HISTORY OF THE ESC. Part 12: 1980. Continues: next week.

THE HISTORY OF THE

EUROVISION

SONG CONTEST

Caffé Latté  looks back on the key moments of Europe’s annual competition.

1980

Eurovision entered the new decade with a swiftly arranged presentation in The Netherlands. Although Israel had won, the country opted not to host the ESC a second year in a row. The Dutch selected April 19 for the event. As this was Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel. there would be no Israeli representation in 1980. This was the only time in Eurovision history that a country did not return to defend its title the following year. 

The winning song was "What's Another Year", performed by Johnny Logan. He secured Ireland's 2nd win.

1980 also saw further expansion of the Eurovision family, with the participation of trhe 1st African nation: Morocco. Its 1st entry, "Bitaqat Hub", performed in Arabic by Samira Bensaid, finished 18th out of 19 nations. Morocco has been absent ever since.