Portugal was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 with the song "", composed by Fernando Tordo, with lyrics by José Carlos Ary dos Santos, and performed by Tordo himself. The Portuguese participating broadcaster, (RTP), selected its entry at the 1973.

Before Eurovision

1973 (RTP) held the 1973 at the Teatro Maria Matos in Lisbon on 26 February 1973, hosted by Alice Cruz and Artur Agostinho. Ten songs took part in the final. This event was also marked by the return of Simone de Oliveira to the songs, after being unable to sing for about 3 years. De Oliveira was awarded the Interpretation Award for her performance in "Apenas o meu povo". The results were determined by a distrital jury, that had 20 votes each, and a selection jury, composed of nine elements, to vote, each one with 10 votes to distribute among the songs in the contest.

+ - 26 February 1973ArtistSongConductorJury VotesPlace Distrital Selection 1 Tonicha "A rapariga e o poeta" José Calvário 4 1 5 9 2 Mini-pop "Menina de luto" Thilo Krassmann 12 2 14 7 3 Fernando Tordo "Tourada" Jorge Costa Pinto 110 5 115 1 4 Luís Duarte "Minha senhora das dores" Pepe Nieto 1 2 3 10 5 Paco Bandeira "É por isso que eu vivo" Igor Raymond 103 9 111 2 6 Paulo de Carvalho "Semente" Thilo Krassmann 16 46 62 4 7 Improviso "Cantiga" Thilo Krassmann 16 3 19 6 8 Duarte Mendes "Gente" José Calvário 85 6 91 3 9 Fernando Tordo "Carta de longe" Jorge Costa Pinto 8 15 23 5 10 Simone de Oliveira "Apenas o meu povo" Igor Raymond 6 1 7 8

+ Detailed Distrital Jury Votes Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1"A rapariga e o poeta"11114 2"Menina de luto" 3 1131 3 12 3"Tourada" 7 6 9 95315101661254 3 110 4"Minha senhora das dores" 1 1 5"É por isso que eu vivo" 5 4 7 5441517182269 4 103 6"Semente" 1 1 122321 3 16 7"Cantiga" 3 3 1 112 5 16 8"Gente" 3 2 3 6911313103517513 2 86 9"Carta de longe"156 10"Apenas o meu povo"12126

+ Detailed Selection Jury Votes Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1"A rapariga e o poeta"11 2"Menina de luto" 2 2 3"Tourada" 5 5 4"Minha senhora das dores" 2 2 5"É por isso que eu vivo" 4 32 9 6"Semente" 2 4 1 510103110 46 7"Cantiga" 1 2 3 8"Gente" 4 2 6 9"Carta de longe"262515 10"Apenas o meu povo"11

Controversy "Tourada" became very controversial after the night of the Festival because it was much more than a song with a bullfighting content, its lyrics cheated the regime of the time, insofar as it was a sharp criticism of the prevailing political and social regime. The possibility was still raised of not allowing "Tourada" to go to Eurovision, but the fears of the negative repercussions that this attitude would have internationally spoke louder and so the political power let Fernando Tordo take Tourada" to Eurovision.

At Eurovision On the night of the final Tordo performed 3rd in the running order, following and preceding . At the close of the voting the song had received 80 points, coming 10th in the field of 17 competing countries. The orchestra during the Portuguese entry was conducted by Jorge Costa Pinto.

Voting

+ Points awarded to Portugal Score Country 10 points 9 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points

+ Points awarded by Portugal Score Country 10 points 9 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points

References