The OTI Festival 1980 (, ) was the ninth edition of the OTI Festival, held on 15 November 1980 at the Martín Coronado hall of the in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and presented by Antonio Carrizo and . It was organised by the (OTI) and host broadcaster (ATC), who staged the event following 's win in the 1979 festival for Argentina with the song "" by .

Broadcasters from twenty-three countries participated in the festival, reaching a new record of number of participants. The winner was the song "", written by Ednita Nazario and Laureano Brizuela, and performed by Rafael José representing Puerto Rico; with "", written by Ray Girado, and performed by Dyango representing Spain, placing second; and "", written by , and performed by Luis Ordóñez representing Argentina, placing third.

Location

The (OTI) accepted the proposal of (ATC) to host the ninth edition of the OTI Festival, following 's win in the previous edition for Argentina with the song "" by .

ATC staged the event in Buenos Aires. The venue selected was the Martin Coronado hall of the . The theatre, inaugurated in 1960, is one of the oldest in the city. With 1,049 seats, the Martin Coronado hall is the biggest room of the theatre.

On 10 November 1980, a cocktail reception was held upon the arrival of the delegations, attended by all the participating artists, executives from the participating broadcasters, OTI officials, and numerous accredited journalists.

Participants

Broadcasters from twenty-three countries participated in this edition of the OTI Festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twenty-one Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. All countries that participated in the previous edition returned, and were joined by Bolivia, which had withdrawn in 1976, and Nicaragua, which had withdrawn in 1978. With twenty-three entries the number of participants reached a new record. All the countries that had debuted at the festival until then participated this year.

Some of the participating broadcasters, such as those representing Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, the Netherlands Antilles, Panama, and the United States, selected their entries through their regular national televised competitions. Other broadcasters decided to select their entry internally.

Two performing artists had previously represented the same country in previous editions: Rafael José had represented Puerto Rico in 1978, and Moisés Canelo had represented Honduras in 1974. In addition, Carlos Mejía Godoy, representing Nicaragua as a performer with los de Palancagüina, had written "Quincho barrilete", the winning song of the 1977 festival.

+ Participants of the OTI Festival 1980 Country Broadcaster(s) Song Artist Songwriter(s) Language Conductor Argentina "" Luis Ordóñez Spanish Horacio Malvicino Bolivia TVB "" Susana Joffré Spanish René Calderón Cortés Brazil TV Cultura "" Dino Galvão Bueno Portuguese José Briamonte Chile "" Nino García Spanish Gonzalo García Colombia "" Jaime Valencia Spanish Armando Velázquez Costa Rica "" Ricardo Padilla Ricardo Padilla Spanish Roberto Prais Dominican Republic "" Fausto Rey Spanish Jorge Taveras Ecuador "" Jeaneth Salgado Francisco José Betancourt Spanish Julio Cármenes El Salvador "" Ricardo Alfaro José Francisco Bolaños Lemus Spanish Héctor Rojas Guatemala "" Madrigal Band Óscar Eduardo Conde Spanish Vinicio Quesada Honduras "" Moisés Canelo Alberto Valladares Spanish Tino Geiser Mexico Televisa "" José Roberto José Roberto Spanish Javier Macías Netherlands Antilles ATM "" Lidwina Booi Spanish Roberto Montiel Nicaragua SSTV "" Carlos Mejía Godoy y los de Palancagüina Carlos Mejía Godoy Spanish Panama RPC-TV "" Simón Abadi Spanish Alexis Castillo Paraguay "" Carlos Albospino Antonio Medina Spanish Peru "" Regina Alcóver Regina Alcóver Spanish Víctor Salazar Portugal RTP "" Simone de Oliveira Portuguese Puerto Rico Canal 2 Telemundo "" Rafael José Spanish Jorge Calandrelli Spain TVE "" Dyango Ray Girado Spanish Alfredo Doménech United States SIN "" Rammiro Velasco Rammiro Velasco Spanish Tony Ramírez Uruguay "" Juca Sheppard Spanish Julio Frade Venezuela RCTV "" Héctor Cabrera Pablo Schneider Spanish Eduardo Cabrera

Festival overview The festival was held on Saturday 15 November 1980, beginning at 20:00 DST (23:00 UTC). It was presented by Antonio Carrizo and . The musical director was Horacio Malvicino who conducted the 58-piece orchestra when required. The draw to determine the running order (R/O) was held in Buenos Aires a few days before the event. Participants had rehearsed at the venue on 11–14 November in morning and afternoon sessions.

