Eurovision 1990: Zagreb

The Berlin Wall had come down six months earlier, and you could hear it in the songs.

The 1990 contest was held in Zagreb, in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall — the first contest in the Balkans, and the only one ever staged in a socialist state. The same 22 countries came as the year before.

A continent singing about itself

Many of the entries were about what had just happened to Europe. Norway’s song was named after the Brandenburg Gate. Austria’s title meant “no more walls”. Germany’s and Finland’s were about newly won freedom.

Italy looked forward instead of back: its song was called “Insieme: 1992”, for the year a treaty was due to bind Europe closer together.

Others had causes of their own. France sang for racial harmony and the United Kingdom for the environment. Belgium’s Philippe Lafontaine sang a love song to his wife, who was Macedonian.

An age limit, and a fifteen-year-old

After the argument over two child singers in Lausanne, there was now a rule: performers had to turn 16 in the year of the contest.

The United Kingdom’s singer, Emma, was 15. She was allowed in because her birthday came later in the year.

The presenters resign

Oliver Mlakar and Helga Vlahović had been announced as hosts in March. But the organisers had also lined up a second pair in reserve, and by rehearsal week had still not decided which couple would actually front the show. Screen tests were planned. The press, meanwhile, had been unkind about the first pair’s ages: he was 54, she 45.

On the Wednesday before the contest, Mlakar and Vlahović walked out of rehearsals and announced that they were resigning. A press conference was hurriedly called to introduce their replacements.

It did not stick. After a day of meetings behind closed doors, Mlakar and Vlahović came back, and presented the show on Saturday.

Eurocat

The contest had a mascot for the first time: Eurocat, a cartoon cat by the Croatian illustrator Joško Marušić. He appeared in the postcards, which each country had made itself as a tourist advertisement — 1990 was the European Year of Tourism — and he sent up each nation’s clichés along the way.

The camerawork was new, too. Cameras moved around and onto the stage during the songs, showing angles no one in the hall could see. It was the start of the contest looking like a music video.

Spain’s false start

The very first song went wrong.

Spain’s entry used a backing tape. The sound engineers had not turned it up, so the conductor could not hear it and could not bring the orchestra in. By the time the volume came up the tape was well into the song, and nothing matched.

The two sisters of Azúcar Moreno turned round and walked off while the tape played on. Then it was rewound, they came back, and the second attempt went perfectly. They finished fifth, Spain’s best result in six years.

The result

Toto Cutugno won for Italy, on 149 points. It was Italy’s second victory, 26 years after its first, and at 46 he was the oldest winner the contest had had. His backing singers were a Slovene group who had represented Yugoslavia in 1975.

France and Ireland tied for second, seventeen points behind. Iceland came fourth, its best result yet. The hosts were seventh.

The song named after the Brandenburg Gate finished joint last.