Festival da Canção
Festival da Canção or Festival RTP da Canção is the name given to the national festival, produced and broadcast by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal to choose the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was first held in 1964.
History
Like most pop festivals in isolated countries, it was a very important event for the still incipient music industry of the 1960s and 1970s. Left-wing composers and writers would try to squeeze subversive lyrics in the contest, with great effect. After the 1974 revolution, incidentally code-triggered by that year's winner being played on national radio, Portugal became increasingly open to foreign culture, thus deeming the Festival as a lesser musical event, dominated by below-standard pop songs with little or no impact in the industry, although remaining a popular TV show.The 1990s saw a recovery of the contest's image, then considered a viable means for a new singer to start a career. Internationally acclaimed Portuguese singers Dulce Pontes and Sara Tavares made their debut in the 1991 and 1994 editions, respectively. Many other unknown performers like Lucia Moniz and Anabela leaped to national stardom after taking the RTP trophy.
After reaching an all-time high 6th place in the 1996 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the festival steadily declined from then on. In 2000, the winner Liana did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, as Portugal had been banned from the 2000 contest after two consecutive poor showings in 1998 and 1999; this would be the second time in the festival's history that the winner did not participate in Eurovision. In 2002, the Festival da Canção was placed on hiatus, contradicting the tradition of staging a Festival da Canção even without participating in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, as happened in 2000 and 1970. Since 2001, the festival saw consecutive changes of format. 2005 saw RTP commissioning a song for Eurovision, rather than organizing some kind of competition.
Since 2006 RTP seemingly settled for a traditional multi-singer, multi-composer competitive format, claiming the memory of older contests and songs. Producers have since been invited to come up with songs, lyrics and singers, and the 2007 result with Sabrina almost making it to the Eurovision final, gave RTP the necessary confidence to maintain the current format. In 2009, an open call for songs was held by RTP, abolishing the invited producers method, with online voting deciding the qualifiers to the televised final from a list of 24 songs, with 12 competing in the live contest.
More changes to the format of the contest were made in 2010. Two semi-finals and a final are now held to select the winner. Foreign composers were once again allowed to compete. Since 2017 different languages are allowed to compete.
The 2020 edition of the festival marked the third time in its history where the winner was unable to participate in Eurovision, as the contest itself would be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hosts
- 1964: Henrique Mendes and Maria Helena Fialho Gouveia
- 1965: Henrique Mendes
- 1966: Henrique Mendes and Maria Fernanda
- 1967: Henrique Mendes and Isabel Wolmar
- 1968: Henrique Mendes and Maria Fernanda
- 1969:
- 1970: Maria Fernanda and Carlos Cruz
- 1971: Henrique Mendes and