The winner was the song "", written by Ednita Nazario and Laureano Brizuela, and performed by Rafael José representing Puerto Rico; with "", written by Ray Girado, and performed by Dyango representing Spain, placing second; and "", written by , and performed by Luis Ordóñez representing Argentina, placing third.

+ Results of the OTI Festival 1980 Country Song Artist Points Place 1 Chile "" 9 14 2 Uruguay "" Juca Sheppard 4 19 3 Argentina "" Luis Ordóñez 31 3 4 Panama "" 8 16 5 Peru "" Regina Alcóver 13 11 6 Puerto Rico "" Rafael José 36 1 7 Paraguay "" Carlos Albospino 7 17 8 Venezuela "" Héctor Cabrera 5 18 9 United States "" Rammiro Velasco 11 13 10 Nicaragua "" Carlos Mejía Godoy y los de Palacagüina 15 10 11 El Salvador "" Ricardo Alfaro 4 19 12 Netherlands Antilles "" Lidwina Booi 0 22 13 Spain "" Dyango 32 2 14 Portugal "" Simone de Oliveira 9 14 15 Brazil "" 29 4 16 Guatemala "" Grupo Madrigal 19 9 17 Mexico "" José Roberto 21 8 18 Honduras "" Moisés Canelo 22 7 19 Bolivia "" Susana Joffré 0 22 20 Dominican Republic "" Fausto Rey 25 6 21 Colombia "" Jaime Valencia 13 11 22 Costa Rica "" Ricardo Padilla 29 4 23 Ecuador "" Jeaneth Salgado 3 21

Detailed voting results Each participating broadcaster assembled a national jury located in its respective country. Each jury awarded 5 points its favourite song, 4 points to the second favourite, and then between 3 and 1 points for the third- to fifth-favourite songs, except for the entry representing its own country. Each participating broadcaster had also a delegate present in the hall to stand in for its jury if it was not receiving the event live, or in case of communication failure during the broadcast or voting. To ensure that there was no vote switching, before the voting segment began each participating broadcaster announced to its national audience the vote of its jury in local opt-out from its studios.

All the countries gave their votes remotely by telephone, except for Bolivia, and the Netherlands Antilles, which used the stand-in delegates. The countries voted in order of participation.

+ Detailed voting results of the OTI Festival 1980 Voter: Voting countries Points 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" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="rowgroup" rowspan=23 Chile31419 Uruguay224 Argentina1555453331 Panama538 Peru35513 Puerto Rico4415413252536 Paraguay347 Venezuela1225 United States124411 Nicaragua3343215 El Salvador134 Netherlands Antilles0 Spain33444432532 Portugal5229 Brazil22513444429 Guatemala45122519 Mexico55115421 Honduras445511222 Bolivia0 Dominican Republic43421251325 Colombia1513313 Costa Rica322321121315329 Ecuador213

Broadcast The festival was broadcast in the 23 participating countries, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.

Known details on the broadcasts of the festival in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations, commentators, and presenters of the local opt-out are shown in the tables below.

+ Broadcasters, commentators, and local presenters in participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Local presenter(s) ATC TVN rowspan="4" rowspan="4" UTV UCTV Inravisión Telecentro Telecentro Canal 6 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Teletica Televisa ATM TeleAruba rowspan="2" rowspan="2" TeleCuraçao RPC-TV RTP RTP1 TVE TVE 1

Reception The victory of the Puerto Rican performer Rafael José, who is a licensed dentist apart from a singer, was seen in his home country as another milestone in the national musical scene to the point that it is even said that the festival paralysed the country and made the audience forget the protests that took place because of a national electoral process that was overshadowed by a possible fraud. As happened five years before with Nydia Caro, the previous Puerto Rican OTI winner. Rafael José and the composer of his entry, Ednita Nazario were received by a huge crowd at his return to San Juan.

The second place of the Spaniard Dyango consolidated his already long career and also his position as one of the most important musicians in the Spanish national pop scene.

The host contestant Luis Ordóñez had already a long career in Argentina. In fact, he debuted in 1956 and pursued, since then, a career both as a writer, a songwriter and also as a singer. His third place confirmed the strength of his career.

Other contestants such as the Dominican Fausto Rey and the Nicaraguan Carlos Mejía Godoy, went on with their strong musical careers releasing more studio albums and creating music for many more singers.

Notes

References