Festival da Canção

For the most recent edition, see Festival da Canção 2024.
Festival da Canção
Logo since 2017
Also known asFestival RTP da Canção
GenreSong contest
Presented byList of presenters
Country of originPortugal
Original languagePortuguese
No. of episodes56 editions (in 2024)
Production
Production locationMultiple cities in Portugal (Host cities)
Running time
  • 2 hours (semi-finals)
  • 3 hours 30 minutes (final)
Production companies
Original release
Release2 February 1964 (1964-02-02) –
present
Related

Festival da Canção (Portuguese: [fɨʃtiˈval dɐ kɐ̃ˈsɐ̃w]; "Song Festival") or Festival RTP da Canção is the name given to the national festival produced and broadcast by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was first held in 1964.

History

Selection of former logos
The logo in 1980
The logo in 1989

Like most music festivals in isolated countries, the Festival da Canção was a very important event for the still-incipient Portuguese music industry of the 1960s and 1970s. Left-wing composers and writers would try to squeeze subversive lyrics in the contest, with great effect. After the 1974 revolution, incidentally code-triggered by that year's winner being played on national radio, Portugal became increasingly open to foreign culture, thus deeming the Festival as a lesser musical event, dominated by below-standard pop songs with little or no impact in the industry, although remaining a popular TV show.

The 1990s saw a recovery of the contest's image, then considered a viable means for a new singer to start a career. Internationally acclaimed Portuguese singers Dulce Pontes and Sara Tavares made their debut in the 1991 and 1994 editions, respectively. Many other unknown performers like Lucia Moniz and Anabela leaped to national stardom after taking the RTP trophy.

After reaching an all-time high 6th place in the 1996 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the festival steadily declined from then on. In 2000, the winner Liana did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, as Portugal had been relegated from the 2000 contest after two consecutive poor showings in 1998 and 1999; this would be the second time in the festival's history that the winner did not participate in Eurovision. In 2002, the Festival da Canção was placed on hiatus, contradicting the tradition of staging a Festival da Canção even without participating in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, as happened in 2000 and 1970. Since 2001, the festival saw consecutive changes of format. 2005 saw RTP commissioning a song for Eurovision, rather than organizing some kind of competition.

Since 2006, RTP settled for a traditional multi-singer, multi-composer competitive format, claiming the memory of older contests and songs. Producers have since been invited to come up with songs, lyrics and singers, and the 2007 result with Sabrina almost making it to the Eurovision final, gave RTP the necessary confidence to maintain the current format. In 2009, an open call for songs was held by RTP, abolishing the invited producers method, with online voting deciding the qualifiers to the televised final from a list of 24 songs, with 12 competing in the live contest.

More changes to the format of the contest were made in 2010. Two semi-finals and a final are now held to select the winner. Foreign composers were once again allowed to compete. Since 2017, different languages are allowed to compete.[1]

The 2020 edition of the festival marked the third time in its history where the winner was unable to participate in Eurovision, as the contest itself was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hosts

1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
  • 2020:
    • Jorge Gabriel and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (1st semi-final)
    • José Carlos Malato and Sónia Araújo (2nd semi-final)
    • Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final)
  • 2021:
    • Jorge Gabriel and Sónia Araújo (1st semi-final)
    • José Carlos Malato and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (2nd semi-final)
    • Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final)
  • 2022:
    • Jorge Gabriel and Sónia Araújo (1st semi-final)
    • José Carlos Malato and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (2nd semi-final)
    • Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final)
  • 2023:
    • José Carlos Malato and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (1st semi-final)
    • Jorge Gabriel and Sónia Araújo (2nd semi-final)
    • Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final)
  • 2024:
    • José Carlos Malato and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira (1st semi-final)
    • Jorge Gabriel and Sónia Araújo (2nd semi-final)
    • Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim (final)

Green room presenters

Year Presenter(s)
2009 Sérgio Mateus
2010
2011 Joana Teles
2012
2014
2015 Jorge Gabriel and Joana Teles
(1st semi-final)
José Carlos Malato and Sílvia Alberto
(2nd semi-final)
Júlio Isidro and Catarina Furtado
(final)
2017 Filomena Cautela
2018 Inês Lopes Gonçalves [pt]
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024 Inês Lopes Gonçalves and Wandson Lisboa

