International song competition
The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was the 44th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Centre in Jerusalem, Israel. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the contest was held in the country following its victory at the 1998 contest with the song "Diva" by Dana International, and was presented by Dafna Dekel, Yigal Ravid and Sigal Shachmon.
Twenty-three countries participated in the contest. Finland, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland, having participated in the 1998 contest, were absent due to being relegated after achieving the lowest average points totals over the past five contests, while Hungary actively chose not to return. Meanwhile Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, and Iceland returned to the contest, having last participated in 1997, while Lithuania made its first contest appearance since 1994.
The winner was Sweden with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven", composed by Lars Diedricson, written by Gert Lengstrand and performed by Charlotte Nilsson. Iceland, Germany, Croatia, and Israel rounded out the top five, with Iceland achieving its best ever result and Croatia equalling its previous best. It was the first contest since 1976 that countries were allowed to perform in the language of their choice, and not necessarily the language of their country. It was also the first ever contest not to feature an orchestra or live music accompanying the competing entries.
Location.
The 1999 contest took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the 1998 edition with the song "Diva", performed by Dana International. It was the second time that Israel had staged the contest, following the 1979 contest also held in Jerusalem. The selected venue was the Ussishkin Auditorium of the International Convention Centre, commonly known in Hebrew as (), which also served as the host venue for Israel's previous staging of the event.
The prospect of Israel staging the contest resulted in protest by members of the Orthodox Jewish community in the country, including opposition by the deputy mayor of Jerusalem Haim Miller to the contest being staged in the city. Additional concerns over funding for the event also contributed to speculation that the contest could be moved to Malta or the United Kingdom, the nations which had finished in the top three alongside Israel the previous year. Financial guarantees by the Israeli government however helped to ensure that the contest would take place in Israel. The possibility of holding the event in an open air venue was discussed, however concerns over security led to the choice of an indoor venue for the event. A tight security presence was felt during the rehearsal week as a precaution against potential disruption from Palestinian militant groups.
Participating countries.
Per the rules of the contest, twenty-three countries were allowed to participate in the event, a reduction from the twenty-five which took part in the 1997 and 1998 contests. Lithuania made its first appearance since 1994, and Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, and Iceland returned after being relegated from the previous year's event. Russia was unable to return from relegation due to failing to broadcast the 1998 contest, as specified in the rules for that edition. 1998 participants Finland, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland were absent from this edition.
Several of the performers taking part in the contest had previously competed as lead artists in past editions. Two artists returned as lead artists in this year's event, with Croatia's Doris Dragović having taken part in 1986 representing Yugoslavia, and Slovenia's Darja Švajger making a second appearance for her country following the 1995 contest. A number of former competitors also returned to perform as backing vocalists for some of the competing entries: Stefán Hilmarsson, who represented Iceland twice in 1988 and 1991, provided backing vocals for Selma; Kenny Lübcke, who represented Denmark in 1992, returned to provide backing for Trine Jepsen and Michael Teschl; Christopher Scicluna and Moira Stafrace, who represented Malta in 1994, provided backing for Times Three; Gabriel Forss, who represented Sweden in 1997 as a member of the group Blond, was among Charlotte Nilsson's backing vocalists; and Linda Williams, who represented the Netherlands in 1981, returned as a backing vocalist for Belgium's Vanessa Chinitor. Additionally, Evelin Samuel competed for Estonia in this year's contest, having previously served as backing vocalist for Maarja-Liis Ilus in 1997.
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Qualification.
Due to the high number of countries wishing to enter the contest, a relegation system was introduced in 1993 in order to reduce the number of countries which could compete in each year's contest. Any relegated countries would be able to return the following year, thus allowing all countries the opportunity to compete in at least one in every two editions. The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 1999 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The twenty-three participants were made up of the previous year's winning country and host nation, the seventeen countries other than the host which had obtained the highest average points total over the preceding five contests, and any eligible countries which had not competed in the 1998 contest. In cases where the average was identical between two or more countries, the total number of points scored in the most recent contest determined the final order.
A new addition to the relegation rules specified that for the 2000 contest and future editions, the four largest financial contributors to the contest – France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom – would automatically qualify for each year's event and be exempt from relegation. This new "Big Four" group of countries was created to ensure the financial viability of the event, and was prompted by a number of poor placements in previous years for some of these countries, which if repeated in 1999 could have resulted in those countries being eliminated.
