Prior to the 1996 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest once since its first entry in {{ESCYr|1994}} where they placed twenty-fourth with the song “Nagu merelaine” performed by [[Silvi Vrait]]. The country had previously attempted to participate in {{ESCYr|1993}} but failed to qualify from the [[Kvalifikacija za Millstreet|qualification round]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Estonia Country Profile |url=http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-country/country?country=26 |access-date=5 November 2015 |publisher=[[European Broadcasting Union|EBU]]}}</ref>
Prior to the 1996 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest once since its first entry in {{ESCYr|1994}} where they placed twenty-fourth with the song “Nagu merelaine” performed by [[Silvi Vrait]]. The country had previously attempted to participate in {{ESCYr|1993}} but failed to qualify from the [[Kvalifikacija za Millstreet|qualification round]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Estonia Country Profile |url=http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-country/country?country=26 |access-date=5 November 2015 |publisher=[[European Broadcasting Union|EBU]]}}</ref>
The Estonian national broadcaster, {{lang|et|[[Eesti Televisioon]]|i=no}} (ETV), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Since their debut, the Estonian broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The ”Eurolaul” competition has been organised since 1993 in order to select Estonia’s entry and on 10 November 2000, ETV announced the organisation of ”Eurolaul ‘97” in order to select the nation’s 1996 entry.<ref name=”:1″ />
The Estonian national broadcaster, {{lang|et|[[Eesti Televisioon]]|i=no}} (ETV), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Since their debut, the Estonian broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The ”Eurolaul” competition has been organised since 1993 in order to select Estonia’s entry and on , ETV announced the organisation of ”Eurolaul ”’ in order to select the nation’s 1996 entry.<ref name=”:1″ />
==Before Eurovision==
==Before Eurovision==
Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song “Kaelakee hääl” written by Priit Pajusaar and Kaari Sillamaa. The song was performed by Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Televisioon (ETV) organised the national final Eurolaul ‘96 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 1996 contest in Oslo, Norway. Thirteen songs competed in the national final and “Kaelakee hääl” performed by Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna was selected as the winner by a jury panel.
Estonia was announced among the top 22 entries of the qualifying round on 20 and 21 March 1996 and therefore qualified to compete in the final which took place on 18 May 1996. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fifth out of the 29 participating countries in the qualifying round with 106 points. Performing during the competition in position 11, Estonia placed fifth out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 94 points.
Prior to the 1996 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest once since its first entry in 1994 where they placed twenty-fourth with the song “Nagu merelaine” performed by Silvi Vrait. The country had previously attempted to participate in 1993 but failed to qualify from the qualification round.[1]
The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Televisioon (ETV), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Since their debut, the Estonian broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurolaul competition has been organised since 1993 in order to select Estonia’s entry and on 9 October 1995, ETV announced the organisation of Eurolaul ’96 in order to select the nation’s 1996 entry.[2]
Eurolaul ’96 was the third edition of the Estonian national selection Eurolaul, which selected the Estonian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996.[3] On 9 October 1995, ETV opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 15 November 1995. 18 submissions were received by the deadline and a jury panel selected thirteen finalists from the submissions received by the deadline.[4] Evelin Samuel and Pearu Paulus have both competed in previous editions of Eurolaul.[5]
The final took place on 27 January 1996 at the Dekoltee nightclub in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Karmel Eikner and broadcast on ETV.[6][7] All thirteen competing songs were performed in playback, with some participants not even being present at the venue and instead appeared on a video wall screen. Kirile Loo didn’t appear at all so there were simply many shots of the stage during her song.[8] Following the votes from a jury, “Kaelakee hääl” performed Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna tied first with “Me rõõm ei kao” performed by Kadri Hunt on 62 points, however Ilus and Linna were declared the winners after a review of the scoring since they had received one top vote of 10 points, whereas Hunt hadn’t received any.[9]
The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Jos Moons (Belgian musician and music teacher), Julian Vignoles (Irish music editor), Kato M. Hansen (OGAE Norway president), Dušan Popovič (Radio Slovenia music director), Antero Päiväläinen (Finnish producer), Kenris MacLeod (British Broadcasting Corporation music editor), Bent-Erik Rasmussen (Danish radio producer), Kemal Tursan (UNESCO and International Federation of Festival Organisations member from Turkey) and Lora Kvint (Russian composer).[10]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evelin Samuel and Toomas Rull | “Kaheksa näoga kuu” | Tiit Kikas | 54 | 5 |
| 2 | Kadri Hunt | “Me rõõm ei kao” | Kadri Hunt | 62 | 2 |
| 3 | Üllar Meriste | “Iialgi veel” | Maris Arukask | 37 | 13 |
| 4 | Hedvig Hanson and Pearu Paulus | “Meeletu algus” | Kaari Sillamaa, Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas | 50 | 7 |
| 5 | Urmas Podnek | “Vaba kui tuul” | Leelo Tungal, Peeter Thomson | 41 | 10 |
| 6 | Evelin Samuel, Karl Madis, Maarja-Liis Ilus and Pearu Paulus | “Kummalisel teel” | Kaari Sillamaa, Heini Vaikmaa | 51 | 6 |
| 7 | Ivo Linna and Kadi-Signe Selde | “Lihtne viis” | Leelo Tungal, Gunnar Kriik | 40 | 12 |
| 8 | Reet Kromel and Arne Lauri | “Laule ja palveid täis päev” | Arne Lauri, Margus Alviste | 50 | 7 |
| 9 | Tõnis Mägi | “Ballaad” | Villu Kangur, Tõnis Mägi | 57 | 3 |
| 10 | Kirile Loo | “Maatütre tants” | Rein Rannap | 56 | 4 |
| 11 | Sirje Medell | “Elust enesest” | Marika Viires, Kalmet Rauna | 48 | 9 |
| 12 | Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna | “Kaelakee hääl” | Kaari Sillamaa, Priit Pajusaar | 62 | 1 |
| 13 | Tõnis Mägi | “Eestimaa euromehe laul” | Alo Mattiisen | 41 | 10 |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 took place at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway, on 18 May 1996.[11][12] According to the Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country were required to qualify from an audio qualifying round, held on 20 and 21 March 1996, in order to compete for the Eurovision Song Contest; the top twenty-two countries from the qualifying round progress to the contest.[13] During the allocation draw which determined the running order of the final on 22 March 1996, Estonia was announced as having finished in the top 22 and subsequently qualifying for the contest. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fifth in the qualifying round, receiving a total of 106 points.[14] Following the draw, Estonia was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from Greece and before the entry from Norway.[15] The Estonian conductor at the contest was Tarmo Leinatamm, and Estonia finished in fifth place with 94 points.[16]
The Estonian spokesperson, who announced the votes awarded by the Estonian jury during the show, was Annika Talvik. ETV’s broadcast of the contest was watched by over 350,000 viewers in Estonia with a market share of over 60%.[17]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonia and awarded by Estonia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Sweden in the qualifying round and to Ireland in the final.
