Spain: Will RTVE opt for 'Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm' as the Spanish Eurovision national selection format?

Spain: Will RTVE opt for 'Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm' as the Spanish Eurovision national selection format?
Saturday, 17 July 2021

  • Ongoing local media reports want RTVE to be using 'Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm' as the country's Eurovision preselection format. 

    Juat a few days ago RTVE revealed that it will make an announcement related to the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest next Thursday, July 22, in  Benidorm , in a meeting with journalists and specialized media. While RTVE has scheduled their annnouncement on July 22, 2021, the location has brought up several assumptions about the local music competition 'Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm' and whether it will return as the country's national selection format.

    But lets go back and check all the motion around the matter. 

     

    ESC-Plus is reporting that according to the Alicante Plaza newspaper  , the mayor of the town, Toni Pérez, has held a telematic meeting this Friday with representatives of public television . The latest of several conversations that have been going on for a long time. However, it is not clear  if the intention of the entity is to rescue the mythical festival as a preselection for Eurovision.

    In addition the newspaper Información.es, reports that RTVE  and the  Generalitat Valenciana  are finalizing an agreement to carry out  a great musical event in the tourist capital under the full suport and in collaboration with the City Council. On June 3, the president of the Generalitat  Ximo Puig  met with the president of RTVE,  José Manuel Pérez Tornero  and it seems that was a turning point of bringing the festival back on track. 

    Moreover, the city's turism sector has expressed unitedly its support in such initiative through its social media account on Twitter. Nevertheless, it is yet to be defined which formula will be chosen, the possible dates or the place to be held in, with the upcoming scheduled annnouncemnents by RTVE to shed light on the subject on July 22, 2021. 

     

    The Story of 'Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm'

    The Benidorm International Song Festival was a musical contest that achieved enormous prestige and was organized annually in the city of Benidorm (Alicante) between 1959 and 2006, although it missed its appointment in 1979, 1984 and between 1986 and 1992. It was already based on the Sanremo Festival and was born to promote Benidorm and Spanish music.

    Renowned artists such as the Dynamic Duo, Dyango, Tino Casal, Víctor Manuel, Alazán and Pasión Vega passed through it. Eurovision artists also stepped onto the Benidorm stage, some before and others after their European tour, but all reaping great successes, such as Karina, Betty Missiego and José Vélez. Out of the Eurovision participants that ended up being winners of the Benidorm Festival we have Raphael, Julio Iglesias and La Década ProdigiosaWe also have the case of Coral Segovia, who won the Golden Little Mermaid -the mythical trophy of this Festival- in 2005.

    The last year it was held was in 2006, when precisely La Década Prodigiosa won with the song A ti in the 39th edition of the festival. 

     

    Spain in Eurovision

    Spain participated for the first time in 1961 with Conchita Bautista and has achieved twice to win, in 1968 (Massiel) and in 1969 (Salome). Madrid hosted the contest in 1969 where there was a four country tie in the first place on the final scoreboard.

    Despite not having missed a single contest since 1961 , Spain doesn’t have remarkable results to show the latest years. Exception was Anabel Conde’s 2nd place in  Eurovision 1995 held in Dublin. Spain has came in history 2nd four times ( 1971, 1973, 1979, 1995) while it has finished last 5 times (1962, 1965, 1983, 1999, 2017) from which the first three receiving null points.

    Miki represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song “La venda”. The singer  in 22nd place with a total of 54 points. In 2020  Blas Cantó was chosen internally to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, with the song “Universo”: Unfortunately the contest was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic and Blas never had the chance to perform in Rotterdam.

    However, TVE, invited the Spanish act back for Eurovision 2021 where he performed his entry "Voy e Quedarme" at Rotterdam Ahoy in the Grand final, finishing 24th with 6 points. 

    News Source: ESC-Plus/ Eurovision-Spain

    Image: Eurovision-Spain/Benidorm Festival 1976 (The Music Business)