It is quite logical, actually - the more countries take part, the bigger the risk of not gaining any points. In 1994, fourteen countries were left with zero by each jury compared to only seven in 1982.
Halfway through the voting, it seemed Dublin would see not only the first winner ever to gather more than 200 points, but also the first multiple last place since the 70's. No less than eight countries were still left with nul points before Malta started scattering their points all over the place.
The 90's were sad days for Eurovision in many ways: low ratings, no entries became hits and, in order to avoid relegation, some countries traded points with each other. You can spot this very easily by comparing voting patterns, and it went on until the EBU decided to centralise all televoting in 2003.
The only one clinging on to the big zero at the end of the voting was poor Ovidijus from Lithuania, whose delegation clearly had not been to any points-trading-parties during that week.
Nul points?
Oh no. This song is maybe not the best entry under the sun, but there were many weaker ones who got saved by their trading partners. When this sweet and melodic lullaby was left with nothing it was largely due to tricks and games, and had very little to do with music. Which was shameful for the entire contest.
Ovidijus Vyšniauskas - Lopšinė mylimai (Lithuania 1994)
I still smile when I think about this entry, because the sound and sight represented all my prejudices regarding the Eastern block in the contest when the walls came down. Thank God I was wrong!
ReplyDeleteSuch a humble little song and performance really - it's very hard not to like it. Unfortunately there were a lot of entries fishing in the same territory that year, so it makes sense that one of the less spectacular versions fell through the gaps.
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