Rome 1991, "the example of what not to do at Eurovision"

• The Eurovision 2022 final will be held in Turin (Italy) on May 14.

  The opportunity to dive back into the very special history of the 1991 edition, in Rome, which until then was the last organized in Italy.

• “Rome 1991 was organized hastily and reluctantly, but without any deliberate intention of doing wrong, explains

  Italian journalist Emanuele Lombardi to

  20 Minutes .

  It's just that Rai didn't believe in the potential of the contest.

  »

• This edition was marked by hiccups from the orchestra and an unprecedented outcome...

Eurovision 1991, in Rome (Italy), was memorable.

But not necessarily for the right reasons.

A host city designated only four months before the event, hiccups with the orchestra, a duo of presenters fluent in neither English nor French, a final with an unprecedented outcome that blew the scheduled time by 40 minutes... is the example of everything that should not be done at Eurovision”, slips to

, the Italian journalist Emanuele Lombardini.

"I don't know if 'chaotic' is the right word to describe this edition, but no doubt the apathy on the organizational side has not helped, continues the Transalpin, author of a book on the image of countries in the competition. .

Those who worked on this contest didn't feel like they were in chaos at all.

Eurovision was "a program to do" and it was done.

It was only afterwards, in the light of the European comments, that there was an awareness of the way in which this edition had been judged.

»

"This victory was unexpected and greeted as a disaster"

To understand how badly things got off to a good start, you have to go back a year.

In 1990, in Zagreb (then the capital of Yugoslavia, today that of Croatia), Toto Cutugno represented Italy at Eurovision with

.

In a post-fall of the Berlin Wall and pre-Maastricht Treaty context, this song with its unifying text triumphs over the

of the Frenchwoman Joëlle Ursull.

“This victory was unexpected and greeted as a disaster, continues Emanuele Lombardini.

The fact that Rai retransmitted it delayed, at midnight, is symptomatic of the lack of interest it gave to the competition.

»

In Italy at the time, and still today, the main musical competition that thrills the crowds is the Sanremo Festival.

An institution of Italian song, created in 1951, on which the millions of ears of La Botte are riveted each end of winter.

Initially, Rai, the transalpine public channel, plans to unpack the poisoned gift in this city of the Ligurian Riviera.

It was planned to organize Eurovision 1991 like a puzzle, in several places, no place having on its own the necessary capacity required.

The organizers finally decided to deploy the barnum to Rome after the Gulf War broke out in August 1990. "Security issues were just a pretext," whispers Emanuele Lombardini, implying that it was mostly a question of making savings.

"A feeling of unpreparedness"

The competition therefore landed in the legendary Cineccità film studios.

“It's in the suburbs of Rome.

When I got there, I said to myself: Is this where it's going to take place?

The room was small.

In comparison, in Malmö (Sweden) the following year, it seemed gigantic to me!

“recalls Franck Baillot.

The Frenchman, passionate about the competition, then saw his first Eurovision from the inside.

His enthusiasm was quickly met with the disinterest of the local population.

“What struck me was that there was no atmosphere, it was a non-event.

The Italian press barely mentioned it, there were no posters in the streets, when I wanted to discuss it with the hotel receptionist, he didn't know what I was talking about.

»

Accreditation around his neck, Franck Baillot spent the week watching the show painfully set in place: “What I saw gave me the impression of unpreparedness, that everything was done at the last minute.

The 700 seats, for example, were only installed on Friday morning.

“Several delegations complained about not having enough time to rehearse or were annoyed by the delays of the musicians of the orchestra who blamed the rain and traffic jams, as related in the book

published by Favre editions.

“Rome 1991 was organized hastily and reluctantly, but without deliberate intention to do wrong, pleads Emanuele Lombardi.

It's just that Rai did not believe in the potential of the competition and worked with its means and time management, which did not coincide with those of its European counterparts.

Sandra Bemporad, who was supervising the show, later complained about how European standards had been a source of anxiety and how horrible the experience was for her.

