Eurovision Song Contest 1995

The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and took place in Dublin, Ireland for the second year in a row, following the country's third back-to-back victory at the 1994 contest with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the contest was again held at the Point Theatre which was also the venue the year before. It was held on Saturday 13 May 1995 and was presented by Irish newsreader Mary Kennedy.

Eurovision Song Contest 1995
Dates
Final13 May 1995
Host
VenuePoint Theatre,
Dublin, Ireland
Presenter(s)Mary Kennedy
Musical directorNoel Kelehan
Directed byJohn Comiskey
Executive supervisorChristian Clausen
Executive producerJohn McHugh
Host broadcasterRaidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)
Opening actVideo montage commemorating the history of the Eurovision Song Contest for its 40th edition.
Interval act"Lumen", composed by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and performed by Súilleabháin on piano, and a number of artists including Clannad, Brian Kennedy and The Monks of Glenstal Abbey, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, conducted by Proinnsías Ó Duinn
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/dublin-1995
Participants
Number of entries23
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countries
Participation map
  •      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1995
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points in finalNone
Winning song Norway
"Nocturne"

Twenty-three countries participated in the contest seeing the return of Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Slovenia and Turkey, after being relegated from competing the previous year. Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland were relegated due to their results at the previous edition. Lithuania would not return to the contest for another four years.

The winner this year was Norway with the song "Nocturne", performed by Secret Garden, written by Petter Skavlan and composed by band member Rolf Løvland. Spain, Sweden, France and Denmark rounded out the top five, with Spain getting their first top three placing in more than a decade. Further down the table, Slovenia achieved their best result so far, finishing seventh.

Until 2021, this had remained the last time that the top three songs in the final were not performed in English.

Location
The Point Theatre, Dublin – host venue of the 1995 contest.

Ireland hosted the contest for the sixth time after winning the contest for a 3rd consecutive year and is the only country to have hosted multiple contests in succession; three in a row between 1993 and 1995. Dublin was again chosen to be the host city, making it the fifth time that the Eurovision Song Contest was staged in the Irish capital. For the second consecutive year, the venue for the contest was the Point Theatre located on the North Wall Quay of the River Liffey, amongst the Dublin Docklands.

After winning the 1994 contest, RTÉ was worried about whether they could afford to host a third consecutive contest in 1995. The BBC had offered to take on the responsibility of hosting the contest, and had even proposed that the contest be staged as a joint production in Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland. In the end, RTÉ decided to stage the contest on its own. However they did ask the EBU that, should Ireland win once more, that they would not be expected to host the event for the fourth year in a row.[1]

Contest overview

Two of Ireland's winners attended the contest; Dana, who was Ireland's first winner, winning the contest in 1970 with "All Kinds of Everything", and Mr Eurovision himself, Johnny Logan, winning the contest as a singer in 1980 and 1987 ("What's Another Year?" and "Hold Me Now" respectively), and also for writing Linda Martin's 1992 winning song "Why Me?". It was his birthday that night, but according to host Kennedy, "He wouldn't say which one!" Nonetheless, the audience sang "Happy Birthday" for him, assisted by the orchestra.

Heavy favourites to win the contest, according to bookmakers, were Sweden with the pop-ballad "Se på mig" and Slovenia, represented by Darja Švajger‘s entry “Prisluhni mi”. Other countries in contention for the win were Croatia, Denmark, Israel, Spain, and the eventual winner, Norway. The winning song was something new at Eurovision in that it contained only 24 words accompanied by long violin solos. The United Kingdom contributed a modern rap number, while the previous year's runner-up, Poland, went for something that completely contrasted with their début entry.

The stage was designed by Alan Farquharson who also designed the set of the 1993 contest that took place in Millstreet, Ireland. Although it was quite dark and often gloomy in appearance, it did form the basis for a spectacular opening whereby a giant screen rotated to reveal the presenter who descended a stairway which ultimately disappeared to allow for the arrow-shaped stage to come together amid fireworks. The interval act consisted of several well known Irish performers including Clannad, Brian Kennedy (who would go on to actually represent Ireland 11 years later as well as collaborate with the winning group) and was composed by leading musician Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin.

There was much speculation in Ireland as to whether RTÉ had deliberately chosen a song perceived as not having a good chance of winning in order to avoid hosting the contest for a fourth time in a row - although this was never verified. This rumour did, however, inspire a popular episode of Father Ted. In any event, RTÉ ended up hosting the contest once again in 1997.

