Portugal was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Há dias assim" written by Augusto Madureira, and performed by Filipa Azevedo. The Portuguese participating broadcaster, (RTP), organised the national final Festival da Canção 2010 in order to select its entry for the contest. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in March 2010, "Há dias assim" performed by Filipa Azevedo emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from twenty regional juries and a public televote.
Portugal was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2010. Performing during the show in position 14, "Há dias assim" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 29 May. It was later revealed that Portugal placed fourth out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 89 points. In the final, Portugal performed in position 23 and placed eighteenth out of the 25 participating countries with 43 points.
Background
Prior to the 2010 contest, (RTP) until 2003, and (RTP) since 2004, had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Portugal forty-three times since their first entry in 1964. Their highest placing in the contest was sixth, achieved with the song "" performed by Lúcia Moniz. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Portugal had featured in only two finals. Their least successful result has been last place, achieved on three occasions, most recently with the song "" performed by Célia Lawson. They have also received nul points on two occasions: and 1997. The nation qualified to the final in 2009 and placed fifteenth with the song "Todas as ruas do amor" performed by Flor-de-Lis.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTP organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its participation in the 2010 contest on 21 September 2009. RTP has traditionally selected its entry for the contest via the music competition Festival da Canção, with exceptions and when the entries were internally selected. Along with its participation confirmation, RTP revealed details regarding its selection procedure and announced the organization of Festival da Canção 2010 in order to select the 2010 Portuguese entry.
Before Eurovision Festival da Canção 2010
Festival da Canção 2010 was the 46th edition of Festival da Canção that selected Portugal's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Twenty-four entries competed in the competition that consisted of two semi-finals held on 2 and 4 March 2010 leading to a twelve-song final on 6 March 2010. All three shows of the competition took place at the Campo Pequeno in Lisbon, hosted by Sílvia Alberto and were broadcast on RTP1, RTP1 HD, RTP África and RTP Internacional as well as online via the broadcaster's official website rtp.pt.
Format The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 2 and 4 March 2010 and the final on 6 March 2010. Each semi-final featured twelve competing entries, selected by an online vote in January 2010, from which six advanced from each show to complete the twelve song lineup in the final. Results during the semi-finals were determined exclusively by a public televote, while results during the final were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from twenty regional juries and public televoting, which was opened following the second semi-final and closed during the final show. Both the public televote and the juries assigned points from 1–8, 10 and 12 based on the ranking developed by both streams of voting.
Competing entries Artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition between 24 November 2009 and 15 January 2010. Composers of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, however artists were required to possess Portuguese citizenship and songs were required to be submitted in Portuguese. A jury panel consisting of Head of Delegation for Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest José Poiares, singer-songwriter Tozé Brito, and music producers Fernando Martins and Ramón Galarza selected thirty entries for an online vote from 420 submissions received, which were revealed on 20 January 2010. Among the competing artists was former Eurovision Song Contest entrant Nucha, who represented Portugal in the 1990 contest. On 22 January 2010, "Luta assim não dá", written by Vasco Duarte and Jel and to have been performed by Homens da Luta, was disqualified from the competition due to the song having been performed prior to the competition.