»

“It was really long”

On May 4, 1991, the traditional

sounds however at the scheduled time and European viewers discover a curious scene made of odds and ends and neon lights, with recycled set elements from other filmings, between ancient architecture and modern skyscrapers.

Toto Cutugno makes his appearance, this time as master of ceremonies, alongside Gigliola Cinquetti, winner of Eurovision 1964. Problem: neither of them speaks English or French well enough, both official competition languages ​​required to facilitate the event.

They therefore perform their role (almost) entirely in Italian.

“It was quickly apparent that the evening was going to the wall.

This duo was not suited to the expectations and pace of an event like Eurovision.

He seemed not to realize that he was working on a European program,”

emphasizes Emanuele Lombardi.

For Franck Baillot choosing Toto Cutugno was “a mistake”: “When the results were announced, he repeated each point awarded in three languages: French, English and Italian.

He was wrong sometimes… It was really long.

»

The Greek singer Sophie Vossou, she had enough to grimace.

His song,

, was slaughtered by a fearsome saxophonist who chained the wrong notes on the musical bridge.

¿¡¿Veis como hay que conocer la historia de #Eurovision?!?

If hubieráis visto el ESC 1991 y el caos de Roma, que a su vez lo convierte en la edición más icónica de la historia, sabriais la que nos esperaba con los italianos…

¡Y lo de no es nada para lo que nos queda por ver !

pic.twitter.com/6fFhAmRyIv

— Juanma JD (@JuanmaJiDi) April 30, 2022

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“The Greek delegation said afterwards that between the rehearsal and the live evening, the saxophonist was replaced, mainly for reasons of economy, because the orchestra was made up of temporary workers (“turnisti”).

I cannot say what part of the truth is in this, specifies the Italian journalist.

Others also say that on Peppino Di Capri's performance, the orchestra seemed less "in shape" compared to the other performances.

“The latter, who represented Italy with a song in Neapolitan, would even have, according to rumour, received a single instruction: “Do not win”.

If true, Rai may have sighed with relief when he finished in a creditable seventh place out of 22 competitors.

The designation of the winning country has remained in the annals.

Sweden and France finished tied with 146 points each and were separated by a brand new regulation, which came into force two years earlier.

The Scandinavian Carola and the French Amina having received the same number of 12 points, it is at the level of the 10 points that the difference was made: the first had gleaned five and the second two.

Executive supervisor Franck Naef therefore declared the Swede the big winner.

Léon Zitrone “in an impossible state of nerves”

His runner-up, who "did not even imagine being in the top 10", had no trouble digesting this demotion.

On the other hand, Léon Zitrone, who commented on the evening for Antenne 2, exploded behind the scenes.

“He was in a state of not possible nerves.

He flew into a rage.

It was very funny”, remembered, amused, Amina, a few years ago for

.

Franck Baillot, he says that, in the room, nobody understood how the two singers were decided.

"When I left, I ran into Franck Naef and I said to him, 'So what about France?'

He replied: "France is not above the rules" before continuing on his way.

So I did not have the answer and, at that time, there was no Internet to inquire.

»

Italians were more than 6 million to follow this tragicomedy on television.

“It's not a lot compared to the audiences of the time, but much more than what was expected.

Since then, television has changed.

If the 2022 edition achieved these audience figures in Italy, it would be a huge success,” notes Emanuele Lombardi.

This unexpected score was not enough at the time to restore the image of Eurovision among our neighbors.

Moreover, they withdrew for the first time for three editions, from 1994 to 1996, then from 1998 to 2011… The head of Rai, Mario Maffucci, argued in 1998 that Eurovision was not adapted to the Italian public .

Since Italy returned to the competition eleven years ago, they have finished outside the Top 10 only twice. was not experienced as a curse, but rather as a source of pride.

This Eurovision 2022 that Turin is about to host will be the occasion or never to prove that the competition ends up singing to the Italians, even if it never dethroned Sanremo in their hearts and ears.

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