OVSC5

## OrbisVision Song Contest #5  *Viva com o ritmo!*

 A tribute to the late Elza Soares with a medley of her songs with "Boato", "Mas Que Nada" and
 "A Carne"
 Daniela Mercury
 performing a medley of "Cidade Maravilhosa" and "Aquarela do Brasil"

## Participants

### Debuting

 Åland Islands
  Algeria
  Andorra
  Armenia
  Bangladesh
  Ethiopia
  Georgia
  Isle of Man
  Jersey
  Latvia
  Malta
  North Korea
  Taiwan
  Ukraine
  Vietnam

### Returning

 Finland
  Guernsey
  Guam
  Hungary
  Lithuania
  Malaysia
  Mexico
  Netherlands

### Withdrawing

 Argentina
  Australia
  China
 Dominican Republic
  Estonia
  Iceland
  India
 Indonesia
  Israel
  Kenya
  Kosovo
  Morocco
  Nigeria
  Norway
 Peru
  Philippines
 Qatar
  San Marino
  Slovakia
  Slovenia
  Uganda
  Venezuela

## Voting

### System

Each country awards a set of 1 - 7 points, followed by 8, 10 and 12 points for their top 3 favourite songs

### Winner

 Honduras
 "When I'm With Him" by Empress Of

After their win in London, the OrbisVision Song Contest came to South America for the first time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

44 countries have confirmed their participation.

The contest consisted of 3 shows, two semi-finals and a Grand Final. The winner was Honduras with the song "When I'm With Him" by Empress Of.

This was Honduras' first victory in the contest, thus becoming the first Central American country and third country in the Americas overall after the US and Brazil to win the contest.

They're also the first country to win with the highest number of points so far in the contest's history with them getting 170 points. They also have the highest margin of points so far compared to the runner-up, Mexico, with Honduras having a margin of 61 points over Mexico.

## Location

### Host city

**Rio de Janeiro** is the second largest city in Brazil, on the South Atlantic coast. Rio is famous for its breathtaking landscape, its laid-back beach culture and its annual carnival. The "Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea" has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The harbour of Rio de Janeiro is comprised of a unique entry from the ocean that makes it appear as the mouth of a river.

Additionally, the harbor is surrounded by spectacular geographic features including Sugarloaf mountain at 395m, Corcovado Peak at 704m, and the hills of Tijuca at 1,021m. These features work together to collectively make the harbor one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Rio de Janeiro hosted many of the 2014 FIFA World Cup games, including the final. It also hosted the 2007 Pan American Games and the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, becoming the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics.

    It is a common mistake to think of **Rio** as Brazil's capital, a distinction it lost on April 21, 1960 when Brasilia became the capital.

Beaches such as **Copacabana** and **Ipanema**, the **Christ The Redeemer** (*Cristo Redentor*) statue, the stadium of **Maracanã** and **Sugarloaf Mountain** (*Pão de Açúcar*) are all well-known sights of what the inhabitants call the "marvelous city" (*cidade maravilhosa*), and are also among the first images to pop up in travelers´ minds, along with the **Carnaval** celebration.

The South Zone holds most of Rio's landmarks and world-famous beaches, in an area of only 43.87 square kilometres. Many of them are within walking distance of each other (for instance, the Sugarloaf lies about 8 km from Copacabana beach).

    Most hotels and hostels are located in this part of the city, which is compressed between the Tijuca Range (*Maciço da Tijuca*) and the sea. There are important places in other regions as well, such as Maracanã stadium in the North Zone and the many fascinating buildings in the centre.

Sadly, most people also know Rio for its violence and crime, especially related to drugs. And social problems, as slums or *favelas*, areas of poor-quality housing and living; these slums are usually located on the city's many mountain slopes, juxtaposed with middle-class neighbourhoods.

Rio was founded in 1565 by the Portuguese as a fortification against French privateers who trafficked wood and goods from Brazil. Piracy played a major role in the city's history, and there are still colonial fortresses to be visited.

The Portuguese fought the French for nearly 10 years, both sides having rival native tribes as allies. For the next two centuries it was an unimportant outpost of the Portuguese Empire, until gold, diamonds, and ore were found in Minas Gerais in 1720.

Then, as the nearest port, Rio became the port for these minerals and replaced Salvador as the main city in the colony in 1763.

When Napoleon invaded Portugal, the Royal Family moved to Brazil and made Rio capital of the Kingdom (so it was the only city outside Europe to be capital of a European country).

When Brazil became independent in 1822, it adopted Monarchy as its form of government (with Emperors Pedro I and Pedro II). Many historians and Brazilians from other places say *cariocas* are nostalgic of the Royal and Imperial times, which is reflected in many place names and shop names. 7

In 2009, the city won their bid to host the Games of the 31st Olympiad in the summer of 2016. This was the fifth bid by the city, whose 1936, 1940, 2004, and 2012 bids lost to Berlin, Tokyo (then relocated to Helsinki due to Japan's invasion of China in 1937), Athens and London respectively.

### Venue

After Brazil's win and TV Globo's subsequent appointment as host broadcaster, they chose the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro to host the 5th OrbisVision Song Contest.

The Jeunesse Arena, formerly known as the Arena Olímpica do Rio (July - December 2007, Rio 2016 Olympics/Paralympics), RioArena (2007 - 2008) and HSBC Arena (2008 - 2017), is an indoor multi-purpose arena, located in the region of Barra da Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It is named for the American cosmetics company Jeunesse Global through a naming rights deal closed in 2017. The arena has a capacity of 15,430 people for sports and up to 18,768 for concerts.

Like most indoor arenas, it has welcomed many famous international artists such as Diana Ross, Paul McCartney, the late Amy Winehouse, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Andrea Bocelli, Maroon 5, Michael Bublé and more.

It was built for and hosted the basketball and gymnastics events at the 2007 Pan American Games. Years later, it would host all gymnastics events at the Rio 2016 Olympics and later hosted the wheelchair basketball tournament at the Paralympics.

## Participating countries

### Semi-final 1

Honduras, Portugal and the United States will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.

### Semi-final 2

Spain, Brazil and Japan will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.