OTI Festival (Spanish: Festival OTI de la Canción / Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Festival OTI da Canção / Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition, organised annually between 1972 and 2000 by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), featuring participants representing primarily Ibero-American countries. Each participating OTI member broadcaster submitted an original song primarily in Spanish or Portuguese to be performed on live television and transmitted to all OTI broadcasters via satellite.[1] It was preceded by the Festival Mundial de la Canción Latina, held in 1969 and 1970 in Mexico.

OTI Festival
Also known asOTI Song Contest
La OTI
SpanishFestival OTI de la Canción / Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana
PortugueseFestival OTI da Canção / Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana
GenreSong contest
Based onEurovision Song Contest
Developed byOrganización de Televisión Iberoamericana
Country of originList of countries
Original languagesSpanish and Portuguese
No. of episodes28 contests
Production
Production locationsHosted by previous winner from 1972 to 1981 (List of host cities)
Production companyOrganización de Televisión Iberoamericana
Original release
Release25 November 1972 (1972-11-25) –
20 May 2000 (2000-05-20)
Related
Festival Mundial de la Canción Latina (1969–1970)

The festival was an Ibero-American spin-off of the Eurovision Song Contest. The first edition was held at the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos auditorium in Madrid on 25 November 1972 and the last one was held on 20 May 2000 in Acapulco. Since then, it has been cancelled due to the questioning of the voting system of the latter contests, the lack of sponsors, the low quality of the entrants and the withdrawal of some of the most iconic countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Spain. Twenty-seven countries have participated at least once in the festival, with Chile, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela participating in all twenty-eight editions.

The main goal of the festival was to generate a process of cultural and artistic fellowship between the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries. Although it was not as successful as the Eurovision Song Contest, it is its longest running and most successful spin-off to date, leaving a great mark in Latin America by giving many famous artists and hit songs.

Background

edit

Although the OTI contest was inspired in the Eurovision Song Contest, the festival was preceded by the Festival Mundial de la Canción Latina which was held in Mexico DF in 1969 and 1970.

Participation

edit
 
Map of the OTI Festival participating countries by debut year

The broadcasters that were eligible to participate in the OTI Festival needed to be active members of the Ibero-American Television Organisation. These active members were from countries which belonged to the Organization of Ibero-American States.

The participating countries were Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries, have large communities of Spanish or Portuguese speakers within their territory –such as the United States–, or have lingual or cultural ties with Latin American countries –as happened with the Netherlands Antilles–. The entrant songs were performed primarily in Spanish or Portuguese and were accompanied on stage by a full orchestra.

Both state financed and private broadcasters were able to join OTI as full members and in some cases different broadcasters collaborated during the airing of the event –as did the Venezuelan broadcasters Venevisión and RCTV–.

Years Country making its debut entry
1972   Spain,   Colombia,   Brazil,   Venezuela,   Panama,   Portugal,   Bolivia,   Chile,   Peru,   Dominican Republic,   Puerto Rico,   Argentina,   Uruguay
1973   Mexico
1974   Netherlands Antilles,   Ecuador,   El Salvador,   United States,   Guatemala,   Honduras,   Nicaragua
1976   Costa Rica
1978   Paraguay
1986   Canada
1989   Aruba
1991   Cuba
1992   Equatorial Guinea

History

edit

The OTI Song Contest was held for first time on 25 November 1972 at the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos of Madrid. Thirteen countries took part in the first edition of the event. Spain, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, Portugal, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico were the debuting countries.[2]

After the first edition, the rest of the Ibero-American countries progressively started taking part in the event. The festival expanded even further away from the traditional Ibero-American sphere, to the point that even the United States and the Netherlands Antilles took part in the event. In 1992 the festival reached its record of twenty-five participating countries.

Mexico and Spain were the most successful countries in the history of the competition with six victories each while Argentina won the contest four times. Brazil was the fourth most successful country with three victories.

Hosting

edit
 
The Congress Palace of Madrid was the first venue of the OTI Song Contest.

The location of the festival was decided following various criteria. Initially, the winning country would organize and celebrate the contest the following year, but after the victory of Nicaragua in 1977, the country could not host the contest due to the Nicaraguan Revolution. In those years, many participating countries suffered from political and economical instability. For that reason, from that year on, the host city was decided by a bid process organized by OTI.

Spain and Mexico were the countries that hosted the contest the most, with six editions each one. In total, thirteen countries hosted the festival, out of the twenty-five that ever participated.

