OTI Festival 1981
10th OTI Song Festival
OTI Festival 1981
Date and venue
Final
  • 5 December 1981 (1981-12-05)
VenueNational Auditorium
Mexico City, Mexico
Organization
OrganizerOrganización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI)
SupervisorCondorcet Da Silva Costa
Host broadcasterTelevisa
PresentersRaúl Velasco
Participants
Number of entries21
Non-returning countries Bolivia
Dominican Republic
  • A coloured map of the countries of Ibero-America
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1981
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 5-1 points to their 5 favourite songs
Winning song Spain
"Latino"
1980 ← OTI Festival → 1982

The OTI Festival 1981 (Spanish: Décimo Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Décimo Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the 10th edition of the OTI Festival, held on 5 December 1981 at the National Auditorium in Mexico City, Mexico, and presented by Raúl Velasco. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster Televisa.

Broadcasters from twenty-one countries participated in the festival. The winner was the song "Latino" performed by Francisco [es] representing Spain; with "Súbete a mi nube" by Marianella representing Argentina placing second; and "Lo que pasó, pasó" by Yoshio representing Mexico and "Cuando fuiste mujer" by Aldo Matta representing the United States both placing third.

Location

National Auditorium, Mexico City – host venue of the OTI Festival 1981.

The Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) designated Televisa as the host broadcaster for the 10th edition of the OTI Festival. Televisa staged the event in Mexico City. The venue selected was the National Auditorium, which was the most important entertainment venue in the country. It was opened in 1952 and was designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Gonzalo Ramírez del Sordo. In 1989, the auditorium underwent a complete renovation, of which only the stands on the first two floors were preserved.

The participating delegations were accommodated at Hotel Chapultepec.[1]

Participants

Broadcasters from twenty-one countries participated in this edition of the OTI festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and nineteen Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. Except for Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, all other countries that participated in the previous edition returned.[2]

Some of the participating broadcasters, such as those representing Chile, Mexico, and the Netherlands Antilles, selected their entries through their regular national selections. Other broadcasters decided to select their entry internally.

Five performing artists had previously represented the same country in previous editions: Eduardo Fuentes had represented El Salvador in 1975, Gladys Mercado had represented Peru in 1975, Florcita Motuda had represented Chile in 1978, Roger Barés had represented Panama in 1978, and José Cid had represented Portugal in 1979.

Participants of the OTI Festival 1981[3]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
Argentina Marianella "Súbete a mi nube" Spanish
Mike Ribas
Brazil SBT Cláudya "Renascença" Portuguese Edmundo Villani-Côrtes
Chile
Florcita Motuda "Si hoy tenemos que cantar a tanta gente, pensémoslo" Spanish Raúl Alarcón
Colombia Inravisión[a] Jaime D'Alberto "Si nací por amor, yo nací para amar" Spanish Jaime D'Alberto
Costa Rica
Juan Carlos Wong G. "Cantaré" Spanish
  • Linnette Madrigal
  • Luis Marín
Ecuador Hermanos Diablo "América" Spanish Juan Carlos Terán G.
El Salvador Eduardo Fuentes "El latinoamericano" Spanish Carlos Alberto Hernández
Guatemala Sergio Iván "Estoy loco" Spanish Hilda Cofiño
Honduras Oneyda "Ven" Spanish Alberto Valladares
Mexico Televisa Yoshio "Lo que pasó, pasó" Spanish Felipe Gil
Netherlands Antilles ATM Efrem Benita "Vaya un amigo" Spanish Efrem Benita
Nicaragua SSTV Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy [es] "Asi te quiero yo" Spanish Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy
Panama Roger Barés "Pero ayer fuiste sólo María" Spanish Pablo Azael
Paraguay TCC Alberto de Luque [es] "Vos y yo seremos todos" Spanish
  • Alberto de Luque
  • Humberto Rubín
Peru CPR Gladys Mercado "Hombre de mis sueños" Spanish Violeta Roggero
Portugal RTP José Cid "Uma lágrima" Portuguese José Cid
Puerto Rico Canal 2 Telemundo Glenn Monroig "Mírame a los ojos" Spanish Glenn Monroig
Spain TVE Francisco [es] "Latino" Spanish
Jesús Glück [es]
United States SIN Aldo Matta "Cuando fuiste mujer" Spanish
  • Vilma M. Planas
  • Héctor L. Garrido
 Héctor L. Garrido
Uruguay Sociedad Televisora Larrañaga Ariel "Olvidemos recordando" Spanish Mario de Azagra
Venezuela Neyda Perdomo "Aquel ciego" Spanish César Menessini