- 1972: and Carlos Cruz
- 1973: Alice Cruz and Artur Agostinho
- 1974: and Artur Agostinho
- 1975: Maria Elisa and
- 1976: Eládio Clímaco and
- 1977: Nicolau Breyner and Herman José
- 1978: Eládio Clímaco and Maria José Azevedo
- 1979: José Fialho Gouveia and
- 1980: Eládio Clímaco and Ana Zanatti
- 1981: Eládio Clímaco and
- 1982: Alice Cruz, José Fialho Gouveia, and
- 1983: Eládio Clímaco and Valentina Torres
- 1984: and José Fialho Gouveia
- 1985: Eládio Clímaco, and José Fialho Gouveia
- 1986: Eládio Clímaco, Ana Zanatti, José Fialho Gouveia, Henrique Mendes and Maria Helena
- 1987: Ana Zanatti
- 1988: Ana Paula Reis, Valentina Torres and António Sequeira
- 1989: and António Vitorino de Almeida
- 1990: Ana do Carmo and Nicolau Breyner
- 1991: Júlio Isidro and Ana Paula Reis
- 1992: Eládio Clímaco and Ana Zanatti ; Júlio Isidro
- 1993: Margarida Mercês de Melo and ; Júlio Isidro
- 1994: Ana Paula Reis and Nicolau Breyner ; Ana do Carmo and Luís de Matos
- 1995: Carlos Mendes, Sofia Morais and Herman José
- 1996: Isabel Angelino and Carlos Cruz
- 1997: and ; Isabel Angelino
- 1998: Lúcia Moniz and
- 1999: Manuel Luís Goucha and Alexandra Lencastre
- 2000: and Gaspar Borges
- 2001: Sónia Araújo and Cristina Möhler
- 2002: Not held
- 2003: Catarina Furtado
- 2004: Catarina Furtado
- 2005: Eládio Clímaco and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira
- 2006: and Jorge Gabriel
- 2007: Isabel Angelino and Jorge Gabriel
- 2008: Sílvia Alberto
- 2009: Sílvia Alberto
- 2010: Sílvia Alberto
- 2011: Sílvia Alberto
- 2012: Sílvia Alberto and
- 2013: Not held
- 2014: José Carlos Malato and Sílvia Alberto
- 2015: Júlio Isidro and Catarina Furtado
- 2016: Not held
- 2017: José Carlos Malato and Sónia Araújo ; Jorge Gabriel and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira ; Catarina Furtado, Sílvia Alberto and Filomena Cautela
- 2018: Jorge Gabriel and José Carlos Malato ; Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira ; Filomena Cautela and
- 2019: Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira ; José Carlos Malato and Jorge Gabriel ; Filomena Cautela and
- 2020: Jorge Gabriel and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira ; José Carlos Malato and Sónia Araújo ; Filomena Cautela and
Green room presenters
Winners
| Year | Song | Artist | Songwriter | Result in Eurovision |
| 1964 | "Oração" | António Calvário | João Nobre, Francisco Nicholson, Rogério Bracinha | 13th ◁ |
| 1965 | "Sol de inverno" | Simone de Oliveira | Carlos Nóbrega e Sousa, Jerónimo Bragança | 13th |
| 1966 | "Ele e ela" | Madalena Iglésias | Carlos Canelhas | 13th |
| 1967 | "O vento mudou" | Eduardo Nascimento | Nuno Nazareth Fernandes, João Magalhães Pereira | 12th |
| 1968 | "Verão" | Carlos Mendes | Pedro Vaz Osório, José Alberto Diogo | 11th |
| 1969 | "Desfolhada portuguesa" | Simone de Oliveira | Nuno Nazareth Fernandes, José Carlos Ary dos Santos | 15th |
| 1970 | "Onde vais rio que eu canto" | Sérgio Borges | Carlos Nóbrega e Sousa, Joaquim Pedro Gonçalves | |
| 1971 | "Menina do alto da serra" | Tonicha | Nuno Nazareth Fernandes, José Carlos Ary dos Santos | 9th |
| 1972 | "A festa da vida" | Carlos Mendes | José Calvário, José Niza | 7th |
| 1973 | "Tourada" | Fernando Tordo | Fernando Tordo, José Carlos Ary dos Santos | 10th |
| 1974 | "E depois do adeus" | Paulo de Carvalho | José Calvário, José Niza | 14th ◁ |