Participating countries

Qualification

The European Broadcasting Union decreased the number of participants to 23 to make sure the show would not last longer than three hours.[2] Countries which had missed the 1994 event were allowed to return, and of the seven countries that had been relegated following the 1993 contest Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Slovenia and Turkey made their return. Seven countries were subsequently relegated in order to make room for the returning countries, with Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland forced to sit out as the lowest-placing countries in 1994.[3][2] With Switzerland's relegation, Germany became the only country of the seven original participants from the first contest in 1956 to have competed in every edition of the contest so far.[2]

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra.[4][2]

Returning artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Arzu Ece  Turkey 1989 (member of Pan)
Alexandros Panayi  Cyprus 1989 (backing singer for Fani Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis), 1991 (backing singer for Elena Patroklou)

Results
Draw Country Artist Song Language[5][6] Place[7] Points
01  Poland Justyna "Sama" Polish 18 15
02  Ireland Eddie Friel "Dreamin'" English 14 44
03  Germany Stone and Stone "Verliebt in Dich" German 23 1
04  Bosnia and Herzegovina Davor Popović "Dvadeset prvi vijek" Bosnian 19 14
05  Norway Secret Garden "Nocturne" Norwegian 1 148
06  Russia Philipp Kirkorov "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" (Колыбельная для вулкана) Russian 17 17
07  Iceland Bo Halldórsson "Núna" Icelandic 15 31
08  Austria Stella Jones "Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt" German 13 67
09  Spain Anabel Conde "Vuelve conmigo" Spanish 2 119
10  Turkey Arzu Ece "Sev!" Turkish 16 21
11  Croatia Magazin and Lidija "Nostalgija" Croatian 6 91
12  France Nathalie Santamaria "Il me donne rendez-vous" French 4 94
13  Hungary Csaba Szigeti "Új név egy régi ház falán" Hungarian 22 3
14  Belgium Frédéric Etherlinck "La voix est libre" French 20 8
15  United Kingdom Love City Groove "Love City Groove" English 10 76
16  Portugal Tó Cruz "Baunilha e chocolate" Portuguese 21 5
17  Cyprus Alexandros Panayi "Sti fotia" (Στη φωτιά) Greek 9 79
18  Sweden Jan Johansen "Se på mej" Swedish 3 100
19  Denmark Aud Wilken "Fra Mols til Skagen" Danish 5 92
20  Slovenia Darja Švajger "Prisluhni mi" Slovene 7 84
21  Israel Liora "Amen" (אמן) Hebrew 8 81
22  Malta Mike Spiteri "Keep Me in Mind" English 10 76
23  Greece Elina Konstantopoulou "Pia prosefhi" (Ποιά προσευχή) Greek[lower-alpha 1] 12 68

Scoreboard

Each country had a jury that awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs.

Voting results[8][9]
Total score
Poland
Ireland
Germany
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Norway
Russia
Iceland
Austria
Spain
Turkey
Croatia
France
Hungary
Belgium
United Kingdom
Portugal
Cyprus
Sweden
Denmark
Slovenia
Israel
Malta
Greece
Contestants
 Poland 1546113
Ireland 441515335110154
Germany 11
Bosnia and Herzegovina 14383
Norway 1481210411212412106541272710612
Russia 171061
Iceland 316234268
Austria 67236484105241027
Spain 11982685810721287101286
Turkey 212512317
Croatia 9131071012745124125
France 947586810231061236872
Hungary 321
Belgium 817
United Kingdom 76514112127710575
Portugal 541
Cyprus 7913542511283854648
Sweden 10010121228648136841213
Denmark 9237731210776336126
Slovenia 84485671328105373210
Israel 81107864541282105
Malta 764212210101267614
Greece 686587523122810

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
6  Norway Greece,  Iceland,  Poland,  Portugal,  Russia,  Turkey
3  Croatia Malta,  Slovenia,  Spain
 Sweden Denmark,  Germany,  Ireland
2  Denmark Norway,  Sweden
 Malta Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Croatia
 Spain Belgium,  Israel
 United Kingdom Austria,  France
1  Cyprus Hungary
 Greece Cyprus
 Israel United Kingdom

Spokespersons

The spokespersons announced the score from their respective country's national jury in running order.

