| Eurovision Song Contest 1981 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date and venue | |
| Final |
|
| Venue | RDS Simmonscourt Dublin, Ireland |
| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Scrutineer | Frank Naef |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) |
| Director | Ian McGarry |
| Executive producer | Noel D Greene |
| Musical director | Noel Kelehan |
| Presenter | Doireann Ní Bhriain |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 20 |
| Debuting countries |  Cyprus |
| Returning countries | |
| Non-returning countries | |
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Winning song |  United Kingdom"Making Your Mind Up" |
| 1980 ← Eurovision Song Contest →1982 Event page at eurovision.tv  | |
TheEurovision Song Contest 1981 was the 26th edition of theEurovision Song Contest, held on 4 April 1981 at theRDS Simmonscourt inDublin, Ireland, and presented byDoireann Ní Bhriain. It was organised by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasterRadio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), who staged the event after winning the1980 contest forIreland with the song "What's Another Year" performed byJohnny Logan.
Broadcasters from twenty countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the1978 edition.Cyprus made their debut this year, whileIsrael andYugoslavia both returned to the competition, after their one-year and five-year absences, respectively.Morocco andItaly decided not to participate.
The winner was theUnited Kingdom with the song "Making Your Mind Up", performed byBucks Fizz, written byAndy Hill and John Danter.Germany finished second for the second consecutive year, whileFrance finished third.Norway again finished last, with its third 'nul points' in the contest.
Bucks Fizz's win launched the group's hugely successful international career. Their performance on the Eurovision stage included a dance routine in which at one point the two male members ripped the skirts off the two female members, only to reveal mini-skirts; this today stands as one of the most defining moments in the contest's history.[1]
Some hours afterJohnny Logan won the 1980 contest, the head of Irish broadcaster,Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), Brian MacLochlainn announced that they would take on the responsibility of hosting the 1981 contest.[2] This ended up taking the 1981 contest, for the second time in the event's history, toDublin, the capital of Ireland; the first such occasion was ten years earlier in 1971.
 | This section contains numerous links to pages onforeign language Wikipedias. They are shown asred links with the language codes in [small blue letters] in brackets. Click on the language code to see the page in that language. |
| Eurovision Song Contest 1981 – Participation summaries by country | |
|---|---|
By October 1980, it looked as though 21 countries were planning to take part, the largest number so far, butMonaco then declared that they were no longer interested.[2] This year marked the début ofCyprus in the contest; they finished in sixth place.Israel returned to the contest; they had been absent from the previous year's event due to a clash of dates with theYom HaZikaron holiday, which prevented them from defending their victories of 1978 and 1979.[3] They finished seventh.Yugoslavia also returned to the competition after a five-year absence.Italy decided not to enter due to lack of interest, whileMorocco declined to take part after their debut entry the year before.[4] Morocco's king,Hassan II, "reportedly withdrew Rabat's participation from the contest the following year, saying that the country will never participate again".[5] The draw for the running order took place on 14 November 1980, with it being confirmed that there was a total of 20 entrants.[2]
Many previous contestants returned to the contest this year – notablyJean-Claude Pascal, who had won the contest forLuxembourg in 1961, although he could only manage 11th place this time.Peter, Sue and Marc returned for the fourth time, after representingSwitzerland in 1971,1976, and1979. Performing again for Switzerland, they remain the only act to sing Contest entries in four different languages (French, English, German and, on this occasion, Italian). Other returnees wereMarty Brem who had representedAustria in 1980 as part of Blue Danube,Tommy Seebach who had representedDenmark in 1979 –withDebbie Cameron providing him backing vocals in 1979–, andBjörn Skifs who had representedSweden in 1978.Cheryl Baker, a member ofBucks Fizz, had represented theUnited Kingdom in 1978 as part ofCo-Co, whileMaxi, a member ofSheeba, had representedIreland in 1973 as a solo artist. In addition,Ismeta Dervoz, who had representedYugoslavia in 1976 as part ofAmbasadori, andAnita Skorgan, who had representedNorway in 1977 and1979, provided backing vocals for the same country.
The contest took place under heavy guard at the 1,600 seat Simmonscourt Pavilion of theRDS, which was normally used for agricultural and horse shows.[8] The set was the largest ever seen in the contest so far, being 150 feet across, 80 feet deep and 30 feet high.[2] Over 250 armed soldiers and police were on hand to protect against any likely political demonstrations, with the British entrants being under constant guard during their time in Dublin due to threats from theIRA. This included an evacuation of the participants' hotel at one point due to a bomb scare. The security measures were reported on British news reports on the day of the contest.[2]
Rehearsals at the Pavilion began on 31 March with each act allowed 30 minutes with the orchestra, continuing up until the day of the contest, which ended with a dress rehearsal at 16:30. On 1 April, theIrish Tourist Board held a reception for the contest atJurys Hotel, Dublin.[2]
The presenter on this occasion wasDoireann Ni Bhriain, who was well known in Ireland at the time as a television presenter and for the current affairs radio showWomen Today. She was chosen for her fluency in Irish and English as well as having studied French and Spanish, which she spoke with some ease.[9] She had also worked on the 1971 contest as an interpreter in the RTE press office. The director was Ian McGarry, whileNoel Kelehan was the chief conductor of theRTÉ Concert Orchestra, which comprised 46 musicians.[2]
It cost RTÉ £530,000 to stage the show, although this included £110,000 from the EBU. From this, the Irish Government expected to make around £2,000,000 from tourism as a result of staging the show.[2][10] It was expected that the worldwide audience would be some 500 million with 30 countries broadcasting the event, including countries such as Hong Kong, the Soviet Union, the United Arab Emirates, and for the first time, Egypt.[2]
Each song was introduced by a filmed 'postcard', framed by an animated identification of the nation's location. Unlike previous films used in 1970 and 1976 that had also featured the performing artist, the 1981 films prominently included the authors and composers alongside the performing artist.
