided to give low scores to "Comment ça va?". Some jury members even refused to vote at all for "Comment ça va?" and their votes defaulted to 1 point. Micha Marah was unhappy with the result and had to be pushed onto the stage to reprise "Hey Nana" at the end of the show. [1]

During the reception after the Eurosong 1979 final, guest star Sandra Reemer noted that "Hey Nana" is similar to another song called "Auntie". "Auntie" was a song released in 1972 for the fiftieth anniversary of the BBC, composed by Hans van Hemert and sung by Hildegard Knef, Enrico Macias, Sandra & Andres, Alice Babs, Demis Roussos, and Vicky Leandros. Decibal Music Belgium, the publisher of the two other songs in the final, "Mijn dagboek" and "Comment ça va?", wanted the BRT to disqualify "Hey Nana" and together with Guy Beyers wrote a summary proceedings. A judge finds the claims to be unfounded and "Hey Nana" went to Eurovision. The group De Terroristen recorded a Dutch version of "Auntie" with parody lyrics of the lawsuit case against "Hey Nana", called "Euro-vieze klucht". [1]

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Marah performed 12th in the running order, following France and preceding Luxembourg. At the close of the voting "Hey Nana" had received just 5 points, placing Belgium joint last (with Austria) of the 19 entries, the fifth time Belgium had found itself at the bottom of the Eurovision scoreboard. [4] The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to Spain. [5]

"Hey Nana" is noted for lyrics which those who understood Dutch cited as among the most facile and childish ever heard at Eurovision. Marah herself made no secret of her dislike for the song, refusing even to record it, making it one of the very few Eurovision songs never to have been released commercially in its home territory.

Nonetheless, Marah went on to sing "Hey Nana" on a Belgian TV show in 2017. [6] She made a studio recording in 2023. [7]

Voting

Hey Nana lyrics and translation
1979 Eurovision performance
2017 live performance
2023 videoclip

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micha Marah</span> Belgian singer and actress

Micha Marah is a Belgian singer and actress. She represented Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1979 with the song "Hey Nana".

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Like the Wind" written by Ilia Beyers, John Terra, Emma Philippa-Hjälmås and Wim Claes. The song was performed by Vanessa Chinitor. The Belgian entry for the 1999 contest in Jerusalem, Israel was selected through the national final Eurosong '99, organised by the Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The competition featured twenty-five competing entries and consisted of three shows. In the final on 28 February 1999, "Like the Wind" performed by Vanessa Chinitor was selected as the winner via the votes of three televoting groups and two jury groups.

Belgium was represented by Barbara Dex at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, which took place in Millstreet, Ireland, performing "Iemand als jij". Dex was the winner of the Flemish national final for the contest, Eurosong '93.

Belgium was represented by Ingeborg, with the song "Door de wind", at the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Lausanne, Switzerland on 6 May. Ingeborg was the winner of the Belgian national final for the contest, held in Brussels on 18 March.

Belgium was represented by Liliane Saint-Pierre, with the song "Soldiers of Love", at the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 9 may in Brussels, following Sandra Kim's victory for Belgium the previous year. Saint-Pierre was the winner of the Belgian national final for the contest, held on 14 March.

Belgium was represented by the band Clouseau, with the song "Geef het op", at the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Rome on 4 May.

Belgium was represented by Pas de Deux, with the song "Rendez-vous", at the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Munich on 30 April. The 1983 preselection has gone down as the most controversial in Belgian Eurovision history due to the extreme hostility shown by the audience towards Pas de Deux's victory.

Belgium was represented by Dream Express, with the song "A Million in One, Two, Three", at the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in London on 7 May.

Belgium was represented by Linda Lepomme, with the song "Laat me nu gaan", at the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Gothenburg, Sweden on 4 May. Flemish broadcaster BRT was responsible for selection of the 1985 Belgian entrant and, unusually for BRT at the time, opted for internal selection rather than a public final. The selection process was fraught with problems before the last-minute announcement of singer and song was made.

