Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978

Spain was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 with the song "", written by Manuel de la Calva and of Dúo Dinámico, and performed by José Vélez. The Spanish participating broadcaster, (TVE), internally selected its entry for the contest. The song, performed in position 7, placed ninth –tying with the song from – out of twenty competing entries with 65 points.

Before Eurovision

(TVE) assembled a jury of 26 members from across the country who, locked up on 7 March 1978, internally selected "" performed by José Vélez as the for the Eurovision Song Contest 1978. The song was written by Manuel de la Calva and , the members of Dúo Dinámico. The title of the song, the songwriters, and performer were announced on 8 March. TVE filmed a program dedicated to Vélez on location in the Canary Islands, where he is from, directed by Valerio Lazarov and from where the preview video for the song was extracted. He also recorded the song in French with lyrics by as "" and in German as "".

At Eurovision

On 22 April 1978, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the in Paris hosted by (TF1) and broadcast live throughout the continent. Vélez performed "" 7th in the evening, following and preceding the . Ramón Arcusa conducted the event's orchestra performance of the Spanish entry. Vélez was accompanied on stage by as backing singers. At the close of voting "" had received 65 points, placing 9th in a field of 20 –tying with the song from –.

TVE broadcast the contest in Spain on TVE 1 with commentary by . Before the event, TVE aired a talk show hosted by Matías Prats Luque introducing the Spanish jury, which continued after the contest commenting on the results.

Voting

TVE assembled a jury panel with eleven members. The following members comprised the Spanish jury:

• María Fernanda Azagra – housewife
• Pablo Hardy – industrialist
• Carmen Pérez Cobas – student
• Daniel Martín Farias – building engineer
• – comedian
• Pilar Ruiz – model
• Jose Ignacio Martín Pulido – postman
• Jesús Tardón Dimas – labourer
• Manuela Vega Benigno – secretary
• Justo Miguel Redondo – odontologist
• Bárbara Rey – actress

The jury was chaired by , who was the director of media relations at TVE, with Matías Prats as secretary and spokesperson, and Luis de los Ríos as scrutineer. These did not have the right to vote, but the president decided in the event of a tie. The jury awarded its maximum of 12 points to , who was represented by the Spanish duo Baccara.

References