Dutch Song Contest 1995
The Dutch Song Contest 1995 (Dutch: Het Nederlandse Songfestival 1995) was a one-off song competition between regional public broadcasters in the Netherlands. The contest was held on 25 May 1995 at the Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht and was hosted by Karin Bloemen. It served as a substitute for the Nationaal Songfestival, the Dutch annual selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was not held that year due to the Netherlands' relegation from the Eurovision Song Contest following an insufficient result in the 1994 edition. While the competition was not renewed for a second edition, a reworked version of the format was launched in 2023 under the name Regio Songfestival. The format of the competition was developed by the Regionale Omroep Overleg en Samenwerking (ROOS) – the umbrella organisation of Dutch regional public broadcasters – and the Conamus Foundation. It was decided to stage the event on Ascension Day in 1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Omroep Limburg (founded in 1945 as Regionale Omroep Zuid), marking half a century of regional public broadcasting in the Netherlands. In addition, the event would fill the void left by the Nationaal Songfestival, which would not be held that year due to the Netherlands' exclusion from the Eurovision Song Contest 1995. Although the contest was not intended as a substitute for the Eurovision Song Contest itself, there were plans for the format to potentially replace the Nationaal Songfestival as the Dutch national selection process in future years. Its main objective, however, was to provide a platform for regional artists to present themselves to a broader audience. All thirteen regional public broadcasters participated in the competition – each representing one of the twelve provinces, with the exception of South Holland, which was represented by two broadcasters: one serving the province's northern subregions (The Hague and surroundings; presented as "West"), and one serving the southern subregions (Rotterdam and surroundings; presented as "Rijnmond"). Only songs in Dutch were eligible to enter the competition. After the submission window opened in November 1994, a call for entries was published in the December issue of Buma/Stemra Magazine. More than 600 original compositions were received, from which an expert jury led by Conamus director John de Mol Sr. selected ten entries. In addition, three composers were personally commissioned to write an entry for the competition. Each of the thirteen entries was assigned to a regional broadcaster, which selected its own representative to perform the song. Each broadcaster also appointed one jury member, who would distribute points to the other regions' entries based on their personal preference and the opinions of two listeners from their region. The entry that received the most points would win the competition. In the event of a tie, the entry that received the most top scores (10 points) from the juries would be declared the winner. Broadcast solely on radio, the contest was held on Thursday 25 May 1995, beginning at 21:00 CEST, and lasted two hours. The event was staged in the Grote Zaal ('Great Hall') of Muziekcentrum Vredenburg – a music venue in the city of Utrecht – in front of an audience of around 1,000 people, who were shown a slide show during the performances. The performing artists were accompanied by a backing track. The show was hosted by Dutch singer and cabaret performer Karin Bloemen. = The winner was Groningen represented by the song "Bij alles wat ik doe", composed by Kees Smit and performed by Wia Buze. Buze had won the jury vote by a small margin ahead of runner-up Joke Bruijs, who represented the Rijnmond region. As the winning composer, Smit won ƒ10,000 (≈ €4,500) in prize money, while Buze was awarded promotional airplay on the participating broadcasters' radio stations and a trip to London. The show was met with a negative critical reception, due to the alleged low quality of the performances. Despite ambitions for it to become an annual event, the competition was ultimately not renewed for a second edition in 1996. Instead, the regional broadcasters were invited by the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) to contribute to the organisation of the Nationaal Songfestival 1996. Two contestants of the Dutch Song Contest, Roland Verstappen (North Brabant) and Gina de Wit (Friesland), were selected to compete in the Nationaal Songfestival 1996. The songwriters of the Zeelandic entry "De woorden, die schieten tekort" – Michel Pos and Annemiek Woudt – also entered the festival with the song "Neem me mee", performed by Lucretia van der Vloot. In June 1995, an official compilation album of the contest was released by EMI Music Holland. Wia Buze, whose repertoire had consisted primarily of songs in Gronings dialect, released a studio album entirely in Dutch following her win in the contest. In 2023, twenty-eight years after the contest, a reworked version of the format was launched under the name Regio Songfestival. Het Nederlandse Songfestival '95 at Discogs Het Nederlandse Songfestival '95 at Muziekweb website