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Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961

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Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Participating broadcasterBelgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT)
Country Belgium
National selection
Selection processFinale van de Belgische Bijdrage tot het Eurovisiesongfestival
Selection date(s)29 February 1961
Selected artist(s)Bob Benny
Selected song"September, gouden roos"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Hans Flower
  • Wim Brabants
Finals performance
Final result15th, 1 point
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1960 • 1961 • 1962►

Belgium was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 with the song "September, gouden roos", composed by Hans Flower, with lyrics by Wim Brabants, and performed by Bob Benny. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Flemish Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT), selected its entry through a national final. Benny had previously represented Belgium in the 1959 contest.

Future Belgian entrant Jacques Raymond (1963 and 1971) finished runner-up in the national final.

Before Eurovision

Finale van de Belgische Bijdrage tot het Eurovisiesongfestival

Finale van de Belgische Bijdrage tot het Eurovisiesongfestival was the national final format developed by Flemish broadcaster Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) in order to select the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1961.

Competing entries

BRT opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their songs. At the close of the deadline, 381 entries were submitted, from which the broadcaster selected 6 for the contest and assigned artists to them. Louis Neefs was assigned to "Bonjour" but was not allowed by his music publisher to sing the song, and Rina Pia [nl] was assigned to "Maandenkrans der liefde" but she didn't like the song and claimed it was "unsingable". Ultimately, they were replaced with Luc Van Hoeselt and Enny Denita [nl].

Final

The national final was held on 29 January 1961 at 21:00 CET at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels and hosted by Aimée De Smet [nl]. Six songs took part with the winner being chosen by an "expert" jury. It is not known by what system the songs were scored.

Final - 29 January 1961
Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Points Place
Composer(s) Lyricist(s)
1 Tony Sandler "Moeder" Henk van Montfoort [nl] 8 6
2 Jacques Raymond "Als je weent, als je lacht" A. Van Steyvoort L. Van Steyvoort 40 2
3 Jo Leemans "Af en toe" Gerd Frank, Benny Welton, Louis Baret [nl] 33 3
4 Bob Benny "September, gouden roos" Hans Flower [nl] Clem De Ridder [nl] 60 1
5 Luc van Hoeselt "Bonjour" Roger Snoeck Ke Riema [nl] 21 4
6 Enny Denita [nl] "Maandenkrans der liefde" Jef Van den Berg [nl] 14 5

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Bob Benny performed 11th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding Norway.

At the close of the voting "September, gouden roos" had received only 1 point (from Luxembourg), placing Belgium joint last (with Austria) of the 16 competing entries. The Belgian jury split its 10 points between Norway (5), Italy (4) and the United Kingdom (1).

Voting

Every participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Points awarded to Belgium
Score Country
1 point  Luxembourg
Points awarded by Belgium
Score Country
5 points  Norway
4 points  Italy
1 point  United Kingdom

Trivia

  • According to Dutch newspaper Het vrije volk, conductor Francis Bay was not happy that Belgium didn't receive a single point from the Dutch juries, while the French-speaking countries were "forming a block" according to him. He proposed to set up a voting block with the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries.

References

  1. ^ Vermeulen, André (2021). Van Canzonissima tot Eurosong. 65 jaar Belgische preselecties voor het Eurovisiesongfestival. Leuven: Kritak. ISBN 978-94-014-7609-6. OCLC 1240241113.
  2. ^ "Finale van de Belgische bijdrage tot het Songfestival 1961".
  3. "ESC History - Belgium 1961". Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  4. ^ "Results of the Final of Cannes 1961". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  5. "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk : Democratisch-socialistisch dagblad".
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation
Artists
Songs
  • "1 Life"
  • "À la folie ou pas du tout"
  • "Als het weer lente is"
  • "L'Amour ça fait chanter la vie"
  • "Avanti la vie"
  • "Baby, Baby"
  • "Because of You"
  • "Before the Party's Over"
  • "City Lights"
  • "Copycat"
  • "Dis oui"
  • "Door de wind"
  • "Envie de vivre"
  • "Euro-Vision"
  • "Fleur de liberté"
  • "Geef het op"
  • "Gelukkig zijn"
  • "Goeiemorgen, morgen"
  • "Le Grand soir"
  • "Hey Nana"
  • "Hou toch van mij"
  • "Iemand als jij"
  • "Ik heb zorgen"
  • "J'aime la vie"
  • "Je t'adore"
  • "Jennifer Jennings"
  • "Judy et Cie"
  • "Laat me nu gaan"
  • "Laissez briller le soleil"
  • "Liefde is een kaartspel"
  • "Like the Wind"
  • "Love Kills"
  • "Love Power"
  • "Ma petite chatte"
  • "Macédomienne"
  • "A Matter of Time"
  • "Me and My Guitar"
  • "Messieurs les noyés de la Seine"
  • "A Million in One, Two, Three"
  • "Miss You"
  • "Mon amour pour toi"
  • "Mother"
  • "Nous, on veut des violons"
  • "O Julissi"
  • "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel"
  • "Le Plus beau jour de ma vie"
  • "Près de ma rivière"
  • "Quand tu reviendras"
  • "Release Me"
  • "Rendez-vous"
  • "Rhythm Inside"
  • "Samson"
  • "Sanomi"
  • "September, gouden roos"
  • "Si tu aimes ma musique"
  • "Sister"
  • "Soldiers of Love"
  • "Straatdeuntje"
  • "Ton nom"
  • "Viens l'oublier"
  • "La Voix est libre"
  • "Waarom?"
  • "Wake Up"
  • "What's the Pressure"
  • "With Love Baby"
  • "Would You?"
  • "The Wrong Place"
Note: Entries scored out signify where Belgium did not compete. Italics indicate an entry in a future contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Countries
Artists
Songs
  • "Al di là"
  • "Allons, allons les enfants"
  • "Angelique"
  • "April, april"
  • "Are You Sure?"
  • "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder"
  • "Estando contigo"
  • "Neke davne zvezde"
  • "Nous aurons demain"
  • "Nous les amoureux"
  • "Printemps, avril carillonne"
  • "Sehnsucht"
  • "September, gouden roos"
  • "Sommer i Palma"
  • "Valoa ikkunassa"
  • "Wat een dag"
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