OTI Festival 1972

(Redirected from OTI Festvial 1972)

The OTI Festival 1972 (Spanish: Primer Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Primeiro Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the very first edition of the annual OTI Festival and was held in Madrid, Spain. Organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE), the contest was held at the auditorium of the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos on Saturday 25 November 1972 and was hosted by Rosa María Mateo and Raúl Matas [es].[1]

OTI Festival 1972
Dates
Final25 November 1972 (1972-11-25)
Host
VenuePalacio de Exposiciones y Congresos auditorium, Madrid
Presenter(s)Rosa María Mateo and Raúl Matas [es]
Musical directorAugusto Algueró
Host broadcasterTelevisión Española (TVE)
Participants
Number of entries13
Debuting countriesAll
Vote
Voting systemEach participating country had five jurors and each of them voted for their favorite entry.
Winning song Brazil Claudia Regina & Tobías: "Diálogo"
OTI Festival → 1973

Fourteen countries were expected to debut in the festival, but Mexico was disqualified because their entry was considered non suitable for political reasons. Of the remaining thirteen performers who took the stage, the winners were the Brazilian entrants Claudia Regina and Tobías with their song "Diálogo", which was performed in Portuguese.

Background edit

The Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) was formed in 1971 as a tool of exchange of news and audiovisual contents of any kind between the active member broadcasters. As a part of those goals, the organisation agreed to create a song competition, the Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana/Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana, following the example of the Eurovision Song Contest in order to promote the artistic fellowship between all the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries and peoples.[2]

Venue edit

 
The Exhibition and Convention Palace of Madrid was the venue of the first OTI Festival.

The members of the organisation agreed that Televisión Española (TVE) would hold the first edition in Madrid, the Spanish capital city. The venue selected was the auditorium of the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos, with a seat capacity for over 1500 people. This exhibition and convention hall, which was, at that time, the biggest convention-oriented building of Spain, is located in the Castellana neighborhood, in the central part of the city. The building was designed by Pablo Pintado y Riba [es] with artistic contributions by Josep Llorens i Artigas and Joan Miró. Construction was started in 1964 and was finished in 1970.[3]

Participating countries edit

The OTI members, national or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal and almost all the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America took part in the event. Mexico had initially expressed its desire to take part in the event. In fact, Telesistema Mexicano, its national television station, had selected Alberto Ángel "El Cuervo" as their representative with the song "Yo no voy a la guerra"[a] composed by Roberto Cantoral, but the entry was disqualified because both the OTI and some voices in Francoist Spain felt that the song had political intentions, which made it unsuitable to compete in the contest.[4]

X Disqualified entry
Participants of the OTI Festival 1972
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
  Argentina Canal 7 Argentina Víctor Heredia "Sabes que estamos aquí América"[b] Spanish Víctor Heredia Augusto Algueró
  Brazil Rede Tupi Claudia Regina & Tobías "Diálogo"[c] Portuguese Carlos Monteiro De Souza
  Bolivia Canal 7 TVB Arturo Quesada "No volveré a pasar por allí"[d] Spanish Eddy Guerín
  Chile Televisión Nacional de Chile Guillermo Basterrechea [es] "Una vez, otra vez"[e] Spanish
  • Eduardo Tarifa
  • Guillermo Basterrechea
Eddy Guerín
  Colombia Canal Nacional Christopher "Volverás a mis brazos"[f] Spanish
  • Eduardo Cabas de la Espriella
  • Armando Velázquez
Armando Velázquez
  Dominican Republic Fernando Casado "Siempre habrá en la luna una sonrisa"[g] Spanish Meche Diez Augusto Algueró
  Mexico X Telesistema Mexicano Alberto Ángel "El Cuervo" "Yo no voy a la guerra"[h] Spanish Roberto Cantoral X
  Panama RPC TV Basilio [es] "Oh señor"[i] Spanish
Augusto Algueró
  Peru Panamericana Televisión Betty Missiego "Recuerdos de un adiós"[j] Spanish Betty Missiego Román Alís
  Portugal Radiotelevisão Portuguesa Tonicha "Glória Glória Aleluia"[k] Portuguese José Cid Tavares Augusto Algueró
  Puerto Rico WKAQ-Telemundo Chucho Avellanet "Por ti"[l] Spanish Guillermo Venegas Lloveras Pedro Rivera Toledo
  Spain Televisión Española Marisol "Niña"[m] Spanish Manuel Alejandro Augusto Algueró
  Uruguay Tele12 Rona "Busco mi destino"[n] Spanish Jorge da Trindade Augusto Algueró
  Venezuela Radio Caracas Televisión Mirla Castellanos "Sueños de cristal y miel"[o] Spanish Pablo Schneider Eduardo Cabrera

Format edit

The first OTI Festival was presented by Spanish news journalist Rosa María Mateo and Chilean journalist and radio celebrity Raúl Matas [es]. The presenters gave an inaugural speech in which they highlighted the main goal of the festival, which was to generate a process of cultural and artistic unity between the countries that form the Latin community. Before each song in competition, they made brief individual presentations of the entrants shortly before the performers came on stage.

