# Eurovision Song Contest 1979

The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the 1978 contest with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the contest was held at the Menachem Ussishkin auditorium of the International Convention Centre on 31 March 1979, and was hosted by Israeli television presenter Daniel Pe'er and singer Yardena Arazi. This was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was held outside Europe.
Nineteen countries participated in the contest, with Turkey deciding not to participate after Arab countries had pressured it into not participating in a contest held in Israel. Yugoslavia, which had missed the 1977 and 1978 contests, also did not take part in or broadcast the contest this year for political reasons, despite an earlier public poll in which almost 100,000 people supported a Yugoslav return to the contest.
For the second year in a row, Israel won with the song "Hallelujah", performed by the Israeli group Milk and Honey featuring Gali Atari.

## Location

The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) staged the contest at the Menachem Ussishkin auditorium of the International Convention Centre, also called Binyenei HaUma in Jerusalem, following its win at the 1978 edition with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" performed by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta. The venue, inside the largest convention center in the Middle East, seats an audience of 3,104 and traditionally hosts other musical events.

## Participating countries

Initially, Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT) intended to participate in the contest. Turkey would have appeared 11th on stage (between Israel and France), represented by the song "Seviyorum" performed by Maria Rita Epik and 21. Peron. However TRT later ended up withdrawing from the contest following pressure from Arab states, who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in a contest held in Israel.
Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions: Peter, Sue and Marc had represented Switzerland in 1971 and in 1976; Xandra had represented the Netherlands in 1972 along with Andres Holten and in 1976 as Sandra Reemer; and Anita Skorgan had represented Norway in 1977. In addition, Anne-Marie David representing France, had won the contest for Luxembourg in 1973.

## Production

The contest was organised and broadcast by the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The event was produced by Alex Gilady, directed by Yossi Zemach, musically directed by Izhak Graziani who conducted the IBA Symphony Orchestra, and overseen by the EBU with scrutineer Frank Naef. Since Israeli Television had yet to broadcast in colour at that point (except for a few special occasions), the production had to borrow cameras from the BBC – the same had happened when RTÉ had hosted the 1971 contest in Dublin. The 24th contest's logo featured a combination of a G-clef, the IBA logo, and the names of all participating countries in order of appearance. The IBA Symphony Orchestra played the music of each song, except for the Italian entry, which did not use the orchestra. This was the only contest where the orchestra was composed of 39 musicians.
The stage concept was designed by Dov Ben David. On stage there was a moving symbol which was based on the IBA logo (which was built like a lamp with 3 concentric rings) using a small projected model. The event showcased stage decorations of several types of flora which represent the Land of Israel, and a film of Jerusalem's varied ancient, modern and religious scenery. The left side of the stage where the presentation was held, was decorated with prickly pear cactus, date, pomegranate, and orange plants. The film which opened the programme and repeated over its closing credits, screened Jerusalem's biblical and medieval monuments sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam with residents and visitors who frequent them while its opening and concluding images showcased the city's cultural and governmental institutions along with different types of people outside the ancient walls.
This year, the postcards between each song featured mime artists rather than the participating singers. The mime artists featured were the Yoram Boker Mime Group, and included some of Israel's leading mime artists, among them Ezra Dagan and Hanoch Rozen. The group performed on a background of illustrations created by Dudu Geva and Yochanan Lakitzevitz, that featured landmarks and typical landscapes of the respective countries.

## Format

The following tables reflect the confirmed, verified scores, which were adjusted after the live broadcast. During the voting announcement, mistakes kept appearing as some spokespersons gave multiple votes of the same amount to two countries. Importantantly, due to a misunderstanding by the presenter Yardena Arazi, Spain appeared to award 10 points to both Portugal and Israel and these scores were added to the scoreboard. After the programme, verification confirmed that Portugal should only have received six points, leaving the total Portuguese score reduced by four points to 64.
The intermission between the songs and the voting was presented by a performance of the Shalom '79 Dancing Ensemble, who performed a variety of Israeli folk dances. The performance was directed by the ensemble's manager and choreographer Gavri Levy.

### Spokespersons

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1979 contest are listed below.
* Italy – Paola Perissi [it]
* Netherlands – Ivo Niehe
* Sweden – Sven Lindahl
* United Kingdom – Colin Berry

## Detailed voting results

Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. This was the last year in which the points were announced via order of appearance, as opposed to order of preference. From the next year's contest onwards, the points were announced in ascending order instead. This has remained in place ever since.
The voting was extremely close. Israel gained a good lead in the early stages of the voting, but Spain eventually caught up and took a good lead themselves. At the close of the penultimate jury's votes, Israel were one point behind Spain, and only the Spanish jury had yet to give their votes. Spain ended up giving Israel 10 points, causing the crowd to erupt into enormous cheers.

### 12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
| 6 | Israel | Finland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom |
| 4 | Germany | Denmark, France, Monaco, Spain |
| 4 | Spain | Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland |
| 2 | Denmark | Greece, Israel |
| 2 | France | Luxembourg, Netherlands |
| 1 | Switzerland | Austria |

## Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.
In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Hong Kong, Iceland, and Romania. The contest was not broadcast in Yugoslavia for the first time since 1960, as the nation had no diplomatic ties with Israel. Estimates ranged from 200 to 500 million viewers were reported prior to the contest. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.