OTI Festival 1980

The OTI Festival 1980 (Spanish: Noveno Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Nono Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the ninth edition of the OTI Festival, held on 15 November 1980 at the Martín Coronado hall of the Teatro General San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and presented by Antonio Carrizo and Liliana López Foresi. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster Argentina Televisora Color (ATC), who staged the event following Canal Once's win in the 1979 festival for Argentina with the song "Cuenta conmigo" by Daniel Riolobos.

Broadcasters from twenty-three countries participated in the festival, reaching a new record of number of participants. The winner was the song "Contigo mujer" performed by Rafael José representing Puerto Rico, with "Querer y perder" by Dyango representing Spain placing second, and "Dime adiós" by Luis Ordóñez representing Argentina placing third.

The Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) accepted the proposal of Argentina Televisora Color (ATC) to host the ninth edition of the OTI Festival, following Canal Once's win in the previous edition for Argentina with the song "Cuenta conmigo" by Daniel Riolobos.

ATC staged the event in Buenos Aires. The venue selected was the Martin Coronado hall of the Teatro General San Martín. The theatre, inaugurated in 1960, is one of the oldest in the city. With 1,049 seats, the Martin Coronado hall is the biggest room of the theatre.

On 10 November 1980, a cocktail reception was held upon the arrival of the delegations, attended by all the participating artists, executives from the participating broadcasters, OTI officials, and numerous accredited journalists.^[1]

Broadcasters from twenty-three countries participated in this edition of the OTI Festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twenty-one Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. All countries that participated in the previous edition returned, and were joined by Bolivia, which had withdrawn in 1976, and Nicaragua, which had withdrawn in 1978. With twenty-three entries the number of participants reached a new record. All the countries that had debuted at the festival until then participated this year.

Some of the participating broadcasters, such as those representing Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico, selected their entries through their regular national selections. Other broadcasters decided to select their entry internally.^[2][3]

Two performing artists had previously represented the same country in previous editions: Rafael José had represented Puerto Rico in 1978,^[4] and Moisés Canelo had represented Honduras in 1974.^[5] In addition, Carlos Mejía Godoy, representing Nicaragua as a performer with los de Palancagüina, had written "Quincho barrilete", the winning song of the 1977 festival.

The festival was held on Saturday 15 November 1980, beginning at 20:00 DST (23:00 UTC). It was presented by Antonio Carrizo and Liliana López Foresi.^[7] The musical director was Horacio Malvicino who conducted the 58-piece orchestra when required. The draw to determine the running order (R/O) was held in Buenos Aires a few days before the event. Participants had rehearsed at the venue on 11–14 November in morning and afternoon sessions.^[1]

The winner was the song "Contigo mujer" performed by Rafael José representing Puerto Rico, with "Querer y perder" by Dyango representing Spain placing second, and "Dime adiós" by Luis Ordóñez representing Argentina placing third.^[8]

Each participating broadcaster^[b] assembled a national jury located in its respective country. Each jury awarded 5 points its favourite song, 4 points to the second favourite, and then between 3 and 1 points for the third- to fifth-favourite songs, except for the entry representing its own country. Each participating broadcaster had also a delegate present in the hall to stand in for its jury if it was not receiving the event live, or in case of communication failure during the broadcast or voting.

The festival was broadcast in the 23 participating countries, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.

Known details on the broadcasts of the festival in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

The Victory of the Puerto Rican performer Rafael José, who is a licensed dentist apart from a singer, was seen in his home country as another milestone in the national musical scene to the point that it is even said that the festival paralysed the country and made the audience forget the protests that took place because of a national electoral process that was overshadowed by a possible fraud. As happened five years before with Nydia Caro, the previous Puerto Rican OTI winner. Rafael José and the composer of his entry, Ednita Nazario were received by a huge crowd at his return to San Juan.^[17]

The second place of the Spaniard Dyango consolidated his already long career and also his position as one of the most important musicians in the Spanish national pop scene.

The host contestant Luis Ordoñez had already a long career in Argentina. In fact, he debuted in 1956 and pursued, since then, a career both as a writer, a songwriter and also as a singer. His third place confirmed the strength of his career.^[18]

Other contestants such as the Dominican Fausto Rey and the Nicaraguan Carlos Mejía Godoy, went on with their strong musical careers releasing more studio albums and creating music for many more singers.^[19][20]