Editions

edit
X Edition cancelled
§ The orchestra was specially arranged for this edition
Year Date of Final City Venue Presenter(s) Host broadcaster Orchestra
1972 25 November 1972   Madrid Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones TVE RTVE Light Music Orchestra
1973 10 November 1973   Belo Horizonte Palácio das Artes [pt] Rede Tupi Rede Tupi Symphonic Orchestra
1974 26 October 1974   Acapulco Teatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcón [es] Televisa Acapulco Philharmonic Orchestra
1975 15 November 1975   San Juan Telemundo Studio 2 Telemundo Telemundo Symphonic Orchestra
1976 30 October 1976   Acapulco Teatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
Televisa Acapulco Philharmonic Orchestra
1977 12 November 1977   Madrid Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid RTVE RTVE Light Music Orchestra
1978 2 December 1978   Santiago Teatro Municipal Philharmonic Orchestra of Santiago
1979 8 December 1979   Caracas Teatro del Círculo Militar [es] §
1980 15 November 1980   Buenos Aires Teatro General San Martín Canal 7 ATC Orchestras for OTI 1980–2000 undisclosed
1981 5 December 1981   Mexico City Auditorio Nacional Raúl Velasco Televisa
1982 27 November 1982   Lima Coliseo Amauta Panamericana Televisión
1983 29 October 1983   Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall
SIN
1984 10 November 1984   Mexico City Auditorio Nacional Raúl Velasco Televisa
1985 21 September 1985   Seville Teatro Lope de Vega TVE
1986 15 November 1986   Santiago Teatro Municipal
1987 24 October 1987   Lisbon Teatro São Luiz RTP
1988 19 November 1988   Buenos Aires Teatro Nacional Cervantes
1989 18 November 1989   Miami Knight International Center [a] Univision
1990 1 December 1990   Las Vegas Caesars Palace
1991 14 December 1991   Acapulco Centro de Convenciones Raúl Velasco Televisa
1992 5 December 1992   Valencia Teatro Principal
TVE
1993 9 October 1993
1994 15 October 1994
1995 11 November 1995   San Bernardino Anfiteatro José Asunción Flores [es]
Canal 13
1996 14 December 1996   Quito Teatro Nacional
1997 25 October 1997   Lima Plaza Mayor
  • Jorge Belevan
  • Claudia Doig
América Televisión
1998 14 November 1998   San José Teatro Nacional
1999 20 November 1999   Veracruz X X Televisa
2000 20 May 2000   Acapulco Centro de Convenciones Televisa

There was no OTI Song Contest in 1999 due to floods in the host city. The competition was cancelled in 2001 and beyond.

Voting system

edit

The voting system to decide the winner of the contest changed over the years. At first, the winner was decided telephonically by five national juries from every participating country. Each jury member voted only for their favorite song and the winner was the song which had more points at the end of the process. In 1977 the number of national jurors per country was changed to three due to the increase of the number of participating countries and to the resultingly much longer show.

From 1982 on, the winner was decided by a professional room jury composed by famous music personalities. One year later, the voting system was changed again in a way that the voting process was secret. Since that year, only the three most voted countries were revealed at the end of the show which often generated scandals and controversies.

Winners

edit
Year Country Song Singer(s) Songwriter(s)
1972   Brazil "Diálogo" Claudia Regina & Tobías
1973   Mexico "Qué alegre va María" Imelda Miller [es] Celia Bonfil
1974   Puerto Rico "Hoy canto por cantar" Nydia Caro
1975   Mexico "La felicidad" Gualberto Castro Felipe Gil
1976   Spain "Canta cigarra [es]" María Ostiz [es] María Ostiz
1977   Nicaragua "Quincho Barrilete" Guayo González Carlos Mejía Godoy
1978   Brazil "El amor... cosa tan rara" Denisse de Kalafe [es] Denisse de Kalafe
1979   Argentina "Cuenta conmigo" Daniel Riolobos [es]
1980   Puerto Rico "Contigo, mujer" Rafael José Ednita Nazario
1981   Spain "Latino" Francisco [es]
1982   Venezuela "Puedes contar conmigo" Grupo Unicornio [es]
1983   Brazil "Estrela de papel" Jessé
  • Jessé F. Santos
  • Elifas V. Andreato
1984   Chile "Agualuna" Fernando Ubiergo Fernando Ubiergo
1985   Mexico "El fandango aquí" Eugenia León Marcial Alejandro [es]
1986   United States "Todos" Damaris Carbaugh, Miguel Ángel Guerra [es] & Eduardo Fabiani Vilma Planas
1987   Venezuela "La felicidad está en un rincón de tu corazón" Alfredo Alejandro
1988   Argentina "Todavía eres mi mujer" Guillermo Guido [es] Carlos Castellón
1989   Mexico "Una canción no es suficiente" Analí Jesús Monarrez
1990 "Un bolero" Carlos Cuevas
  • Francisco Curiel
  • Pedro Cárdenas
1991   Argentina "Adónde estás ahora" Claudia Brant
1992   Spain "A dónde voy sin ti" Francisco Chema Purón [es]
1993 "Enamorarse" Ana Reverte [es] Alejandro Abad
1994   Argentina "Canción despareja" Claudia Carenzio Pocho Lapouble
1995   Spain "Eres mi debilidad" Marcos Llunas Alejandro Abad
1996 "Mis manos" Anabel Russ
  • Chema Purón
  • Eduardo Leiva
1997   Mexico "Se diga lo que se diga" Iridián
  • Francisco Curiel
  • José Manuel Fernández
  • Pedro Cárdenas
1998   Chile "Fin de siglo: Es tiempo de inflamarse, deprimirse o transformarse" Florcita Motuda Florcita Motuda
2000   United States "Mala hierba" Hermanas Chirino

Spanish singer Francisco is the only artist to have won the competition twice (1981 and 1992). Spanish songwriters Alejandro Abad (1993 and 1995) and Chema Purón (1992 and 1996) won the competition twice, as did Mexican songwriters Francisco Curiel and Pedro Cárdenas (1990 and 1997).

