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Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969

Spain was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 with the song "", composed by María José de Ceratto, with lyrics by Aniano Alcalde, and performed by Salomé. The Spanish participating broadcaster, (TVE), selected its entry through a national final, after having previously selected the performer internally. The song won the competition in a joint win with the songs from , the , and the . In addition, TVE was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the in Madrid, after winning the with the song "La, la, la" by Massiel, becoming the first participating broadcaster to win twice in a row.

Before Eurovision

Artist internal selection

(TVE) internally selected Salomé as its representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. Her appointment was made public on 17 December 1968. Julio Iglesias and Marisol had also been under consideration.

Song national selection

TVE organised a national selection to choose the song Salomé would sing at Eurovision. The deadline for submitting songs was 30 January 1969. Of the 210 songs received, the broadcaster selected ten for the televised phase which was staged at the in Palma de Mallorca. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 21 February and a final on 22 February, hosted by Marisa Medina and Joaquín Prat, and aired on TVE 1. The ten candidate songs were performed twice, once by another performer and once by Salomé.

Competing entries

Semi-finals

In addition to the song selection, a vote was held to award the "other" singers: the gold medal went to Adriángela with 31 votes, the silver to Ivana with 15 votes, and the bronze to Ana Kiro and Gloria, who tied on five votes.

Final

The final was held on 22 February 1969. In addition to the competing songs, the show featured a star guest performance by Manolo Escobar. The votes of the fourteen juries located at twelve stations throughout Spain and at both TVE studios in Madrid and Barcelona made "", composed by María José de Ceratto, with lyrics by Aniano Alcalde, the winning song.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was hosted by TVE on 29 March 1969 at the in Madrid. Salomé performed "" third in the running order, following and preceding . She was accompanied by Los Valldemossa –brothers Rafael, Tomeu, and Bernat Estaràs– as backing singers. Augusto Algueró –the event's musical director– conducted the event's orchestra performance of the Spanish entry. The song received 18 votes, tying for first place with , the , and the . All four countries were declared joint winners. This was the first time that there was a tie in the Eurovision Song Contest and the first time that a country, Spain, won two years in a row.

The contest was broadcast on TVE 1, TVE 2, and TVE Canarias, with commentary by José Luis Uribarri. It was also aired on , , Radio Popular, and on select Cadena SER radio stations. Before the event, TVE aired a talk show hosted by Jesús Álvarez introducing the Spanish jury from Prado del Rey, which continued after the contest commenting on the results.

Voting

TVE assembled a jury panel with ten members, with each member giving one vote to their favourite song. The following members comprised the Spanish jury:

  • Álvaro de Laiglesia – writer, humorist, and director of (chairperson)
  • Paquita Crespo – student
  • Pilar Suárez – student
  • Román Alcalá – student
  • José Luis García Montero – student
  • Andrés Sobrevalls Piró – agricultural worker
  • José Ramón Barrera Hevia – metalworker
  • Luis Sánchez Arguindey – college director
  • Carmen Debén – journalist
  • Manuel Gil – actor

References