90-second excerpts of the twenty-nine competing entries were released online via rtp.pt on 20 January 2010 and users were able to vote for their favourite songs each day between 21 and 27 January 2010. 42,998 valid votes were received at the conclusion of the voting period and the top twenty-four entries that advanced to the semi-finals were revealed on 28 January 2010. Following the online vote, the semi-finalists worked with music producers Fernando Martins and Ramón Galarza on the final versions of their entries. + Results of the online vote – 21–27 January 2010 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Votes Place 1 Nina Pinto "Meu coração não é meu" Marios Gligoris, Augusto Madureira 2,385 3 2 Nucha "Chuva" Marios Gligoris, Nuno Valério 2,361 4 3 Jorge Guerreiro "Ai Lisboa (meu encanto)" José Félix, Catarina Martins 1,276 15 4 Banda Trocopasso "O mundo de pernas p'ro ar" Jorge Oliveira 2,130 5 5 Terra D'Água "Amanhã no mar" Davide Zaccariahá, Tiago Espírito Santo 1,161 21 6 Seis Po' Meia Dúzia "Pássaro saudade" Ricardo Rodrigues, Irene Lúcia Andrade 1,701 10 7 Nuno and Fábia "Amar (vieste para me salvar)" Pedro Britohá, Pedro Vaz 2,905 2 8 Filipa Azevedo "Há dias assim" Augusto Madureira 2,992 1 9 David Navarro "Quem é que será?" J. M., Jorge Moreira, Jorge do Carmo, Tó Andrade 1,233 16 10 Dennisa "Meu mundo de sonhos" Rui Barreto, João Sanguinheira, João Novo 1,219 19 11 Paulo João Sousa "Pintado a carvão" Paulo João Sousa 411 27 12 Nuno Pinto "Fogo lento" Américo Faria 1,345 13 13 Ricardo Levi "Minha alma lusitana" Nuno Pires, Tó Andrade 268 29 14 Filipe Delgado "Serei eu" Ernesto Leite 1,474 11 15 Rui Nova "Uma canção à Cid (o sol e as estrelas)" Rui Nova, Noé Gavina 1,226 17 16 Filipa Galvão Telles "O amor não sabe" José Campos Sousa, António Tinoco 2,119 6 17 Ricardo Martins "Caminheiro de mim" Ricardo Martins 1,143 23 18 João Pedreira "Destino qualquer" João Pedreira 951 26 19 Gonçalo Tavares "Rios" Gonçalo Tavares 1,380 12 20 Gonçalo Madruga "Cores de um mundo" Gonçalo Madruga 1,225 18 21 V-Boy "Quando eu penso em ti" Mauro Guerreiro, Vítor dos Santos 1,156 22 22 Vanessa "Alvorada" Nuno Feist, Nuno Marques da Silva 1,142 24 23 Ouro "Arco-íris dentro de mim" José Castanheira, Jan van Dijck, Paulo Abreu de Lima 1,336 14 24 Evelyne Filipe "A tua voz" Joachim Vermeulen Windsant, Maarten ten Hove, Evelyne Filipe 1,834 9 25 Catarina Pereira "Canta por mim" Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho 2,036 7 26 Claudisabel "Contra tudo e todos" Jordi Cubino, Luis André Florindo 1,975 8 27 The Agency "É assim que as coisas são" The Agency 1,178 20 28 Davi Duarte "Serei alguém p'ra ti" Davi Duarte 311 28 29 Joana Lobo Anta "Há dias" Rita Vasconcellos, Ana Zanatti 1,125 25
Shows