Belgium was represented by Ann Christy, with the song "Gelukkig zijn", at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 March in Stockholm. Christy was the winner of the Belgian national final for the contest, held on 1 March; she had previously taken part in the Belgian preselections of 1970, 1971 and 1973. Future Belgian representatives Micha Marah (1979) and Dream Express (1977) also took part.

Belgium was represented by Emly Starr, with the song "Samson", at the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Dublin on 4 April.

Belgium was represented by Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel, with the song "Goeiemorgen, morgen", at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in Dublin. Raymond and Castel had not taken part in the original Belgian final, which was won with Nicole and Hugo performing the song.

Belgium was represented by Louis Neefs, with the song "Jennifer Jennings", at the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 29 March in Madrid. Neefs was chosen internally to be the Belgian representative, and the song was chosen in the national final on 22 February. Neefs had previously represented Belgium in the 1967 contest in Vienna.

Belgium was represented by Jacques Raymond, with the song "Waarom?", at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 23 March in London. The song was chosen in the national final on 16 February. Raymond had previously finished second in the Belgian final in 1961, and would later represent the country in a duet with Lily Castel in 1971.

Belgium was represented by Lize Marke, with the song "Als het weer lente is", at the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 20 March in Naples. Marke was chosen internally to be the Belgian representative, and the song was chosen in the national final on 13 February. Marke had previously finished second in the Belgian preselection in 1963.

Belgium was represented by Louis Neefs, with the song "Ik heb zorgen", at the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 8 April in Vienna. "Ik heb zorgen" was chosen at the Belgian national final on 25 February. Neefs would represent Belgium again in 1969.

Belgium was represented by Bob Benny, with the song "September, gouden roos", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. The song was chosen in the national final on 29 February. Benny had previously represented Belgium in the 1959 contest. Future Belgian entrant Jacques Raymond finished runner-up in the final.

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Mother" written by Ashley Hicklin and Rafael Artesero. The song was performed by Axel Hirsoux. The Belgian entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark was selected through the national final Eurosong 2014, organised by the Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The competition featured thirty competing acts and consisted of seven shows. In the final on 16 March 2014, "Mother" performed by Axel Hirsoux was selected as the winner via the votes of seven international jury groups and a public televote.

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "What's the Pressure" written by Sanne Putseys, Louis Favre, Birsen Uçar and Yannick Werther. The song was performed by Laura Tesoro. The Belgian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden was selected through the national final Eurosong 2016, organised by the Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The competition featured five competing acts and consisted of two presentation shows and a final. In the final on 17 January 2016, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting: the first selected the top two via the votes of ten international jury groups and a public televote, while the second selected the winner solely by public televoting. "What's the Pressure" performed by Laura Tesoro was the winner after placing first during both rounds of voting.

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Because of You" performed by Gustaph. The Belgian entry for the 2023 contest was selected through the national final Eurosong 2023, organised by the Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The competition featured seven competing acts and consisted of five songclub shows and a final. In the final on 14 January 2023, "Because of You" performed by Gustaph was selected as the winner via the votes of a fifteen-member jury panel and a public vote.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Vermeulen, André (2021). Van Canzonissima tot Eurosong. 65 jaar Belgische preselecties voor het Eurovisiesongfestival (in Dutch). Leuven: Kritak. ISBN   978-94-014-7609-6. OCLC   1240241113.
  2. ↑ "ESC National Finals database - Belgium semi-finals 1979". Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  3. ↑ ESC National Finals database - Belgium final 1979
  4. ↑ "Final of Jerusalem 1979". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  5. ↑ ESC History - Eurovision Belgium 1979
  6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2itjwF7dCoc [ bare URL ]
  7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1c9hrJBdVg [ bare URL ]
  8. 1 2 "Results of the Final of Jerusalem 1979". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.