Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968

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Eurovision Song Contest 1968
Country Spain
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selected entrantMassiel
Selected song"La, la, la"
Selected songwriter(s)Dúo Dinámico
Finals performance
Final result1st, 29 points
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1967
1968 1969►

Spain participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song "La, la, la" by Massiel. The song was written by the members of Dúo Dinámico.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection controversy

Originally, the artist chosen to perform "

language politics in Spain at that time
.

On 29 March 1968, one week before the contest, Massiel was asked to replace Joan Manuel Serrat as Spain's representative at the Eurovision Song Contest.

At Eurovision

Massiel performed 15th in the night of the contest, following Ireland and preceding Germany. At the close of voting Massiel had received 29 points, winning the contest for Spain.

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Vote rigging allegations

In May 2008, a documentary by Spanish film-maker Montse Fernández Villa, 1968. Yo viví el mayo español, centred on the effects of

Francoist Spain,[2] and alleged that the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest was rigged by the Spanish caudillo Francisco Franco, who would have sent state television officials across Europe offering cash and promising to buy television series and contract unknown artists.[3] The allegation was based on a testimony by journalist José María Íñigo, a TVE employee at the time, who claimed the rigging was common knowledge and suggested that Spanish record label representatives offered to release albums by Bulgarian and Czech artists (neither Bulgaria nor Czechoslovakia were members of the European Broadcasting Union at the time).[4]

The documentary claimed that the contest should in fact have been won by the United Kingdom's entry – "

La Sexta, broadcaster of the documentary, of manufacturing the scandal.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Results of the Final of London 1968". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Massiel sí, Madelman no: así fue el Mayo del 68 en España". Público (in Spanish). 3 May 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  3. ^ "TVE 'compró' los votos para que Massiel ganará Eurovisión". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 5 May 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  4. ^ "Vea el vídeo donde José Maríá Iñigo 'descubre' a Massiel". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 5 May 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  5. ^ Govan, Fiona (4 May 2008). "How Franco cheated Cliff out of Eurovision title". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  6. ^ "Massiel e Iñigo acusan a La Sexta de "urdir todo para favorecer a Chiquilicuatre"". El Mundo (in Spanish). 6 May 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2009.