Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996

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Eurovision Song Contest 1996
Country  Belgium
National selection
Selection process De gouden zeemeermin
Selection date(s) 3, 10, 17 & 24 February 1996
9 March 1996
Selected entrant Lisa del Bo
Selected song "Liefde is een kaartspel"
Finals performance
Final result 16th, 22 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1995 • 1996 • 1998►

Belgium was represented by Lisa del Bo, with the song '"Liefde is een kaartspel", at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Oslo on 18 May. 40 songs took part in the Belgian preselection, which consisted of four semi-finals in February, followed by the final on 9 March. All the shows took place at the Knokke Casino with hosts Michel Follet and Alexandra Potvin.

Semi-finals

Four semi-finals were held in February 1996 to select the 12 finalists for the Belgian final. 10 songs competed in each semi-final, with the top 3 songs, selected by a 7-member expert jury, progressing to the final. Each jury member awarded points on the Eurovision 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-10-12 scale to each song, although they could give any mark they wished to each song (i.e. they could award 12 points to more than one song if they chose).

Final

The national final was held on 9 March with 12 songs competing. This time voting was done by ranking the songs, and consisted of a mixture of a professional jury (50%), a press jury (25%) and five regional juries (5% each). Despite having finished second to Enzo in her semi-final, del Bo emerged the clear winner having been ranked first by all but the press jury. The top three songs had all come from the third semi-final.[1]

Final - 9 March 1996
Draw Artist Song Points Place
1 Lisa del Bo "Liefde is een kaartspel" 216 1
2 Patrick Alessi "Een andere wereld" 73 11
3 Chelsy "Kijk me aan" 128 8
4 William Reven "Zo voel ik vandaag" 119 9
5 Nadia "Morgen komt de lente" 135 7
6 Peter van Laet "Er is iets" 143 4
7 Sabine Tiels "Nooit meer alleen" 139 6
8 Doran "Jij alleen" 37 12
9 Garry Hagger "Dat ik van je hou" 141 5
10 Splinter "Ik laat je nooit meer gaan" 189 2
11 Enzo "Mooi" 151 3
12 Mario Caselli "Mademoiselle" 90 10
Jury votes
Song Antwerp Limburg East
Flanders		 Flemish
Brabant		 West
Flanders		 Press
jury		 Professional
Jury		 Total
Liefde is een kaartspel 12 12 12 12 12 35 120 215
Een andere wereld 2 2 5 3 1 40 20 73
Kijk me aan 8 5 6 8 6 5 90 128
Zo voel ik vandaag 1 1 3 2 2 50 60 119
Morgen komt de lente 5 6 7 7 5 25 80 135
Er is iets 10 9 9 11 9 55 40 143
Nooit meer alleen 4 11 1 5 3 15 100 139
Jij alleen 3 4 2 1 7 10 10 37
Dat ik van je hou 6 8 4 4 4 45 70 141
Ik laat je nooit meer gaan 11 10 8 10 10 30 110 189
Mooi 9 7 11 6 8 60 50 151
Mademoiselle 7 3 10 9 11 20 30 90

At Eurovision

In 1996, for the only time in Eurovision history, an audio-only pre-qualifying round of the 29 songs entered (excluding hosts Norway who were exempt) was held in March in order for the seven lowest-scoring songs to be eliminated before the final. "Liefde is een kartspel" placed 12th, thus qualifying for the final.

On the night of the final del Bo performed 16th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding the eventual winner Ireland. At the close of the voting "Liefde is een kaartspel" placed 16th of the 23 entries, having received 22 points. Oddly, 17 of its points came from two of the first three countries to vote: the maximum 12 from Spain and 5 from the United Kingdom. The result was not good enough to prevent Belgium from being relegated from the 1997 contest on the cumulative countback rule. The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to the United Kingdom.[2]

"Liefde is een kaartspel" later became embroiled in controversy when it was alleged that it had been plagiarised by Sweden's 2001 Eurovision entry "Listen To Your Heartbeat". This was initially denied by the writers of the Swedish song, but Belgian songwriters' association SABAM threatened legal action, and a cash settlement was agreed to forestall this.[3]

Voting

Points awarded to Belgium

Points Awarded to Belgium
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points Awarded by Belgium

12 points  United Kingdom
10 points  Sweden
8 points  Norway
7 points  France
6 points  Portugal
5 points  Turkey
4 points  Croatia
3 points  Ireland
2 points   Switzerland
1 point  Netherlands

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ ESC National Finals database 1996
  2. ↑ ESC History - Belgium 1996
  3. ↑ "Sweden's entry 2001 now officially plagiarism" ESCToday.com, 9 August 2003
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