Festival overview

The festival was held on Saturday 5 December 1981, beginning at 17:00 CST (23:00 UTC). It was presented by Raúl Velasco, who had previously presented the festival in 1974 and 1976.

The winner was the song "Latino" performed by Francisco [es] representing Spain; with "Súbete a mi nube" by Marianella representing Argentina placing second; and "Lo que pasó, pasó" by Yoshio representing Mexico and "Cuando fuiste mujer" by Aldo Matta representing the United States both placing third. There was one trophy designed by Francisco Moyao for each of the first three places. The first prize trophy was delivered by Guillermo Cañedo, president of OTI, and Alejandro Sada, vice-president of Televisa; the second prize trophy by Nicanor González, president of the OTI programs committee; and the third prize trophy by Alfredo Escobar, vice-president of the OTI programs committee. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.

  Winner
Results of the OTI Festival 1981[3]
R/O Country Artist Song Points Result
1 Portugal José Cid "Uma lágrima" 14 10
2 Uruguay Ariel "Olvidemos recordando" 4 19
3 El Salvador Eduardo Fuentes "El latinoamericano" 11 12
4 Nicaragua Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy [es] "Asi te quiero yo" 15 8
5 Venezuela Neyda Perdomo "Aquel ciego" 7 17
6 United States Aldo Matta "Cuando fuiste mujer" 22 3
7 Guatemala Sergio Iván "Estoy loco" 1 21
8 Spain Francisco [es] "Latino" 51 1
9 Ecuador Hermanos Diablo "América" 11 12
10 Panama Roger Barés "Pero ayer fuiste sólo María" 7 17
11 Puerto Rico Glenn Monroig "Mírame a los ojos" 8 15
12 Netherlands Antilles Efrem Benita "Vaya un amigo" 2 20
13 Brazil Cláudya "Renascença" 14 10
14 Honduras Oneyda "Ven" 16 7
15 Colombia Jaime D'Alberto "Si nací por amor, yo nací para amar" 18 5
16 Mexico Yoshio "Lo que pasó, pasó" 22 3
17 Peru Gladys Mercado "Hombre de mis sueños" 11 12
18 Paraguay Alberto de Luque [es] "Vos y yo seremos todos" 15 8
19 Argentina Marianella "Súbete a mi nube" 40 2
20 Costa Rica Juan Carlos Wong G. "Cantaré" 8 15
21 Chile Florcita Motuda "Si hoy tenemos que cantar a tanta gente, pensémoslo" 18 5

Spokespersons

Each participating broadcaster[b] appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the points for their respective jury in ascending order. Known spokespersons at the 1981 festival are listed below.

Detailed voting results

Each participating broadcaster[b] assembled a national jury located in its respective country. Each jury awarded 5 points its favourite song, 4 points to the second favourite, and then between 3 and 1 points for the third- to fifth-favourite songs, except for the entry representing its own country. Each participating broadcaster had also a delegate present in the hall to stand in for its jury if it was not receiving the event live, or in case of communication failure during the broadcast or voting. In the event of a tie for first place, the stand-in delegates from the countries not affected by the tie would vote to select the winning song from among the tied ones.

