OTI Festival 1997

OTI Festival 1997
Dates and venue
Semi-final	24 October 1997 (1997-10-24)
Final	25 October 1997 (1997-10-25)
Venue	Plaza Mayor Lima, Peru
Organization
Organizer	Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI)
Host broadcaster	Compañía Peruana de Radiodifusión (CPR)
Musical director	Víctor Salazar
Presenters	Jorge Beleván Claudia Doig
Participants
Number of entries	22
Number of finalists	10
Participation map      Finalist countries     Countries eliminated in the semi-final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1997
Vote
Voting system	The members of a single jury selected their favourite songs in a secret vote
Winning song	Mexico "Se diga lo que se diga"
1996 ← OTI Festival → 1998

The OTI Festival 1997 (Spanish: Vigésimo Sexto Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Vigésimo Sexto Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the 26th edition of the OTI Festival. It consisted of a semi-final on 24 October and a final on 25 October 1997, held at Plaza Mayor in Lima, Peru, and presented by Jorge Beleván and Claudia Doig. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster Compañía Peruana de Radiodifusión (CPR).

Broadcasters from twenty-two countries participated in the festival. The winner was the song "Se diga lo que se diga" performed by Iridián representing Mexico; with "La hora cero" by Erick León representing Costa Rica placing second; and "Como humo de tabaco" by Dúo La Plata representing Spain placing third.

Location

Plaza Mayor, Lima – venue of the OTI Festival 1997.

The Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) designated the Compañía Peruana de Radiodifusión (CPR) as the host broadcaster for the 26th edition of the OTI Festival. The broadcaster staged the event in Lima. The location selected was Plaza Mayor that is the main public square of the historic centre of the city. This was the second time the festival was held outdoors, being the first the 1995 edition.

Participants

Broadcasters from twenty-two countries participated in this edition of the OTI festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twenty Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. All the countries that participated the previous edition returned.

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

Participants of the OTI Festival 1997^[1]

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Argentina		Raúl Lavié	"Sin tu mitad"	Spanish	E. Blásquez S. Consentino	Víctor Salazar
Bolivia		Grissel Bolívar Vallejo	"El lugar donde te amé"	Spanish	Huáscar Bolívar Vallejo	Huáscar Bolívar Vallejo
Chile	Megavisión	Rachel	"Nunca sabrás cuánto te amo"	Spanish	Alejandro Afaní S.	René Calderón [es]
Colombia		Andrés Cabas	"Mis amigos"	Spanish
Costa Rica	Repretel	Erick León	"La hora cero"	Spanish	Mario Campos Sandoval	Álvaro Esquivel
Cuba	ICRT	Tania Tania	"Golondrina"	Spanish	Samuel Concepción	Víctor Salazar
Dominican Republic		Audrey Campos	"El amor que tuve"	Spanish	Manuel Jimenez	Manuel Tejada
Ecuador		Luis Caicedo	"Te quiero"	Spanish		Claudio Jácome Harb
El Salvador	TCS	Rafael Alfaro	"Cantándole a la vida"	Spanish	Rafael Alfaro	Víctor Salazar
Guatemala		Francisco Calvillo [es]	"Inocencia perdida"	Spanish	Fernando Scheel	Roberto Estrada
Honduras		Tony Castellanos	"¿Dónde está el amor?"	Spanish
Mexico	Televisa	Iridián	"Se diga lo que se diga"	Spanish	Francisco Curiel José Manuel Fernández	Pedro Alberto Cárdenas
Nicaragua		Keyla	"Minuto a minuto"	Spanish
Panama		Ricardo y Alberto	"¿De qué nos vale?"	Spanish
Paraguay		Cecilia Kunert	"Las cuentas claras"	Spanish	Augusto Barreto	Oscar Cardozo Ocampo [es]
Peru	CPR	Fabiola de la Cuba	"Un lugar sin fronteras"	Spanish	A. Aguirre	Víctor Salazar
Portugal	RTP	Ágata [pt]	"Abandonada"	Portuguese	Ricardo J. Félix Ágata	Víctor Salazar
Puerto Rico	Telemundo Puerto Rico	Ángel Joel Peña	"Almas solas"	Spanish	Héctor Rossi Ángel Joel Peña	Ángel Peña
Spain	TVE	Dúo La Plata	"Como humo de tabaco"	Spanish	Santiago Vargas	Víctor Salazar
United States	Univision	Luis Damón	"Piel de azúcar"	Spanish	Jorge Luis Piloto	Víctor Salazar
Uruguay	Sociedad Televisora Larrañaga	Javier Fernández	"Sin tu amor"	Spanish	Carlos Fernández	Julio Frade
Venezuela		Félix Valentino	"Nada igual que tu amor"	Spanish	Félix Valentino	Alejandro Salas