| 1975 | "Madrugada" | Duarte Mendes | José Luís Tinoco | 16th |
| 1976 | "Uma flor de verde pinho" | Carlos do Carmo | José Niza, Manuel Alegre | 12th |
| 1977 | "Portugal no coração" | Os Amigos | Fernando Tordo, José Carlos Ary dos Santos | 14th |
| 1978 | "Dai li dou" | Gemini | Vítor Mamede, Carlos Quintas | 17th |
| 1979 | "Sobe, sobe, balão sobe" | Manuela Bravo | Carlos Nóbrega e Sousa | 9th |
| 1980 | "Um grande, grande amor" | José Cid | José Cid | 7th |
| 1981 | "Playback" | Carlos Paião | Carlos Paião | 18th |
| 1982 | "Bem bom" | Doce | Pedro Brito, Tozé Brito, António Pinho | 13th |
| 1983 | "Esta balada que te dou" | Armando Gama | Armando Gama | 13th |
| 1984 | "Silêncio e tanta gente" | Maria Guinot | Maria Guinot | 11th |
| 1985 | "Penso em ti " | Adelaide | Tozé Brito, Adelaide Ferreira, Luís Fernando | 18th |
| 1986 | "Não sejas mau para mim" | Dora | Guilherme Inês, Zé Da Ponte, Luís Manuel de Oliveira Fernandes | 14th |
| 1987 | "Neste barco à vela" | Nevada | Alfredo Azinheira, Jorge Mendes | 18th |
| 1988 | "Voltarei" | Dora | José Niza, José Calvário | 18th |
| 1989 | "Conquistador" | Da Vinci | Ricardo, Pedro Luís | 16th |
| 1990 | "Sempre, há sempre alguém" | Nucha | Luís Filipe, Ian van Dijck, Frederico Pereira, Francisco Pereira | 20th |
| 1991 | "Lusitana paixão" | Dulce Pontes | Jorge Quintela, José Da Ponte, Fred Micaelo | 8th |
| 1992 | "Amor d'água fresca" | Dina | Ondina Veloso, Rosa Lobato de Faria | 17th |
| 1993 | "A cidade " | Anabela | Paulo de Carvalho, Marco Quelhas, Pedro Abrantes | 10th |
| 1994 | "Chamar a música" | Sara Tavares | João Mota Oliveira, Rosa Lobato de Faria | 8th |
| 1995 | "Baunilha e chocolate" | Tó Cruz | António Vitorino d'Almeida, Rosa Lobato de Faria | 21st |
| 1996 | "O meu coração não tem cor" | Lúcia Moniz | Pedro Osório, José Fanha | 6th |
| 1997 | "Antes do adeus" | Célia Lawson | Rosa Lobato de Faria, Thilo Krassman | 24th ◁ |
| 1998 | "Se eu te pudesse abraçar" | Alma Lusa | José Cid | 12th |
| 1999 | "Como tudo começou" | Rui Bandeira | Jorge do Carmo, Tó Andrade | 21st |
| 2000 | "Sonhos mágicos" | Liana | Gerardo Rodrigues, Maria da Conceição Norte | |
| 2001 | "Só sei ser feliz assim" | MTM | Marco Quelhas | 17th |
| 2003 | "Deixa-me sonhar" | Rita Guerra | Paulo Martins | 22nd |
| 2004 | "Foi magia" | Sofia Vitória | Paulo Neves | 15th: SF |
| 2006 | "Coisas de nada" | Nonstop | José Manuel Afonso, Elvis Veiguinha | 19th: SF |
| 2007 | "Dança comigo" | Sabrina | Emanuel, Tó Maria Vinhas | 11th: SF |
| 2008 | "Senhora do mar" | Vânia Fernandes | Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho | 13th |
| 2009 | "Todas as ruas do amor" | Flor-de-Lis | Paulo Pereira, Pedro Marques | 15th |
| 2010 | "Há dias assim" | Filipa Azevedo | Augusto Madureira | 18th |
| 2011 | "A luta é alegria" | Homens da Luta | Jel | 18th: SF |
| 2012 | "Vida minha" | Filipa Sousa | Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho | 13th: SF |
| 2014 | "Quero ser tua" | Suzy | :pt:Américo Monteiro|Emanuel | 11th: SF |
| 2015 | "Há um mar que nos separa" | Leonor Andrade | Miguel Gameiro | 14th: SF |
| 2017 | "Amar pelos dois" | Salvador Sobral | Luísa Sobral | 1st |
| 2018 | "O jardim" | Cláudia Pascoal | Isaura | 26th ◁ |
| 2019 | "Telemóveis" | Conan Osíris | Conan Osíris | 14th: SF |
| 2020 | "Medo de sentir" | Elisa | Marta Carvalho |