Songfestival 1988
| Songfestival 1988 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dates | |
| Final | 20 August 1988 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Sàle Olympien Mariensbourg, Dentricia |
| Presenter(s) | Ossuàlte Roužë |
| Directed by | Kenn Schmidt |
| Executive supervisor | Naomi Theiner |
| Executive producer | Jacques Gachet |
| Host broadcaster | Résë Públie Déntroîse (RPD) |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 13 |
| Debuting countries | |
| Returning countries |  North Borneo |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 8, 6-1 points to their 7 favourite songs. |
| Winning song |  Andlin"Randez-vous" |
Songfestival 1988 (French: Festival de la Chanson 1988) was the 28th edition of the Songfestival contest, held on 20 August 1988 in Mariensbourg, Dentricia. It was organised by the National Radio-Television Council (CNRT) and Résë Públie Déntroîse (RPD), who agreed to take over hosting duties after previous winners Radiotelyvisut Areanos (RTA) refused to host. The contest was held at the Sàle Olympien on 20 August 1988 and was hosted by Dentrician actor Ossuàlte Roužë. The participation cap, which limited the contest to 9 entries, was removed and 13 countries took part in the contest. It was the largest contest to date at the time of its broadcast.
The 1988 contest was the fifth hosting of Dentricia and the third hosting of Mariensbourg, as the city had previously hosted the contest in 1958 and 1980. It also marked the first time the contest was broadcast live outside Carrelie, with viewers in Yugoslavia, North Alezia, and Finland being able to watch the contest for the first time.
Seaforthe, Silesia, and Voivony all entered the contest for the first time in 1988. Seaforthe had first expressed interest in the contest after its return in 1965, though GBI was discouraged from entering due to the 1968 coup. Silesia and Voivony both expressed interest in participating in 1987, though were barred from doing so due to the participation cap.
The winner was Andlin with the song "Randez-vous", performed by Marie Keier, with lyrics by Konstantyn Papuga. "Randez-vous" became the first Lechian song to win the contest. Efyre placed second for the first time, scoring their best result since 1967.
Location
Following their victory in the 1987 contest, the CNRT asked RTA to host the 1988. However, RTA refused to present a host venue as their executive argued that hosting a second contest in a row would be too expensive. Therefore, the CNRT turned to second-placers Dentricia to host the festival. Dentricia had previously hosted the contest in 1955, 1958, 1974, 1977, and 1980.
The 1988 contest was the first to feature a formal bidding period, though the decisions made were kept private. Authorities in Densmouth, Ceile, Ervèdén, and Mariensbourg bidded to host the contest, with Mariensbourg being announced as the host city on 12 November 1987.
The Sàle Olympien was selected to host the 1988 contest. The venue was originally constructed to host gymnastics events at the 1972 Summer Olympics, which Carrelie hosted. It was the largest venue to host the contest at the time, with a capacity of 10,000. However, the removal of some seats for commentary booths and a larger stage meant the functional capacity was closer to 9,300. Other venues within the city were reportedly considered, including 1980 host venue Sàle Maddébourg.
Production and format
Voting procedure
Due in part to the reception of the previous contest's voting sequence, which was reportedly seen as dull by viewers, a new voting system was implemented for the event. In September 1987, a committee of executives from Arianos' RTA, Dentricia's RPD, and Haufenburg's HR, was established to devise a new voting system for the contest, with each broadcaster proposing different systems. RTA initially proposed to keep the previous system, though later argued in favour of a system in which each nation gave three sets of 1 point, two sets of 3 points, and one set of 5 points to their 6 favourite entries; RPD suggested an altered version of the previous system in which each jury would give out 25 points in total; and HR proposed a system inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest, in which six-member juries gave 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 points to their 8 favourite songs. Unsatisfied, the CNRT proposed a compromise, which would become the 8, 6–1 pattern used in all subsequent editions.
Each country had a twenty-member jury composed of members aged between 20 and 70, with a requirement that half be below 30, and half be from outside the music industry. Each juror presented a ranking of every song, with the 7 highest ranked songs on average receiving points. Similar to previous years, each jury was present within Mariensbourg, at the nearby RPD offices in the White Building. Each jury's spokesperson appeared in person and presented their nation's votes themselves. Ties would be resolved by a show of hands.
Conductors
Each nation was obliged to nominate a conductor to direct the orchestra during their performance. However, in practice, many countries shared conductors, leading to a total of 8 conductors directing all 13 entries. The participating conductors were:
Zuidfrisia – Archibald Brown
Voivony – Fryderyk Wałek- Andlin – Mathilde Andersen
Seaforthe – Marien-Lúise Éçé
Dentricia – Marien-Lúise Éçé
Achanor – Weduco Mencke- North Borneo – Marien-Lúise Éçé
Efyre – Julie-Franx Astor
Arianos – Julie-Franx Astor
Douria – Rodolphe Pierrat
Silesia – Fryderyk Wałek
Sorechland – Weduco Mencke
Haufenburg – Olaf Pałczyński
Contest overview
Detailed voting results
Each participating country had a jury, which awarded 8 and 6–1 points to their 7 favourite songs. The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in French or German in ascending order. Due to a delay in calculating their votes, Achanor, which had been scheduled to be the sixth country to vote, was passed over and instead voted last.
| Zuidfrisia | 21 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voivony | 47 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 8 | |||
| Andlin | 56 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | |||
| Seaforthe | 12 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| Dentricia | 11 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | |||||||||
| Achanor | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| North Borneo | 34 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 2 | |||||
| Arianos | 29 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 3 | ||||||
| Efyre | 54 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | |||
| Douria | 13 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||
| Silesia | 28 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | ||||||
| Sorechland | 15 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | ||||||||
| Haufenburg | 53 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | |
Broadcasts
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Achanor
|
AÖF | FS1 | Fritz Egner |
| Andlin
|
ÆF | ÆF 1 | Ernst Grissemann |
| Arianos
|
RTA | TVAreanos | Marcel Vanche |
| Dentricia
|
RPD | Résë 1 | |
| Douria
|
Radio Dourie | TV 1 |