Winners

Table key
# Winner
† Second place
‡ Third place
◁ Last place
X
 Entry selected but did not compete
Year Song Artist Songwriter(s) Final Points Semi Points
1964 "Oração" António Calvário João Nobre, Francisco Nicholson, Rogério Bracinha 13th ◁ 0 No semi-finals
1965 "Sol de inverno" Simone de Oliveira Carlos Nóbrega e Sousa, Jerónimo Bragança 13th 1
1966 "Ele e ela" Madalena Iglésias Carlos Canelhas 13th 6
1967 "O vento mudou" Eduardo Nascimento Nuno Nazareth Fernandes, João Magalhães Pereira 12th 3
1968 "Verão" Carlos Mendes Pedro Vaz Osório, José Alberto Diogo 11th 5
1969 "Desfolhada portuguesa" Simone de Oliveira Nuno Nazareth Fernandes, José Carlos Ary dos Santos 15th 4
1970 "Onde vais rio que eu canto" Sérgio Borges Carlos Nóbrega e Sousa, Joaquim Pedro Gonçalves Did not enter
1971 "Menina do alto da serra" Tonicha Nuno Nazareth Fernandes, José Carlos Ary dos Santos 9th 83
1972 "A festa da vida" Carlos Mendes José Calvário, José Niza 7th 90
1973 "Tourada" Fernando Tordo Fernando Tordo, José Carlos Ary dos Santos 10th 80
1974 "E depois do adeus" Paulo de Carvalho José Calvário, José Niza 14th ◁ 3
1975 "Madrugada" Duarte Mendes José Luís Tinoco 16th 16
1976 "Uma flor de verde pinho" Carlos do Carmo José Niza, Manuel Alegre 12th 24
1977 "Portugal no coração" Os Amigos Fernando Tordo, José Carlos Ary dos Santos 14th 18
1978 "Dai li dou" Gemini Vítor Mamede, Carlos Quintas 17th 5
1979 "Sobe, sobe, balão sobe" Manuela Bravo Carlos Nóbrega e Sousa 9th 64
1980 "Um grande, grande amor" José Cid José Cid 7th 71
1981 "Playback" Carlos Paião Carlos Paião 18th 9
1982 "Bem bom" Doce Pedro Brito, Tozé Brito, António Pinho 13th 32
1983 "Esta balada que te dou" Armando Gama Armando Gama 13th 33
1984 "Silêncio e tanta gente" Maria Guinot Maria Guinot 11th 38
1985 "Penso em ti (eu sei)" Adelaide Tozé Brito, Adelaide Ferreira, Luís Fernando 18th 9
1986 "Não sejas mau para mim" Dora Guilherme Inês, Zé Da Ponte, Luís Manuel de Oliveira Fernandes 14th 28
1987 "Neste barco à vela" Nevada Alfredo Azinheira, Jorge Mendes 18th 15
1988 "Voltarei" Dora José Niza, José Calvário 18th 5
1989 "Conquistador" Da Vinci Ricardo, Pedro Luís 16th 39
1990 "Sempre, há sempre alguém" Nucha Luís Filipe, Ian van Dijck, Frederico Pereira, Francisco Pereira 20th 9
1991 "Lusitana paixão" Dulce Pontes Jorge Quintela, José Da Ponte, Fred Micaelo 8th 62
1992 "Amor d'água fresca" Dina Ondina Veloso, Rosa Lobato de Faria 17th 26
1993 "A cidade (até ser dia)" Anabela Paulo de Carvalho, Marco Quelhas, Pedro Abrantes 10th 60
1994 "Chamar a música" Sara Tavares João Mota Oliveira, Rosa Lobato de Faria 8th 73
1995 "Baunilha e chocolate" Tó Cruz António Vitorino d'Almeida, Rosa Lobato de Faria 21st 5
1996 "O meu coração não tem cor" Lúcia Moniz Pedro Osório, José Fanha 6th 92 18 32
1997 "Antes do adeus" Célia Lawson Rosa Lobato de Faria, Thilo Krassman 24th ◁ 0 No semi-finals
1998 "Se eu te pudesse abraçar" Alma Lusa José Cid 12th 36
1999 "Como tudo começou" Rui Bandeira Jorge do Carmo, Tó Andrade 21st 12
2000 "Sonhos mágicos" Liana Gerardo Rodrigues, Maria da Conceição Norte Did not enter
2001 "Só sei ser feliz assim" MTM Marco Quelhas 17th 18
2003 "Deixa-me sonhar" Rita Guerra Paulo Martins 22nd 13
2004 "Foi magia" Sofia Vitória Paulo Neves Failed to qualify 15th 38
2006 "Coisas de nada" Nonstop José Manuel Afonso, Elvis Veiguinha 19th 26
2007 "Dança comigo" Sabrina Emanuel, Tó Maria Vinhas 11th 88
2008 "Senhora do mar" Vânia Fernandes Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho 13th 69 2 120
2009 "Todas as ruas do amor" Flor-de-Lis Paulo Pereira, Pedro Marques 15th 57 8 70
2010 "Há dias assim" Filipa Azevedo Augusto Madureira 18th 43 4 89
2011 "A luta é alegria" Homens da Luta Jel Failed to qualify 18th 22
2012 "Vida minha" Filipa Sousa Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho 13th 39
2014 "Quero ser tua" Suzy Emanuel 11th 39
2015 "Há um mar que nos separa" Leonor Andrade Miguel Gameiro 14th 19
2017 "Amar pelos dois" Salvador Sobral Luísa Sobral 1st 758 1 370
2018 "O jardim" Cláudia Pascoal Isaura 26th ◁ 39
2019 "Telemóveis" Conan Osíris Conan Osíris Failed to qualify 15th 51
2020 "Medo de sentir" Elisa Marta Carvalho Contest cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 "Love Is on My Side" The Black Mamba Tatanka 12th 153 4 239
2022 "Saudade, saudade" Maro Maro, John Blanda 9th 207 4 208
2023 "Ai coração" Mimicat Marisa Mena, Luís Pereira 23rd 59 9 74
2024 "Grito" Iolanda Alberto Hernández, Iolanda Costa 10th 152 8 58