The interval act was traditional Irish bandPlanxty, who performed the lengthy piece "Timedance", which depicted Irish music through the ages. The accompanying dancers were from Dublin City Ballet.[11] This is seen as a precursor toRiverdance, which became famous after its performance in1994. The song, which was written byBill Whelan, went on to be released as a Planxty single and became a No. 3 hit in the Irish charts.[12][13]
| R/O | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Austria | Marty Brem | "Wenn du da bist" | 20 | 17 |
| 2 |  Turkey | Modern Folk Trio andAyşegül | "Dönme Dolap" | 9 | 18 |
| 3 |  Germany | Lena Valaitis | "Johnny Blue" | 132 | 2 |
| 4 |  Luxembourg | Jean-Claude Pascal | "C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique" | 41 | 11 |
| 5 |  Israel | Habibi | "Halayla" | 56 | 7 |
| 6 |  Denmark | Tommy Seebach andDebbie Cameron | "Krøller eller ej" | 41 | 11 |
| 7 |  Yugoslavia | Seid Memić Vajta | "Lejla" | 35 | 15 |
| 8 |  Finland | Riki Sorsa | "Reggae O.K." | 27 | 16 |
| 9 |  France | Jean Gabilou | "Humanahum" | 125 | 3 |
| 10 |  Spain | Bacchelli | "Y sólo tú" | 38 | 14 |
| 11 |  Netherlands | Linda Williams | "Het is een wonder" | 51 | 9 |
| 12 |  Ireland | Sheeba | "Horoscopes" | 105 | 5 |
| 13 |  Norway | Finn Kalvik | "Aldri i livet" | 0 | 20 |
| 14 | United Kingdom | Bucks Fizz | "Making Your Mind Up" | 136 | 1 |
| 15 |  Portugal | Carlos Paião | "Playback" | 9 | 18 |
| 16 |  Belgium | Emly Starr | "Samson" | 40 | 13 |
| 17 |  Greece | Yiannis Dimitras | "Feggari kalokerino" | 55 | 8 |
| 18 | Cyprus | Island | "Monika" | 69 | 6 |
| 19 |  Switzerland | Peter, Sue and Marc | "Io senza te" | 121 | 4 |
| 20 |  Sweden | Björn Skifs | "Fångad i en dröm" | 50 | 10 |
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1981 contest are listed below.
Finland – Annemi Genetz[15] Netherlands – Flip van der Schalie[16]
Spain – Isabel Tenaille [es][17] Sweden – Bengteric Nordell[18] United Kingdom – Colin Berry[2] Yugoslavia – Helga Vlahović[19]Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs.
Total score | Austria | Turkey | Germany | Luxembourg | Israel | Denmark | Yugoslavia | Finland | France | Spain | Netherlands | Ireland | Norway | United Kingdom | Portugal | Belgium | Greece | Cyprus | Switzerland | Sweden | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contestants | Austria | 20 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Turkey | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Germany | 132 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 12 | |||
| Luxembourg | 41 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Israel | 56 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Denmark | 41 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Yugoslavia | 35 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Finland | 27 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| France | 125 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 10 | ||||
| Spain | 38 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Netherlands | 51 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| Ireland | 105 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 7 | ||||||
| Norway | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 136 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 8 | ||
| Portugal | 9 | 8 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Belgium | 40 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Greece | 55 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Cyprus | 69 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Switzerland | 121 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 1 | ||||
| Sweden | 50 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||||
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Switzerland | Finland, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia |
| 4 | France | Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland |
| Germany | Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey | |
| 2 | Ireland | Cyprus, Denmark |
| United Kingdom | Netherlands, Israel | |
| 1 | Cyprus | Greece |
| Denmark | Belgium | |
| Sweden | France |
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU 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.[22] In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Iceland; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union viaIntervision; and in Egypt, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, with an estimated global audience of 600 million viewers.[2][23]
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | SBS | 2EA,3EA | [63] | |
 Czechoslovakia | ČST | II. program [cs][e] | [64] | |
| Greenland | Nuuk TV[f] | [65] | ||
 Hong Kong | TVB | TVB Pearl[g] | [66] | |
 Hungary | MTV | MTV2[h] | András Sugár [hu] | [67] |
 Iceland | RÚV | Sjónvarpið[i] | Dóra Hafsteinsdóttir | [68] |
 Jordan | JTV | JTV2 | [69] | |
 Netherlands Antilles | ATM | TeleAruba[j] | [70] | |
| TeleCuraçao[k] | Pim Jacobs | [71][72] | ||
 Poland | TP | TP1[l] | [73] | |
 South Korea | KBS | 1TV[m] | [74] | |
| Contests | |||||||||||
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| Countries | |||||||||||
| National selections |
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| Related topics |
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