  1.  Poland – Jan Chojnacki
  2.  Ireland – Eileen Dunne
  3.  Germany – Carmen Nebel
  4.  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Diana Grković-Foretić
  5.  Norway – Sverre Christophersen
  6.  Russia – Marina Danielian
  7.  Iceland – Áslaug Dóra Eyjólfsdóttir
  8.  Austria – Tilia Herold
  9.  Spain – Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
  10.  Turkey – Ömer Önder
  11.  Croatia – Daniela Trbović[10]
  12.  France – Thierry Beccaro[11]
  13.  Hungary – Katalin Bogyay
  14.  Belgium – Marie-Françoise Renson[11]
  15.  United Kingdom – Colin Berry[2]
  16.  Portugal – Serenella Andrade[12]
  17.  Cyprus – Andreas Iakovidis[13]
  18.  Sweden – Björn Hedman[14]
  19.  Denmark – Bent Henius
  20.  Slovenia – Miša Molk
  21.  Israel – Daniel Pe'er[15] (Co-presenter of the 1979 contest)
  22.  Malta – Stephanie Farrugia
  23.  Greece – Fotini Giannoulatou[16]

Broadcasts

Most countries sent commentators to Dublin or commented from their own country, in order to provide coverage of the contest, such as adding insight to the participants.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria ORF 1 Ernst Grissemann [17]
FM4 Stermann & Grissemann [18]
 Belgium RTBF1 French: Jean-Pierre Hautier [19]
BRTN TV1 Dutch: André Vermeulen [20]
RTBF La Première French: Stéphane Dupont and Patrick Duhamel
BRTN Radio 2 Dutch: Julien Put and Michel Follet
 Bosnia and Herzegovina TV BiH Ismeta Dervoz-Krvavac
 Croatia HRT 1 Aleksandar "Aco" Kostadinov [21]
HR2 Draginja Balaš
 Cyprus RIK 1 Neophytos Taliotis [13]
RIK Deftero Pavlos Pavlou
 Denmark DR TV1 Jørgen de Mylius [22]
DR P3 Ole Jacobsen
 France France 2 Olivier Minne [19]
 Germany Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen Horst Senker [23]
Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2 Peter Urban [24]
 Greece ET1 Dafni Bokota [25]
ERA 1 Giorgos Mitropoulos
 Hungary MTV 1 István Vágó
Kossuth Rádió TBC
 Iceland Sjónvarpið Jakob Frímann Magnússon [26]
 Ireland RTÉ 1 Pat Kenny
RTÉ Radio 1 Larry Gogan
 Israel Channel 1 No commentator
Reshet Gimel Danny Rup
 Malta TVM Enzo Gusman
 Norway NRK Annette Groth [27]
NRK P1 Stein Dag Jensen [28]
 Poland TVP1 Artur Orzech [29]
Polskie Radio Program I TBC
 Portugal RTP Canal 1 Ana do Carmo [12]
 Russia ORT 1 No commentator
Voice of Russia Vadim Dolgachev
 Slovenia SLO1 Damjana Golavšek
 Spain La Primera José Luis Uribarri [30]
 Sweden Kanal 1 Pernilla Månsson and Kåge Gimtell [14]
SR P3 Claes-Johan Larsson and Lisa Syrén
 Turkey TRT 1 Bülend Özveren
TRT Radyo 3 Canan Kumbasar
 United Kingdom BBC1 Terry Wogan [2]
BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce [2]
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Australia SBS TV Unknown
 Estonia ETV Jüri Pihel
 Finland YLE TV1 Erkki Pohjanheimo and Olli Ahvenlahti [31]
YLE Radio Suomi Iris Mattila and Ossi Runne
 Macedonia MTV 1 Vlado Janevski
 Netherlands Nederland 3 Paul de Leeuw [32]
  Switzerland Schweiz 4 German: Heinz Margot [33]
TSR French: Jean-Marc Richard [34]
TSI Italian: Joanne Holder
Yugoslavia RTS 3K Mladen Popović [35]

Notes
  1. Contains one phrase in Ancient Greek.

References
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  2. Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs For Europe - The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Four: The 1990s. UK: Telos Publishing. pp. 210–228. ISBN 978-1-84583-163-9.
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  4. "And the conductor is..." Retrieved 10 September 2020.
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  17. Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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