Festival overview

The festival consisted of a semi-final on Friday 24 October and a final on Saturday 25 October 1997, beginning at 20:00 PET (01:00+1 UTC). It was presented by Jorge Beleván and Claudia Doig. The musical director was Víctor Salazar, who conducted the 60-piece orchestra when required. The twenty-two participating entries were performed in the semi-final, of which only ten advanced to the final, with Peru having a guaranteed place in the final as the host country. The stage featured a large colorful backdrop in the semi-final, which was removed for the final, revealing the water fountain and the Metropolitan Cathedral behind it. The final featured a guest performance by Chayanne.

The winner was the song "Se diga lo que se diga" performed by Iridián representing Mexico; with "La hora cero" by Erick León representing Costa Rica placing second; and "Como humo de tabaco" by Dúo La Plata representing Spain placing third. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.^[2]

  Winner

Results of the final of the OTI Festival 1997^[3]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Place
2	Chile	Rachel	"Nunca sabrás cuánto te amo"	—N/a
3	Paraguay	Cecilia Kunert	"Las cuentas claras"	—N/a
8	Costa Rica	Erick León	"La hora cero"	2
	Argentina	Raúl Lavié	"Sin tu mitad"	—N/a
	Cuba	Tania Tania	"Golondrina"	—N/a
	Dominican Republic	Audrey Campos	"El amor que tuve"	—N/a
	Mexico	Iridián	"Se diga lo que se diga"	1
	Peru	Fabiola de la Cuba	"Un lugar sin fronteras"	—N/a
	Spain	Dúo La Plata	"Como humo de tabaco"	3
	Venezuela	Félix Valentino	"Nada igual que tu amor"	—N/a

Jury

The members of a single jury selected their favourite songs in a secret vote. In the final only the top three places were revealed. The members of the jury were:

• Los del Río – singer-songwriters
• Yuri – singer, represented Mexico in 1984
• Delia Fiallo – screenwriter
• Kike Santander – songwriter
• Mariela Alcalá [es] – singer
• Luis Aguilé – singer-songwriters
• Jordi Gómez Llunas – singer
• Claudia Dopft – Miss Peru 1997

Broadcast

The festival was broadcast in the 22 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 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)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref.
Costa Rica	Repretel	Canal 6	Final		[4]
		Canal 9
Peru	CPR	América Televisión	All shows
Spain	TVE	La Primera	All shows	José Luis Uribarri	[5][6]

References

1. Semifinal del XXVI Festival de la canción OTI 1997 (Television programme) (in Spanish). Lima, Peru: Compañía Peruana de Radiodifusión. 24 October 1997.
2. "Costa Rica fue segunda en OTI". La Nación (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica. 26 October 1997.
3. Final del XXVI Festival de la canción OTI 1997 (Television programme) (in Spanish). Lima, Peru: Compañía Peruana de Radiodifusión. 25 October 1997.
4. "Llegó la hora". La Nación (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica. 24 October 1997.
5. "El dúo 'La Plata' se enfrenta sin miedo al XXVI Festival de la OTI". Diario de Ávila [es] (in Spanish). Ávila, Spain. 24 October 1997. pp. 45, 46 – via Virtual Library of Historical Newspapers [es].
6. "Televisión". Diario de Ávila [es] (in Spanish). Ávila, Spain. 24 October 1997. p. 44 – via Virtual Library of Historical Newspapers [es].