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The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was the 36th edition held on 4 May 1991. San Remo, where the concept of the contest was born, was to be the intended host city, but due to the mounting tensions of the Gulf War, it was moved to the Cinecittà movie studios in Rome which was perceived to be more secure. It was co-hosted by Italy's two previous Eurovision winners Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno, the latter having won in Zagreb the previous year. The Netherlands had withdrawn due to the observance of a national holiday, but Malta was making its return after a long absence.

The inter-song postcards were cleverly done: each artist was asked to sing a well-known Italian song as famous Italian landmarks that best represented their individual personalities were superimposed in the background.

At the conclusion of voting, Sweden and Amina Annabi of France were tied with 146 points each, the second tie since the infamous four-way of 1969. Starting the count-back procedure, both had 4 sets of 12-point scores, but when it came to the 10-point scores the advantage swung towards Sweden, who had 5 sets of 10s compared to 2 sets for France (under the current tiebreaker rules, France would have won due to one more country voting for it - 18 nations compared to 17 for Sweden).

This count-back gave Sweden its third victory with the song Fångad av en stormvind performed by Carola. On the other hand, a bit further down the scoreboard, Thomas Forstner of Austria had Nul Points with the song Venedig im Regen, only 2 years after he finished in the top 5 in Lausanne.

Incidents[]

Many incidents, both logistical and technical, plagued this edition. Due to the last-minute move to Rome, the stage sets were hastily put together, and heavy rain during the week delayed the orchestra and many of the delegations for their scheduled rehearsals.

The Greek entry's performance was hampered by the orchestra's saxophone player, the Luxembourg entry was interrupted by a broken guitar string, and during the Swedish performance, the sound failed inside the venue (however, the juries and the television audience could hear everything perfectly).

Additionally, hosts Cinquetti and Cutugno, despite their first-hand knowledge as past Eurovision winners, had very little to no grasp of the EBU's official languages of English and French, choosing to do the majority of their presenting duties in Italian.

Participants[]

Draw Country Artist Song Language Translation Place Points
01 Flag of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Baby Doll Brazil Serbian -- 21 1
02 Flag of Iceland Iceland Stefán & Eyfi Draumur um Nínu Icelandic Dream of Nina 15 26
03 Flag of Malta Malta Georgina & Paul Could It Be English -- 6 106
04 Flag of Greece Greece Sophia Vossou I anixi Greek Spring 13 36
05 Flag of Switzerland Switzerland Sandra Simó Canzone per te Italian Song for you 5 118
06 Flag of Austria Austria Thomas Forstner Venedig im Regen German Venice in the rain 22 0
07 Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg Sarah Bray Un baiser volé French A stolen kiss 14 29
08 Flag of Sweden Sweden Carola Fångad av en stormvind Swedish Captured by a stormwind 1 146
09 Flag of France France Amina Annabi Le dernier qui a parlé... French The last one who spoke... 2 146
10 Flag of Turkey Türkiye İzelReyhan & Can İki Dakika Turkish Two minutes 12 44
11 Flag of Ireland Ireland Kim Jackson Could It Be That I'm In Love English -- 10 47
12 Flag of Portugal Portugal Dulce Pontes Lusitana paixão Portuguese Lusitanian passion 8 62
13 Flag of Denmark Denmark Anders Frandsen Lige der hvor hjertet slår Danish Where the heart beats 19 8
14 Flag of Norway Norway Just 4 Fun Mrs. Thompson Norwegian -- 17 14
15 Flag of Israel Israel Duo Datz Kan Hebrew Here 3 139
16 Flag of Finland Finland Kaija Kärkinen Hullu yö Finnish A crazy night 20 6
17 Flag of Germany Germany Atlantis 2000 Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben German This dream may never die 18 10
18 Flag of Belgium Belgium Clouseau Geef het op Dutch Give it up 16 23
19 Flag of Spain Spain Sergio Dalma Bailar Pegados Spanish Dancing closely 4 119
20 Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom Samantha Janus A Message To Your Heart English -- 10 47
21 Flag of Cyprus Cyprus Elena Patroklou SOS Greek 9 60
22 Flag of Italy Italy Peppino di Capri Comme è ddoce 'o mare Neapolitan How sweet is the sea? 7 89


Trivia[]

  • 1991 featured some similarities to the 1983 contest eight years prior:
    • Both editions feature Carola with a microphone/sound failure.
    • In both Greek entries, a saxophonist bungled his notes.
    • Both had hosts whose command of another language was not up to par, and therefore made the voting go on longer than expected.
    • Both top threes featured Carola, Israel with a patriotic song, and a French-language song.
    • Both runners-up from the previous year would write a song for their country this year.
    • In addition, Danijel Popović participated in Jugovizjia in 1991, but came in second place to Baby Doll.
  • Also, the top three this year shares similarities to that of Eurovision Song Contest 2004:
    • The winners were both popular female singers in their countries, with high-tempo songs and intense choreography.
    • The runners-up were low-key ethno-influenced songs which set a future trend in contests; both songs also got votes from more countries than the winner.
    • The third-placers were uptempo songs with ethnic elements which became classics in their respective countries
  • Comme è ddoce 'o mare was the first host entry to perform last in the running order.
  • This was the last time where the branding would be in another language (in this case, Italian). From 1992 onwards, the logo would be in English only.
  • This was the last time Richard Oesterreicher conducted for Austria.
Eurovision Song Contest
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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
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Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song ContestEurovision's Greatest HitsEurope Shine a Light
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Videos[]

Eurovision_Song_Contest_1991_Full_Show_No_Commentary_Full_HD_-EurovisionAgain

Eurovision Song Contest 1991 Full Show No Commentary Full HD -EurovisionAgain

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