Venues

Final

Total City Venues (years)
45 Lisbon RTP Television Center (1964–1968, 1976–1977, 1986, 1988, 2005, 2012, 2015, 2021–2024)
Teatro São Luiz (1969, 1972, 1980, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998)
Cinema Monumental (1970, 1979)
Cinema Tivoli (1971, 1995)
Teatro Maria Matos (1973–1975, 1981, 1982)
Teatro Villaret [pt] (1978)
Auditório Europa (1984)
Coliseu dos Recreios (1985, 1997, 2017)
Feira Internacional de Lisboa [pt] (1991, 2006)
Teatro Politeama (1996)
Sala Tejo do Pavilhão Atlântico (1999–2000, 2007)
Teatro Camões (2008, 2009, 2011)
Praça de Touros do Campo Pequeno (2010)
Convento do Beato (2014)
1 Porto Coliseu do Porto (1983)
1 Funchal Casino Park Funchal (1987)
1 Évora Teatro Garcia de Resende [pt] (1989)
1 Estoril Casino Estoril (1990)
1 Santa Maria da Feira Europarque [pt] (2001)
1 Venda do Pinheiro Endemol Studios (2003)
1 Mem Martins Endemol Studios (2004)
1 Guimarães Multiusos de Guimarães (2018)
1 Portimão Portimão Arena (2019)
1 Elvas Coliseu Comendador Rondão Almeida [pt] (2020)

Venues (since 2017)

City Venue Year
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Lisbon RTP Television Center SF SF SF SF SF SF SF SF
F F F F
Coliseu dos Recreios F
Guimarães Multiusos de Guimarães F
Portimão Portimão Arena F
Elvas Coliseu Comendador Rondão Almeida F

Key: SF = Semi-final; F = Final

See also

References

  1. ^ Costa, Nelson (2009-11-19). "Foreigners can compete in 'Festival da Canção'". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2010-02-06. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

Media related to Festival RTP da Canção at Wikimedia Commons

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