By country

edit
 
Map of the OTI Song Contest participating countries by number of victories
Wins Country Years
6   Spain 1976, 1981, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996
  Mexico 1973, 1975, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1997
4   Argentina 1979, 1988, 1991, 1994
3   Brazil 1972, 1978, 1983
2   United States 1986, 2000
  Puerto Rico 1974, 1980
  Chile 1984, 1998
  Venezuela 1982, 1987
1   Nicaragua 1977

Legacy

edit

Although the OTI Song Contest has not been celebrated since 2000, the festival is still widely remembered in many countries, especially in Mexico, where the festival was always well received by the audience, even when the popularity of the festival was declining.[3] The contest was enormously popular there thanks to the "National OTI contest", which was the national final to select the Mexican entrant for the international OTI Festival. Many famous singers such as Juan Gabriel, Luis Miguel, Lucero, or the girl band Pandora, tried to represent their country in the OTI Festival, but they didn't win the national contest.

Many popular names from Spain took part in the OTI Festival including the band Trigo Limpio, that represented the country in 1977 before representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980. Marcos Llunas won the OTI Festival 1995, two years before representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. Betty Missiego who represented Peru in the OTI Festival 1972, represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979. Other well known Spanish OTI contestants were Marisol, Dyango, Vicky Larraz, and Camilo Sesto.

Many of the names that took part in the OTI Festival for Portugal also represented the country in Eurovision, such as Anabela, Paulo de Carvalho, José Cid, Dora, Dulce Pontes, Adelaide Ferreira, Simone de Oliveira, and Tonicha.

One Eurovision winner has previously participated in the OTI Festival: Dave Benton, who sang for Netherlands Antilles in 1981, won the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 for Estonia, performing the song "Everybody" with Tanel Padar and 2XL.

Return attempts

edit

As the mark of the OTI Festival in Latin America is still big, some organisations of diverse nature have tried to revive the festival. Some Mexican artists also made public their support to a return to the screens of the OTI Festival.

In March 2011, it was announced by some online newspapers that Televisa was preparing for the relaunch of the event in two stages, the first one, was to revive the "National OTI Contest", the Mexican national final, while the second one would be to revive the international and main OTI Festival. The aim of this attempt to bring to life the festival was to give the opportunity to young performers to show their talent. The festival at the end never took place, but it was neither cancelled.[4]

In June 2016, it was announced the relaunch of OTI as a media organisation. The broadcasting union was renamed as "Organización de Telecomunicaciones de Iberoamerica" (Iberoamerican Telecommunications Organisation) the organisation evolved from being a television contents exchange platform to include members of a broader nature such as newspapers and telephone-internet companies apart from TV and radio channels. This relaunch instantaneously sparked rumors about a possible relaunch of the festival that were later denied.[5]

In 2017 it was announced the start of an organisation called "Organización de Talento Independiente" (Independent Talent Organisation) which in Spanish casually coincides with the acronym "OTI". The main goal of the organisation was to try to recreate the festival between Mexican singers and artists from the Latin community of the United States. Although the festival was not a competition between broadcasters of different participating countries, the competition was held in the Mexican city of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.[6]

In February 2022, RTVE announced Hispavision, a song festival where Spanish-speaking Latin American countries will take part alongside Brazil and Portugal as invited nations. The project was scheduled to start in 2023 and would be held in Cartagena, Colombia.[7][8]

In 12 July 2022, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced its expansion of the Eurovision Song Contest brand to Latin America. The planned contest will be produced by the same producers of other Eurovision spin-offs, including the American Song Contest and the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest Canada. They have begun searching for a viable host city.[9]

Notes

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Festival de la OTI" (in Spanish). El Diario de Coahuila. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
  2. ^ eurovision-spain.com. "Especial La OTI: El festival de la canción iberoamericana que nació y quiso ser como Eurovisión". www.eurovision-spain.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  3. ^ Pinto, Por: Carolina (April 7, 2014). "¿Quién se acuerda del festival de la canción OTI?".
  4. ^ "Anuncian regreso del Festival OTI - La Razón". La Razón (in Mexican Spanish). 2011-03-22. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  5. ^ "Festival OTI: Return To Screens as Close as it Has Been in Years - Eurovoix World". Eurovoix World. 2016-06-28. Archived from the original on 2018-08-20. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  6. ^ "Regresa Festival OTI, será Puerto Peñasco sede oficial". mail.termometroenlinea.com.mx. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  7. ^ "Tornero anuncia la creación de HISPAVISIÓN en el I Foro Iberoamericano de Servicio Público Audiovisual". RTVE.es. February 16, 2022.
  8. ^ "RTVE impulsa Hispavisión, un Eurovisión que unirá a los países que hablan español". FormulaTV.
  9. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest to launch in Latin America". European Broadcasting Union. July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
edit