AleziRadio Festival of Songs 1964
AleziRadio Festival of Songs 1964 is the seventh edition of the annual AleziRadio Festival of Songs. It was held on 16th of May 1964, which was held and organized by Radio Basna Raya, which was a network of three radios that was situated in Basna, which are Radio Basna Dalam (RBD), Radio Basna Kota dan Pesisir (RBKP), and Radio Basna Kepulauan Luar (RBKL). This means that this was the first time that the competition was hosted by a joint venture by three radio networks.
The competition was won by Ika Naavalainen with the song "Olemme erillisiä, silti olemme yhdessä" representing Pyalivostok. Her victory marks the first time that a song in Finnish won the competition, marking the first time also that a song in a minor language won, and the first time that a song won after an intense tiebreaker round against Tel Hadiv's Dnerash Makol with the song "התרכז בדברים הגדולים". This also means that as of 1964, Pyalivostok continues to be the only region who has won more than once, and the first region to win three times.
The competition was held in Hotel Terra-Berlian, which was one of Basna's fanciest hotels at the time (until Hotel Santader was completed in 1981). Specifically in the hall underground, which has 3000 seats and was the first time the festival was held in a non-theater setting. (The same thing might be said for the competition in Tel Hadiv where it was held in a warehouse. However, the competition audience setting was set in a round setting without any stairs or higher levels, sparking protest from the public due to the fact that some had difficulties spectating the competition.
This competition was the first time that a song was sent in a minor language, where Ika Naavalainen sent a song called "Olemme erillisiä, silti olemme yhdessä", which was sung in Finnish, which is a minor language in Pyalivostok. Incidentally, this was the first song in a minor language to win the Festival.
Participating Entries and Results
No. | Region | Singer | Song | Translation | Language | Place | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Basna | Erin Daqa | Siapa Tertawa, Siapa Menangis? | Who Laughed, Who Cried? | Indonesian | 10 | 8 |
02 | Aramna | Sofielle Mertouviais | Lais-Sentimantais l'amarais | The Feeling Of Love | Aramnan | 3 | 14 |
03 | Tel Hadiv | Dnerash Makol | התרכז בדברים הגדולים | Concentrate on the Great Things | Hebrew | 1 | 15 |
04 | Zafizamarrah | Eni Ruslin | أنظر إلي الآن | Look At Me Now | Arabic | 8 | 9 |
05 | Basna | Madarin Merisyadu | Tempat Harapan Kan Mendarat | Place Where Hope Will Land | Indonesian | 4 | 10 |
06 | Pyalivostok | Danayel Erinakova | Печалька | Too Bad | Russian | 4 | 10 |
07 | Pyalivostok | Ika Naavalainen | Olemme erillisiä, silti olemme yhdessä | We're Separate, Yet We're Together | Finnish | 1 | 15 |
08 | Zafizamarrah | Ahzadaruddin Nasyim | دفع حدود بلادي في حبك | Pushing My Limits On Loving You | Arabic | 11 | 7 |
09 | Bristol | Amy Harrington | Great Walks I Went Through | -none- | English | 4 | 10 |
10 | Tel Hadiv | Darov Yeshiru | זְמַן | Time | Hebrew | 12 | 3 |
11 | Aramna | Delilla Karleila | Cheilles | Heaven | Aramnan | 8 | 9 |
12 | Bristol | Harreyle Seine | By The Park, I Dreamt of You | -none- | English | 4 | 10 |
Voting by Region
Tiebreaker
After the voting on the night ended, the audience erupted to surprise and gasp after the scoreboard indicated that both "התרכז בדברים הגדולים" by Dnerash Makol representing Tel Hadiv and "Olemme erillisiä, silti olemme yhdessä" by Ika Naavalainen representing Pyalivostok both earned the same total of 15 points at the end of the competition. Usually songs who earned the same amount of points won't attract attention, however, this one is different due to the fact that two songs are on contention for the winner. The committee tried recounting and privately recalling the votes two (some even said three) times however, the tiebreaker was still unbroken, which means the votes are indeed correct without any mistake. There was even a rumour where a competition official called all of the juries privately saying "Someone please break this tie, we can't do it ourselves!"
Back then, there was no tiebreaker rule officially installed in the competition rules. However, AleziRadio refused to give both songs the grand prix. It was said that ten minutes later, the committee quickly decided to ask the two songs in contention to re-sing their songs and then recall all regions (except for Tel Hadiv and Aramna who automatically voted 30 points for each other). After two songs were re-sung, the voting restarted with only two songs from twelve votable.
No. | Region | Singer | Song | Translation | Language | Place | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
03 | Tel Hadiv | Dnerash Makol | התרכז בדברים הגדולים | Concentrate on the Great Things | Hebrew | 2 | 83 |
07 | Pyalivostok | Ika Naavalainen | Olemme erillisiä, silti olemme yhdessä | We're Separate, Yet We're Together | Finnish | 1 | 97 |
Tiebreaker Scoreboard
(Pyalivostok automatically gives 30 points to Tel Hadiv due to Pyalivostok's inability to vote for its own song, and same rule applies to Tel Hadiv with their own song.)
Results by region | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basna | Aramna | Tel Hadiv | Zafizamarrah | Pyalivostok | Bristol | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
התרכז בדברים הגדולים | 14 | 13 | XX | 13 | 30 | 13 | 83 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Olemme erillisiä, silti olemme yhdessä | 16 | 17 | 30 | 17 | XX | 17 | 97 |
Impact
The tiebreaker round remains as one of the best moments of voting in the AleziRadio Festival of Songs even in the modern era, and the production team back then was praised on its quick solution for tiebreaking which resulted in the tiebreaking system's continued use until the end of 30-jury era later in the future. The tiebreaker also added in additional 3 million listeners to AleziRadio Program One, which signaled the start of the competition's evolution transforming into an Alezian eternal pop icon. Due to the additional listeners, the edition remains as one of the most watched editions of all time.
Ika's victory as usual raised her to stardom, however, added with the victory in the tiebreaker, Ika remained as Alezia's legendary singer and became famous that her song spread out to South Alezia even with the limited trade between the two countries. As it was later found out, the Pyalivostokians' meetup two years ago was discussing about whether it's the time to send Ika Naavalainen to the festival, which was already planned since 1960, and they nearly went with it last year, however it never materialized until this year.
Dnerash Makol who lost the tiebreaking round also earned stardom, and he became friendly rivals to Ika Naavalainen for twenty years to come. He said that even losing to Ika was "one of the most intense yet the best moment in his life" because he thought he would get last place at the time of the competition.
The friendly rivalry summoned two factions of the Alezian public which even evolved to the internet fifty years later in forums, where people would debate who actually deserved to win that year's festival.
Even with the terrible seating configuration of the venue, the contest was deemed as one of the best editions of the festival ever held in the competition's history. And the production team of RBD, RBKP and RBKL earned the Premier Award that year due to their quick solution and beautiful style and calmness even on the midst of panic after the vote concluded.