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The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the series. It was held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) on 5 May 1990. The presenters were Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar.

This marked the first time the contest was held in a Balkan nation and the only one held in Yugoslavia prior to its dissolution in 1992.

Toto Cutugno was the winner of this contest with the song Insieme: 1992. This was the second victory for Italy, the first one having been Non ho l'età, performed by Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964. The lyrics of several entries celebrated the revolution and democratization 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.

Issues[]

Financial problems struck JRT before the contest began. The cost of hosting the 1990 Contest added on to the bills JRT had to pay led to Zagreb's tourism board donating a large sum of money. However, a JRT spokesperson admitted that they didn't understand why the tourism board hadn't been asked to contribute earlier. After the contest ended, JRT's executive producer Goran Radman was fired from JRT's affiliate RTZ (now the Croatian broadcaster HRT).

Additionally, ticket prices were so steep that they frequently changed hands on the Yugoslavian black market.

Also, Helga Vlahović and Oliver Mlakar publicly resigned hosting when they discovered that a younger pair of presenters were being secretly rehearsed. This led to further embarrassment at JRT. Vlahović and Mlakar returned to host the live show.

Format[]

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the first to implement an age rule. The EBU were forced to bring in a restriction rule after criticism arose over the ages of two performers at 1989 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 at the 1986 competition, was just 13 years old.  The United Kingdom's entrant, Emma, was allowed to compete despite being only 15 years old as her birthday was later that year.

A notorious mishap occurred at the start of the first song, when a noticeably long delay caused by problems with 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.

Mascot[]

The 1990 contest was the first to feature an official mascot, 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

Eurocat

Participants[]

Draw Country Artist Song Language Translation Place Points
01 Flag of Spain Spain Azúcar Moreno Bandido Spanish Bandit 5 96
02 Flag of Greece Greece Christos Callow & Wave Horis Skopo Greek Without a purpose 19 11
03 Flag of Belgium Belgium Philippe Lafontaine Macédomienne French My Macedonian woman 12 46
04 Flag of Turkey Türkiye Kayahan ft. Demet Sağıroğlu Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim Turkish I'm caught in your eyes 17 21
05 Flag of The Netherlands The Netherlands Maywood Ik wil alles met je delen Dutch I want to share everything with you 15 25
06 Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg Céline Carzo Quand je te rêve French When I dream of you 13 38
07 Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom Emma Give a Little Love Back To The World English -- 6 87
08 Flag of Iceland Iceland Stjórnin Eitt lag enn Icelandic One more song 4 124
09 Flag of Norway Norway Ketil Stokkan Brandenburger Tor Norwegian Brandenburg Gate 21 8
10 Flag of Israel Israel Rita Shara Barkhovot Hebrew Singing in the streets 18 16
11 Flag of Denmark Denmark Lonnie Devantier Hallo Hallo Danish Hello, hello 8 64
12 Flag of Switzerland Switzerland Egon Egemann Musik klingt in die Welt hinaus German Music resounds in the world 11 51
13 Flag of Germany Germany Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac Frei zu leben Free to live 9 60
14 Flag of France France Joëlle Ursull White and Black Blues French -- 2 132
15 Flag of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Tajči Hajde da ludujemo Croatian Let's go crazy 7 81
16 Flag of Portugal Portugal Nucha Há sempre alguém Portuguese There's always someone 20 9
17 Flag of Ireland Ireland Liam Reilly Somewhere In Europe English -- 2 132
18 Flag of Sweden Sweden Edin-Ådahl Som en vind Swedish Like a wind 16 24
19 Flag of Italy Italy Toto Cutugno Insieme: 1992 Italian Together: 1992 1 149
20 Flag of Austria Austria Simone Keine Mauern mehr German No walls anymore 10 58
21 Flag of Cyprus Cyprus Haris Anastasiou Milas Poli Greek You talk too much 14 36
22 Flag of Finland Finland Beat Fri? Finnish Free? 21 8

Gallery[]

