Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963

Spain in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1963
Spain in the; Eurovision Song Contest 1963
Eurovision Song Contest 1963
Participating broadcaster	Televisión Española (TVE)
Country	Spain
Selection process	Internal selection
Competing entry
Song	"Algo prodigioso"
Artist	José Guardiola
Songwriters	Fernando García Morcillo [es]; Camillo Murillo Janero;
Placement
Final result	12th, 2 points
Participation chronology

Spain was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the song "Algo prodigioso", composed by Fernando García Morcillo [es], with lyrics by Camillo Murillo Janero, and performed by José Guardiola. The Spanish participating broadcaster, Televisión Española (TVE), internally selected its entry for the contest. The song, performed in position 12, placed twelfth out of sixteen competing entries with 2 points.

Before Eurovision

Conflicting reports state that Televisión Española's (TVE) aim was to use the Mediterranean Song Festival [es] to choose its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1963. The song "Nubes de colores", composed by Augusto Algueró, with lyrics by Antonio Guijarro, had won the 1962 song festival performed by both José Guardiola and Monna Bell,^[a]^[1] but the result was declared null and void the day after the final because a fix was discovered in the voting process. Attendees were given a voting ballot along with their admission ticket; however, on the final night of the festival, more ballots were counted than attendees.^[b] The ten songs in the final were declared finalists equally, without any ranking.^[2]

TVE internally selected "Algo prodigioso", composed by Fernando García Morcillo [es], with lyrics by Camillo Murillo Janero, and performed by José Guardiola, as it entry for Eurovision among the numbers submitted by the winners of the song festivals held across Spain.^[3]

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest was held on 23 March 1963 at the BBC Television Centre in London, United Kingdom. José Guardiola performed "Algo prodigioso" twelfth in the running order, following France and preceding Sweden. Rafael Ibarbia conducted the event's orchestra performance of the Spanish entry. The song received two points from Yugoslavia, placing twelfth in a field of sixteen.

TVE broadcast the contest in Spain on its television service with commentary by Federico Gallo [es].^[4]

Voting

Points awarded to Spain^[5]
Score	Country
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points	Yugoslavia
1 point

Points awarded by Spain^[5]
Score	Country
5 points	United Kingdom
4 points	Switzerland
3 points	Italy
2 points	Yugoslavia
1 point	France

Notes

^ Beating songs from Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, and Spain; each sung by two different performers, one accompanied by a large orchestra and the other by a smaller ensemble.
^ In the final, held on 24 September 1962 at the Sports Palace in Barcelona, 6,807 ballots were counted, exceeding by 1,030 the number of attendees in the hall, which was 5,777. This was possible because the ballots were not marked as to which night of the festival they belonged, and in the two semifinals many attendees did not vote and kept their ballots.

References

^ "El IV Festival del Mediterráneo - 'Nubes de colores', de Algueró y Guijarro, primer premio". 7 Fechas [es] (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 25 September 1962. p. 10 – via Virtual Library of Historical Newspapers [es].
^ "Del cuarto Festival de la Canción Mediterránea" [From the fourth Mediterranean Song Festival]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 27 September 1962. p. 25.
^ "Alguien prodigioso" [Someone prodigious]. Pueblo (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 21 March 1963. p. 21 – via Virtual Library of Historical Newspapers [es].
^ "Radio y TV" [Radio and TV]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 23 March 1963. p. 42. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
^ a b "Results of the Final of London 1963". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.

[1] Beating songs from Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, and Spain; each sung by two different performers, one accompanied by a large orchestra and the other by a smaller ensemble.

[3] In the final, held on 24 September 1962 at the Sports Palace in Barcelona, 6,807 ballots were counted, exceeding by 1,030 the number of attendees in the hall, which was 5,777. This was possible because the ballots were not marked as to which night of the festival they belonged, and in the two semifinals many attendees did not vote and kept their ballots.

[2] "El IV Festival del Mediterráneo - 'Nubes de colores', de Algueró y Guijarro, primer premio". 7 Fechas [es] (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 25 September 1962. p. 10 – via Virtual Library of Historical Newspapers [es].

[4] "Del cuarto Festival de la Canción Mediterránea" [From the fourth Mediterranean Song Festival]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 27 September 1962. p. 25.

[5] "Alguien prodigioso" [Someone prodigious]. Pueblo (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 21 March 1963. p. 21 – via Virtual Library of Historical Newspapers [es].

[6] "Radio y TV" [Radio and TV]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 23 March 1963. p. 42. Retrieved 19 December 2022.

[1963detailed-7] "Results of the Final of London 1963". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.