Semi-finals The two semi-finals took place on 2 and 4 March 2010. In each semi-final twelve entries competed and six advanced to the final based solely on a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Batoto Yeto, 12 Macacos and Jukebox Project performed as the interval acts in the first semi-final, while St. Dominic's Gospel Choir, Raquel Ferreira, Teresa Radamanto, Portuguese Eurovision 1980 and 1998 entrant José Cid and member of Portuguese Eurovision 2005 entrant 2B Rui Drumond performed as the interval acts in the second semi-final. + Semi-final 1 – 2 March 2010 Artist Song Televote Place 1 Nucha "Chuva" 278 12 2 Ouro "Arco-íris dentro de mim" 757 7 3 Claudisabel "Contra tudo e todos" 316 10 4 Filipa Azevedo "Há dias assim" 1,472 4 5 Jorge Guerreiro "Ai Lisboa (meu encanto)" 794 6 6 Dennisa "Meu mundo de sonhos" 699 8 7 Nuno Pinto "Fogo lento" 2,080 1 8 Filipa Galvão Telles "O amor não sabe" 1,194 5 9 The Agency "É assim que as coisas são" 1,614 3 10 Gonçalo Madruga "Cores de um mundo" 290 11 11 Evelyne Filipe "A tua voz" 527 9 12 Vanessa "Alvorada" 1,635 2 + Semi-final 2 – 4 March 2010 Artist Song Televote Place 1 Rui Nova "Uma canção à Cid (o sol e as estrelas)" 1,689 6 2 Ricardo Martins "Caminheiro de mim" 4,226 2 3 Nuno and Fábia "Amar (vieste para me salvar)" 854 9 4 David Navarro "Quem é que será?" 835 10 5 Catarina Pereira "Canta por mim" 4,614 1 6 Filipe Delgado "Serei eu" 946 8 7 V-Boy "Quando eu penso em ti" 464 12 8 Terra D'Água "Amanhã no mar" 828 11 9 Nina Pinto "Meu coração não é meu" 972 7 10 Gonçalo Tavares "Rios" 1,783 5 11 Banda Trocopasso "O mundo de pernas p'ro ar" 3,978 3 12 Seis Po' Meia Dúzia "Pássaro saudade" 2,689 4
Final The final took place on 6 March 2010. The twelve entries that qualified from the two preceding semi-finals competed and the winner, "Há dias assim" performed by Filipa Azevedo, was selected based on the 50/50 combination of votes of twenty regional juries and a public televote. Voca People, Portuguese Eurovision 1973 entrant Fernando Tordo and Portuguese Eurovision 2009 entrants Flor-de-Lis performed as the interval acts. + Final – 6 March 2010 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Filipa Galvão Telles "O amor não sabe" 38 0 1,238 0 0 12 2 Banda Trocopasso "O mundo de pernas p'ro ar" 93 5 4,608 8 13 4 3 Jorge Guerreiro "Ai Lisboa (meu encanto)" 50 1 794 0 1 10 4 Ricardo Martins "Caminheiro de mim" 61 2 8,167 10 12 7 5 The Agency "É assim que as coisas são" 137 10 1,850 2 12 5 6 Seis Po' Meia Dúzia "Pássaro saudade" 88 3 2,282 4 7 8 7 Nuno Pinto "Fogo lento" 130 7 2,539 5 12 6 8 Catarina Pereira "Canta por mim" 128 6 10,920 12 18 2 9 Filipa Azevedo "Há dias assim" 193 12 3,237 7 19 1 10 Gonçalo Tavares "Rios" 89 4 2,278 3 7 9 11 Vanessa "Alvorada" 130 8 3,182 6 14 3 12 Rui Nova "Uma canção à Cid (o sol e as estrelas)" 23 0 1,673 1 1 11 + Song 1 "O amor não sabe" 5 1 4 1 1 1 4 4 2 7 1 5 2 38 2 "O mundo de pernas p'ro ar" 12 7 2 6 7 3 5 5 2 8 5 4 12 2 3 4 6 93 3 "Ai Lisboa (meu encanto)" 4 1 8 5 3 4 7 2 4 3 6 1 2 50 4 "Caminheiro de mim" 3 2 6 1 1 4 8 2 3 8 2 5 1 4 3 1 4 3 61 5 "É assim que as coisas são" 5 8 7 3 5 10 1 12 8 8 12 10 7 10 7 7 8 8 137 6 "Pássaro saudade" 1 6 5 4 7 5 8 6 6 7 2 2 6 5 1 5 12 88 7 "Fogo lento" 8 4 8 5 4 12 10 10 7 7 3 7 6 10 5 3 10 6 5 130 8 "Canta por mim" 7 3 12 8 12 3 12 7 4 1 6 7 8 8 12 2 12 4 128 9 "Há dias assim" 10 12 12 10 10 10 5 8 12 10 12 10 10 12 12 2 8 8 10 10 193 10 "Rios" 2 5 10 7 7 6 6 1 4 2 3 1 5 1 5 4 6 4 3 7 89 11 "Alvorada" 10 2 6 12 8 2 6 6 3 10 12 6 8 6 3 10 12 7 1 130 12 "Uma canção à Cid (o sol e as estrelas)" 3 3 2 2 4 5 3 1 23
Controversy