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, and presented by Dafna Dekel, Yigal Ravid, and Sigal Shachmon. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "Diva" by Dana International.
Broadcasters from twenty-three countries participated in the contest. , , , , , and , 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 actively chose not to return. Meanwhile , , , and returned to the contest, having last participated in , while made its first contest appearance since .
The winner was with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven", composed by Lars Diedricson, written by Gert Lengstrand and Marcos Ubeda and performed by Charlotte Nilsson. , , , and rounded out the top five, with Iceland achieving its best ever result and Croatia equalling its previous best. It was the first contest since 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 with the song "Diva", performed by Dana International. It was the second time that the contest was staged in Israel, following the 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 the 1979 contest.
The prospect of the contest being staged in Israel 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, because the 1998 competition had been won by an Israeli transsexual, and because a dress rehearsal for the 1999 contest was planned to be held during the Jewish sabbath. Additional concerns over funding for the event also contributed to speculation that the contest could be moved to Malta or the United Kingdom, the countries 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.
Participants
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 and 1998 contests. made its first appearance since , and , , , and returned after being relegated from the previous year's event. was unable to return from relegation due to failing to broadcast the 1998 contest, as specified in the rules for that edition. 1998 participants , , , , , , and 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: Doris Dragović representing had represented ; and Darja Švajger representing had represented her country . A number of former competitors also returned to perform as backing vocalists for some of the competing entries: , who represented and , provided backing vocals for Selma; , who represented , returned to provide backing for Trine Jepsen and Michael Teschl; Christopher Scicluna and Moira Stafrace, who represented , provided backing for Times Three; , who represented as a member of the group Blond, was among Charlotte Nilsson's backing vocalists; and Linda Williams, who represented the , returned as a backing vocalist for Vanessa Chinitor. Additionally, Evelin Samuel represented in this year's contest, having previously served as backing vocalist for the country .
+ Eurovision Song Contest 1999 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) ORF Bobbie Singer "Reflection" English Dave Moskin VRT Vanessa Chinitor "Like the Wind" English RTVBiH Dino and Béatrice "" Bosnian, French Dino Dervišhalidović HRT Doris "" Croatian CyBC Marlain "" () Greek DR Trine Jepsen and Michael Teschl "This Time I Mean It" English Ebbe Ravn ETV Evelin Samuel and Camille "Diamond of Night" English Nayah "" French NDR Sürpriz "Journey to Jerusalem – " German, Turkish, English RÚV Selma "All Out of Luck" English RTÉ The Mullans "When You Need Me" English Bronagh Mullan IBA Eden "Happy Birthday" English, Hebrew LRT Aistė "" Samogitian PBS Times Three "Believe 'n Peace" English NOS Marlayne "One Good Reason" English NRK Van Eijk "Living My Life Without You" English Stig André van Eijk TVP "" Polish RTP Rui Bandeira "" Portuguese RTVSLO Darja Švajger "For a Thousand Years" English Primož Peterca TVE Lydia "" Spanish SVT Charlotte Nilsson "Take Me to Your Heaven" English TRT Tuba Önal and "" Turkish BBC Precious "Say It Again" English Paul Varney
Qualification Due to the high number of countries wishing to enter the contest, a relegation system was introduced in 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 and future editions, the four countries whose broadcasters were the largest financial contributors to the contest, , , and the 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 subsequently withdrew its participation at a late stage, and its place in the contest was subsequently offered to Hungary as the excluded country with the highest average points total. Hungarian broadcaster declined and the offer was then passed to Portugal's as the next in line, which accepted.
The calculations used to determine the countries relegated for the 1999 contest are outlined in the table below.
Table key Qualifier Automatic qualifier Returning countries which did not compete in 1998
+ Calculation of average points to determine qualification for the 1999 contest Rank Country Average Yearly Point Totals 1 130.60 226 44 162 157 64 2 ‡ 126.50 81 172 3 121.80 63 76 77 227 166 4 94.40 97 76 68 66 165 5 83.40 76 148 114 0 79 6 74.20 27 91 98 24 131 7 67.40 48 100 100 36 53 8 67.40 51 79 72 98 37 9 59.25 4 78 5 150 10 59.25 128 1 22 86 11 † 58.50 92 25 12 57.00 166 15 31 54 19 13 56.80 74 94 18 95 3 14 56.00 21 57 121 25 15 54.00 17 119 17 96 21 16 53.50 2 94 82 36 17 50.67 8 22 122 18 44.25 84 16 60 17 19 42.00 122 3 39 4 20 † 41.50 19 67 68 12 21 41.20 73 5 92 0 36 22 39.80 44 68 36 39 12 23 † 37.25 49 31 51 18 24 † 22.00 39 14 13 22 25 16.00 16 26 14.00 11 9 22 27 14.00 15 19 8 28 10.50 15 22 5 0 29 10.00 14 6 30 † 0.00 0
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 , Mia Raveh and Ronen Levin served as designers. On behalf of 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 the Lithuania delegation being the last to complete its 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 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