The point count was displayed on a scoreboard placed to the left of the stage. All the countries gave their votes remotely by telephone, except for those that used the stand-in delegates, which included Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Netherlands Antilles, and Uruguay.[c]

Detailed voting results of the OTI Festival 1981
Voter:
  National jury
  Stand-in delegate
 Voting countries Points
Portugal
Uruguay
El Salvador
Nicaragua
Venezuela
United States
Guatemala
Spain
Ecuador
Panama
Puerto Rico
Netherlands Antilles
Brazil
Honduras
Colombia
Mexico
Peru
Paraguay
Argentina
Costa Rica
Chile
Contestants
 Portugal 3 4 4 1 2 14
Uruguay 4 4
El Salvador 2 2 1 1 5 11
Nicaragua 4 5 5 1 15
Venezuela 3 1 1 2 7
United States 4 5 4 5 4 22
Guatemala 1 1
Spain 3 3 3 2 2 5 2 5 5 5 4 4 3 5 51
Ecuador 1 2 2 1 5 11
Panama 3 4 7
Puerto Rico 5 2 1 8
Netherlands Antilles 1 1 2
Brazil 4 2 2 2 2 2 14
Honduras 4 3 3 3 3 16
Colombia 4 5 4 1 4 18
Mexico 1 5 3 4 1 4 1 3 22
Peru 1 3 3 4 11
Paraguay 5 5 1 3 1 15
Argentina 2 4 5 5 3 2 4 3 3 5 4 40
Costa Rica 5 3 8
Chile 1 2 2 2 3 2 1 5 18

Broadcast

The festival was broadcast in the 21 participating countries, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.

Known details on the broadcasts of the festival in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref.
 Chile TVN Canal 7[d] Juan Guillermo Vivado [es] [1]
UTV Canal 11[d]
UCTV Canal 13[d]
 Costa Rica Telecentro Telecentro Canal 6 [4]
Teletica Canal 7
 Mexico Televisa Canal 2 [5]
 Netherlands Antilles ATM TeleAruba [6]
TeleCuraçao [7]
 Portugal RTP RTP1[e] [8]
 Spain TVE TVE 1 [9]

Notes

  1. ^ Through the programadoras: Caracol Televisión, Punch, and RTI Televisión.
  2. ^ a b Or group of broadcasters that jointly participated representing a country.
  3. ^ Ana M. Arregui voted for Argentina, Ricardo Miranda for Chile, Lilia Gamba Velaso for Colombia, Ricardo Padilla [es] for Costa Rica, Humberto Nivi for the Netherlands Antilles, and Cristina de Frade for Uruguay.
  4. ^ a b c Delayed broadcast at 21:30 CLST (00:30+1 UTC)
  5. ^ Delayed broadcast on 7 December at 20:50 WET (20:50 UTC)

References

  1. ^ a b "Teleprogramas". La Nación (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile. 5 December 1981. pp. 2B, 1B. Retrieved 30 November 2025 – via Archivo de la Palabra Impresa by Diego Portales University.
  2. ^ "Festival de la OTI 2 (1980-1990)". eurovision-spain.com (in Spanish). 3 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b X Festival de la canción OTI 1981 (Television programme) (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Televisa. 5 December 1981.
  4. ^ "TV diaria". La Nación (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica. 5 December 1981. p. 43-A. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "Programación de televisión para hoy sábado" [Television programming for today, Saturday]. El Informador. Guadalajara, Mexico. 5 December 1981. p. 17-C. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  6. ^ "Agenda Aruba". Amigoe (in Dutch). Willemstad, Curaçao. 5 December 1981. p. 5 – via Delpher.
  7. ^ "Agenda Curaçao". Amigoe (in Dutch). Willemstad, Curaçao. 5 December 1981. p. 2 – via Delpher.
  8. ^ "Televisão". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 7 December 1981. p. 21 – via Casa Comum.
  9. ^ "Televisión Española". Diario de Burgos (in Spanish). Burgos, Spain. 5 December 1981. p. 30 – via Virtual Library of Historical Newspapers [es].
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