AleziRadio Festival of Songs 1961
| AleziRadio Festival of Songs 1961 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dates | |
| Final | 16th of May 1961 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Ayonshel Port Warehouse, Tel Hadiv |
| Presenter(s) | Meshkatan Rakiyondeh |
| Musical director | Arifin Husaynaruddin |
| Directed by | Aqqadaruddin Hadid |
| Executive supervisor | Muhammad Afiqqa |
| Executive producer | Dakov Hanishe'ach |
| Host broadcaster | Radio Tel Hadiv-Shmelamainu |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 12 |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each region sends 30 people in a jury group, each voting for their own favorite |
| Winning song | "Это может быть любовь" by Helen Kakovanova |
AleziRadio Festival of Songs 1961 is the fourth edition of the annual AleziRadio Festival of Songs. It was held on 16th of May 1961, which has been decided by the committee as the official standardized date for the competition, unless any conditions forced the competition to be postponed to another time of the year, but committee also decided that the competition shall not be postponed to later than August.
The competition was held by Radio Tel Hadiv-Shmelamainu who back then was recently repurposed back to a Public Service Radio after five years of being a privately-owned radio.
This contest saw the return of two artists, Nathaniel Swayne who had won the 1959 edition representing Bristol, and Hasan Bertan representing Basna.
The competition was won by Helen Kakovanova representing Pyalivostok with her song "Это может быть любовь" which was the first time that a region (Pyalivostok) won more than once, and the first winning song that is not a ballad.
Incidents
Tel Hadivian Venue
Back then, the City of Tel Hadiv don't have adequate venue to host the competition. Similiar to Pyalivostok two years ago. However, while Pyalivostok has a venue suitable enough for the competition, Tel Hadiv do not have such privileges. And thus, the Committee suggested that Tel Hadiv pull out from hosting and instead give it to the region who got second place, which is Zafizamarrah.
Tel Hadiv was not going to let the competition go away, and thus suggested hosting the competition in a port warehouse, and after a bit of survey, the venue selected was Ayonshel Port Warehouse. However, the venue was criticized as being too foul smelling, and the town authority has to pull away the roof of the warehouse which takes approximately AZ$ 3 million adjusted for inflation. This means that ARFos 1961 is the first competition to be held in a venue without a roof.
Rain Incident
The decision to host the competition in a roofless building is very risky to be initiated. And an incident happened a few days before the competition, where when rehearsals happened, a massive rainstorm start pouring down to the city, which is a very terrible condition for audio and camera equipment. Luckily, one Hareshov Da'on turned off all equipment before any electrical failure can ensue, and only one audio equipment got damaged. Due to this, Radio Tel Hadiv-Shmelamainu had to pay AleziRadio AZ$ 20,000 for the equipment alone. If the equipment wasn't saved, the competition of that year might've been cancelled entirely.
Speculation whether similar rainstorms would happen at the competition ensues, and at that time, there are no alternatives to close back the building (which won't happen until 1999). Luckily, the weather is clear that the competition can ensue safely.
Return to 1959 Voting System
The 1960 voting system was criticized for being too tedious and too boring, as each member had to read out their result one by one, resulting in the voting process having "wasted" around one hour. There was also controversies that speculated that some members of the jury used the system to cheat things around, although no investigation was made around the speculation.
The committee decided to revert back to the previous 30-jury per region system which only earned positive acclaim just recently. However, the scoreboard had to be redesigned all over again as the Tel Hadiv preparation team had prepared the scoreboard earlier using the 1960 voting system. The preparation was only completed only three hours before the main competition began.
The 1959 system was updated in which juries of regions cannot vote for their own region, thus minimalizing cheating.
Participating Entries and Results
| No. | Region | Singer | Song | Translation | Language | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Tel Hadiv | Mekana Re'aim | לאהוב אותך | Loving You | Hebrew | 2 | 18 |
| 02 | Zafizamarrah | Ishaq Dawranuddin | سيف | Sword | Arabic | 10 | 11 |
| 03 | Bristol | Emma Wakings | Look Where It Brought You Now | -none- | English | 8 | 13 |
| 04 | Tel Hadiv | Sasha Nolaesh | תעשה את זה בשבילי | Do It For Me | Hebrew | 4 | 17 |
| 05 | Pyalivostok | Helen Kakovanova | Это может быть любовь | It Might Be Love | Russian | 1 | 26 |
| 06 | Basna | Mitazan and Ridhazan | Empat Puluh Tiga | Forty-Three | Indonesian | 5 | 15 |
| 07 | Bristol | Nathaniel Swayne | Third Time's The Charming Boy | -none- | English | 9 | 12 |
| 08 | Basna | Hasan Bertan | Jembatan Pulau Biru | Bridge of Blue Island | Indonesian | 6 | 14 |
| 09 | Zafizamarrah | Bernirada Mahmud-Ishaqabat | الآن | Now | Arabic | 2 | 18 |
| 10 | Aramna | Milleu Roberhavais | Tonta Ai-Te Ciel | Thinking About Your Heavens | Aramnan | 10 | 11 |
| 11 | Aramna | Hesson Ribernadau | Cheiva | Horse | Aramnan | 6 | 14 |
| 12 | Pyalivostok | Dobronok Tabarnovich | Разочарованное чувство замешательства | Frustated Feelings of Confusion | Russian | 10 | 11 |
Voting by region
| Results by region | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tel Hadiv | Zafizamarrah | Pyalivostok | Bristol | Basna | Aramna | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| לאהוב אותך | XX | 3 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| سيف | 4 | XX | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Look Where It Brought You Now | 1 | 2 | XX | 3 | 5 | 2 | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| תעשה את זה בשבילי | XX | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Это может быть любовь | 7 | 6 | 6 | XX | 2 | 5 | 26 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Empat Puluh Tiga | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2 | XX | 4 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Third Time's The Charming Boy | 3 | 2 | XX | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jembatan Pulau Biru | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | XX | 3 | 14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| الآن | 3 | XX | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tonta Ai-Te Ciel | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | XX | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cheiva | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | XX | 14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Разочарованное чувство замешательства | 1 | 3 | 1 | XX | 2 | 4 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Impact
Pyalivostokians celebrated Helen's victory, which was proven by the trend spike of the amount of listens of her winning songs on the radio, and listen rates in Pyalivostok raised almost 72% of the entire population's electricity usage and bills generated from the radio. Many Alezians thought Pyalivostok cannot host anymore, however the mayor of Pyalivostok, Rishan Panin proved the sceptics wrong by announcing that whatever happened, Pyalivostok won't repeat 1959 and will make 1962 a spectacular competition.