Eurovision 1996

A large number of new participants in Eurovision has led the European Broadcasting Union to look for a new way to screen out potentially weak contestants and reduce the number of participants to a more realistic and feasible one for the organizers ^[1] . The first attempt to drop out was the qualifying round of Eurovision 1993 . In 1996, it was decided to introduce a prequalification round of listening to audio recordings, from which only Norway was exempted. The round was not shown on television ^[1] . It was believed that for some countries it is better not to participate in the competition than to send a weak performer without a chance of winning and with a high probability of international failure. And the new system introduced by the European Broadcasting Union, has justified itself in many ways ^[1] .

The national jury had to listen to audio recordings from 29 countries, and 22 countries had to reach the final, which was planned to be shown in Oslo ^[1] . During the preliminary round, Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia and Romania dropped out of the fight - it is believed that these countries did not officially participate in Eurovision For this reason, Macedonia officially debuted in 1998 ^[1] . Germany as the main sponsor of the European Broadcasting Union and Eurovision for the first time missed a contest in its history: among the 7 losers was its performer Leon, who recorded the song “Planet of Blue” in techno-style. Nevertheless, this pass is the only one in the history of Germany’s participation in Eurovision (since 2000, it passes to the finals as a member of the Big Five) ^[1] .

In 1996, the competition introduced a new tradition: one of the leading politicians before the start of the performance left a wish of good luck to his performer. Among the politicians there were both ordinary members of parliament, ministers and ambassadors, and prime ministers and even presidents. The most famous among politicians who recorded their video messages were Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson and President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Aliya Izetbegovic . The wish of the Irish performer who won in Ireland was recorded by Prime Minister John Braton . Nevertheless, it was decided to refuse such a novelty because of its unpopularity ^[1] .

Another innovation was the introduction of virtual reality technology from Silicon Graphics , when on the holographic screen in the green room the points set by the country and the heralds from each country appeared in the green room. Next to the screen was leading Ingvild Brun. Moreover, for the first time in history, a herald from Norway, who was Rangild Seltun Fёroft, appeared on the stage right next to the presenter ^[1] .

How participants

•   Greece : Mariana Efstratiu ( 1987 , 1989 )
•   Norway : Elisabeth Andreassen ( 1982 , 1985 , 1994 )

Like backing vocalists

•   Portugal : Fernanda Lopez ( 1987 , 1990 , 1992 , 1993 )
•   Malta : Abela Dahlia ( 1991 , 1992 )
•   Austria : Stelitz Sacher ( 1995 )
•   Netherlands : Jodi Paypar ( 1982 , 1990 , 1994 )
•   Netherlands : Dian Senders ( 1994 )

As authors of words and music

•   Cyprus : Rodol Papalambriano ( 1993 )
•   Malta : Paul Abela ( 1991 , 1992 )
•   Malta : Alfred Sant ( 1995 )
•   Croatia : Zrinko Tutic (   Yugoslavia - 1986 , 1990 )
•   Austria : Misha Krautz ( 1995 )
•   Greece : Kostas Bigalis ( 1994 )
•   Netherlands : Peter van Asten ( 1984 )
•   Netherlands : Pete Sur ( 1969 , 1974 , 1983 )
•   Ireland : Brandon Graham ( 1976 , 1985 , 1994 )
•   Bosnia and Herzegovina : Sinan Alimanovic ( 1994 , 1995 )

Pre-selection was carried out on the basis of the submitted audio. Each application, with a duration of no more than three minutes, was sent on an audiotape to the European Broadcasting Union in Geneva . A collection of all the songs received by a certain date was sent to all participants. Each participating country selected a jury of 8 people elected according to the same principles as for the final of the competition. This jury evaluates each song, indicating points in a secret form. Final points were sent to the EMU within 24 hours after receiving the tapes by fax or telephone. To prevent bias, a pre-selection jury could not be part of the final jury. 22 countries reached the final ^[1] .

According to information leaked to the press later, the winner of the pre-selection was Sweden , and the second place was taken by Ireland . The results were announced the next day, and at the same time there was a draw for the performances of the final participants. As a result of pre-selection, Germany was the only time in history outside the final competition. Countries that did not reach the final are not officially recognized as participants of Eurovision 1996 ^{[2] [3]} .

12 points in the final

• http://www.esctoday.com
• http://www.eurovision.tv