Intro Post

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Introduction

Hosted in Dublin, Ireland, Eurovision 1981 had quite a different lineup of countries from last time. First off, the Mediterranean island of Cyprus (aka Greece’s Girlfriend) joined for the first time. No one talks much about Cyprus’s early entries, but their best result (and most iconic entry) is a second place in 2018. Although the island is divided between Greeks and Turks, Cyprus’s entries have only ever come from the Greek half.

Israel returned after skipping last year, and Yugoslavia returned after skipping the last four years. On the other hand, Morocco left never to return again, and Italy skipped the contest for the first time. It wasn’t for political reasons or lack of money—Eurovision just wasn’t very popular in Italy. It was the first of Italy’s several absences in the 1980’s and 1990’s, culminating in a hiatus from 1998 to 2011.

This contest had one of the narrowest victories yet: with their famous band Bucks Fizz, the UK beat Germany by four points. This was the closest Germany had come to tasting victory, but they would take home the prize next time. With the narrow race between the UK and Germany and the many returning contestants, including the winner from 20 years prior, it seems this will be a very interesting year! Because of the winner, I watched the contest with Terry Wogan’s British commentary.

The postcards in this contest were notable because they didn’t just feature the singers of each song: also the composers and writers, exploring Dublin together.