Finland, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland were therefore excluded from participating in the 1999 contest, to make way for the return of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland, and Lithuania, and new debuting country Latvia. However Latvia's Latvijas Televīzija subsequently withdrew its participation at a late stage, and their place in the contest was subsequently offered to Hungary as the excluded country with the highest average points total. Hungarian broadcaster Magyar Televízió declined and the offer was then passed to Portugal's Rádio e Televisão de Portugal as the next country in line, which accepted.
The calculations used to determine the countries relegated for the 1999 contest are outlined in the table below.
Table key
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Production.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was produced by the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). Amnon Barkai served as executive producer, Aharon Goldfinger-Eldar served as producer, Hagai Mautner served as director, and Maya Hanoch, Mia Raveh and Ronen Levin served as designers. On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Christine Marchal-Ortiz as scrutineer. Usually able to hold a maximum of 3,000 people, modifications made to the Ussishkin Auditorium reduced the capacity to around 2,000 for the contest, with rows of seats removed from the floor to make room for the stage and from the balcony to allow for the construction of boxes for use by various commentators.
Rehearsals in the venue for the competing acts began on 24 May 1999. Each country had two technical rehearsals in the week approaching the contest: the first rehearsals took place on 24 and 25 May, with each country allowed 40 minutes total on stage followed by a 20 minute press conference; the second rehearsals subsequently took place on 26 and 27 May, with each country allocated 30 minutes on stage. Each country took to the stage in the order in which they would perform, however the Lithuanian delegation was permitted to arrive in Israel one day later than the other delegations due to budget concerns. Subsequently the first day's rehearsals began with Belgium as the second country to perform in the contest, with Lithuania being the last country to complete their first rehearsal on the second day; the order of rehearsals was corrected for the second rehearsals, with Lithuania scheduled as the first delegation on stage. Additional rehearsals took place on 26 May for the contest's concluding performance with all artists, and on 27 May for the contest's presenters and to test the voting scoreboard's computer graphics. Two dress rehearsals held on 28 May were held with an audience, the second of which was also recorded as a production stand-by in case of problems during the live contest. A further dress rehearsal took place on the afternoon of 29 May ahead of the live contest, followed by security and technical checks.
The singer Dafna Dekel, the radio and television presenter Yigal Ravid and the model and television presenter Sigal Shachmon were the presenters of the 1999 contest, the first edition to feature three presenters in a single show. Dekel had previously represented Israel in the 1992 contest and placed sixth with the song "". The writers of the winning song were awarded with a trophy designed by Yaacov Agam, which was presented by the previous year's winning artist Dana International.
A compilation album featuring many of the competing entries was released in Israel following the contest, commissioned by IBA and released through the Israeli record label IMP Records. The release contained nineteen of the twenty-three competing acts on CD and an additional video CD with clips from the televised broadcast and footage from backstage.
Format.
Entries.
Each participating broadcaster was represented in the contest by one song, no longer than three minutes in duration. A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance, and all performers were required to be at least 16 years old in the year of the contest. Selected entries were not permitted to be released commercially before 1 January 1999, and were then only allowed to be released in the country they represented until after the contest was held. Entries were required to be selected by each country's participating broadcaster by 15 March, and the final submission date for all selected entries to be received by the contest organisers was set for 29 March. This submission was required to include a sound recording of the entry and backing track for use during the contest, a video presentation of the song on stage being performed by the artists, and the text of the song lyrics in its original language and translations in French and English for distribution to the participating broadcasters, their commentators and juries.
For the first time since the 1976 contest the participants had full freedom to perform in any language, and not simply that of the country they represented. This led to a marked increase in the number of entries which were performed in English. Additionally, the rules were modified to make the orchestra a non-obligatory feature of the contest of which organising broadcasters were free to opt out. IBA chose not to provide an orchestra, with all entries subsequently being performed with backing tracks, and no orchestra has been included as part of the competition since.
Following the confirmation of the twenty-three competing countries, the draw to determine the running order was held on 17 November 1998.
Voting procedure.
The results of the 1999 contest were determined using the scoring system introduced in 1975: each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry. Each participating country was required to use televoting to determine their points, with viewers able to register their vote by telephone for a total of five minutes following the performance of the last competing entry. Viewers could vote by calling one of twenty-two different telephone numbers to represent the twenty-three competing entries except that which represented their own country. Once phone lines were opened a video recap containing short clips of each competing entry with the accompanying phone number for voting was shown in order to aid viewers during the voting window. Systems were also