The musical director of the event was Augusto Algueró who conducted the RTVE Light Music Orchestra. The show began with the "OTI Theme" composed by Ernesto Halffter. In between the songs in competition, traditional dance groups of the Sección Femenina from Ibiza, Redondela, and Seville performed. The interval act consisted of an orchestral medley of Algueró songs "Penélope [es]" and "Te quiero, te quiero".

Contest overview edit

The running order of the entrants was decided in a draw, which was organised by OTI some days before the event took place.

The competition was started by Bolivia represented by Arturo Quesada with "No volveré a pasar por allí". The host country, Spain, which was represented by Marisol, performed fourth during the night, while the Dominican entrant Fernando Casado ended the performances. Almost all the participating entries were sung in Spanish, except the ones coming from Portugal and Brazil.

  Winner
Results of the OTI Festival 1972
R/O Country Artist Song Place Points
1   Bolivia Arturo Quesada "No volveré a pasar por allí" 9 3
2   Chile Guillermo Basterrechea [es] "Una vez, otra vez" 7 4
3   Puerto Rico Chucho Avellanet "Por ti" 4 6
4   Spain Marisol "Niña" 3 7
5   Colombia Christopher "Volverás a mis brazos" 9 3
6   Peru Betty Missiego "Recuerdos de un adiós" 9 3
7   Uruguay Rona "Busco mi destino" 9 3
8   Argentina Víctor Heredia "Sabes que aquí estamos, América" 9 3
9   Portugal Tonicha "Glória, glória, aleluia" 6 5
10   Venezuela Mirla Castellanos "Sueños de cristal y miel" 4 6
11   Brazil Claudia Regina & Tobías "Diálogo" 1 10
12   Panama Basilio [es] "Oh, Señor" 2 8
13   Dominican Republic Fernando Casado "Siempre habrá en la luna una sonrisa" 7 4

Detailed voting results edit

The winner of the festival was chosen by thirteen national juries, which were composed of five members each, making a total number of sixty-five jurors. Each one of the members of the juries voted only for their favorite entry.

The host broadcaster, in this case, Televisión Española, called to the headquarters of the participating broadcasters in order to know the decision of the jurors. Almost all the countries gave their votes by telephone, except for Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, whose broadcasters had to send their jurors to Madrid because of the bad state of the telephone lines in these countries.

Voting process edit

  Winner
Detailed voting results of the OTI Festival 1972
Voting countries Classification
Bolivia
Chile
Puerto Rico
Spain
Colombia
Peru
Uruguay
Argentina
Portugal
Venezuela
Brazil
Panama
Dominican Republic
Place Points
Contestants
Bolivia 1 1 1 9 3
Chile 2 1 1 7 4
Puerto Rico 1 2 1 2 4 6
Spain 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 7
Colombia 1 1 1 9 3
Peru 1 1 1 9 3
Uruguay 1 1 1 9 3
Argentina 1 1 1 9 3
Portugal 1 1 2 1 6 5
Venezuela 1 1 1 1 2 4 6
Brazil 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 10
Panama 1 2 1 4 2 8
Dominican Republic 2 1 1 7 4

The first winner of the festival was the Brazilian duo Claudia Regina and Tobías with their song "Diálogo", which was the absolute favorite and won with ten points, only two points more than the runner-up, who was Basilio, the entrant from Panama. The third place went to the Spanish actress and singer Marisol, who got seven points. Both Venezuela and Puerto Rico were tied in fourth place, while Chile and the Dominican Republic were also tied in second to last place. Five countries were also tied in last place; Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Argentina were the less favored entries and received 3 points from the international jurors.

Audience edit

The first OTI Festival was broadcast live from Spain to Latin America and the Spanish-speaking TV stations of the United States. Although Spain and the Latin American countries are separated by a wide time difference, the show was an enormous success which was seen by over one hundred millions of people in all the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.[5]

Mexico was the country where the viewing figures were the highest, although the country had been disqualified.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Translation: "I won't fight in the war"
  2. ^ Translation: "America, you know we are here"
  3. ^ Translation: "Dialogue"
  4. ^ Translation: "I won't go by there again"
  5. ^ Translation: "On again...Off again"
  6. ^ Translation: "You will return to my arms"
  7. ^ Translation: "There will always be a smile on the moon"
  8. ^ Translation: "I won't fight in the war"
  9. ^ Translation: "Oh, Lord"
  10. ^ Translation: "Memories of a goodbye"
  11. ^ Translation: "Glory Glory hallelujah"
  12. ^ Translation: "For you"
  13. ^ Translation: "Girl"
  14. ^ Translation: "I look for my destiny"
  15. ^ Translation: "Crystal and honey dreams"

References edit

  1. ^ "1972.- MADRID". La OTI. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  2. ^ "FESTIVAL OTI (1972 – 1976) – TAL COMO LO VIVIMOS". www.serlesa.com.mx (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  3. ^ "Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos". Fundación Arquitectura (in Spanish).
  4. ^ Amiguet, Teresa (26 November 2022). "Prohibido cantar contra la guerra". La Vanguardia (in Spanish).
  5. ^ Maffei, Evangelina (2011-04-30). "Festivales de la Canción Popular: 1972 - I FESTIVAL IBEROAMERICANO DE LA CANCIÓN - OTI - Madrid". Festivales de la Canción Popular. Retrieved 2017-11-25.

External links edit