Eurovision Song Contest
Editions
195619571958195919601961196219631964196519661967196819691970197119721973197419751976197719781979198019811982198319841985198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
Countries
AlbaniaAndorraArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBelarusBelgiumBosnia and HerzegovinaBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzechiaDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGeorgiaGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandIsraelItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaMoldovaMonacoMontenegroMoroccoThe NetherlandsNorth MacedoniaNorwayPolandPortugalRomaniaRussiaSan MarinoSerbiaSerbia and MontenegroSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTurkeyUnited KingdomUkraineYugoslavia
Winning Songs
RefrainNet Als ToenDors, mon amourEen beetjeTom PillibiNous les amoureuxUn premier amourDanseviseNon ho l'etàPoupée de Cire, Poupée de SonMerci, ChériePuppet on a StringLa, La, LaBoom Bang-a-BangVivo CantandoUn jour, un enfantDe TroubadourAll Kinds of EverythingUn banc, un arbre, une rueAprès ToiTu Te ReconnaîtrasWaterlooDing-a-DongSave Your Kisses For MeL'Oiseau et l'enfantA-Ba-Ni-BiHallelujahWhat's Another YearMaking Your Mind UpEin bißchen FriedenSi la vie est cadeauDiggiloo DiggileyLa Det SwingeJ'aime La VieHold Me NowNe Partez Pas Sans MoiRock MeInsieme: 1992Fångad av en stormvindWhy Me?In Your EyesRock 'n' Roll KidsNocturneThe VoiceLove Shine a LightDivaTake Me To Your HeavenFly on the Wings of LoveEverybodyI WannaEveryway That I CanWild DancesMy Number OneHard Rock HallelujahMolitvaBelieveFairytaleSatelliteRunning ScaredEuphoriaOnly TeardropsRise Like a PhoenixHeroes1944Amar pelos doisToyArcadeZitti e buoniStefaniaTattoo
Specials
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song ContestEurovision's Greatest HitsEurope Shine a Light
Aspects of Eurovision
CommentatorEuroClubEurovision VillageExecutive SupervisorFlag ParadeGrand PrixGreen RoomHead of DelegationInterval ActNational FinalNational JuryOfficial RulesOpening CeremonyPre-PartiesPre-Song PostcardsReference GroupRest of the World VoteRunning Order DrawSemi-FinalsScoreboardSpokespersonTelevotingVoting Systems
Miscellaneous
Big FiveCurse of 43Curse of Number TwoCurse of GreenDouze Points!ESCRadio AwardsESC Top 250Eurovision AgainEurovision National BroadcastersEurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire SagaFounding SevenLGBT visibilityLynda WoodruffMarcel Bezençon AwardsNul PointsOGAERecordsStand-insThe Reorder BoardTie SituationTop Scoring SongsVoting DiasporaWinner's CurseWithdrawn SongsYou're a Vision Award

Trivia[]

  • As of 2020, this was the last time where all the members of the Big Five made the top ten.
  • Co-presenter Helga Vlahovic is best known to Eurovision fans as the spokesperson who famously announced "I don't have it" when called on for the Yugoslavian jury result in 1981. She later presented the Croatian result in 1994.
  • Vlahovic and Mlakar are the oldest presenting duo in contest history.
  • Riva did not return to open the show with a shortened version of their winning entry.
  • This was the only year where there were two Swedish-language songs at Eurovision (due to Finland singing Fri? in that language)
  • This edition was chosen for the November 2020 showing of Eurovision Again. It is likely that Croatian broadcaster HRT gained access to the recording after JRT ceased operations in 1992.
  • Há sempre alguém was the 600th song performed at Eurovision.
  • Hajde da Ludujemo is the lowest-ranked entry in its year to win the Eurovision Again poll, at 7th place.

Videos[]

-EurovisionAgain_-_Eurovision_Song_Contest_1990_-_No_Commentary_-_Full_Show_-_HD

-EurovisionAgain - Eurovision Song Contest 1990 - No Commentary - Full Show - HD

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