OTI Festival 1985

The OTI Festival 1985 (Spanish: Decimocuarto Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Décimo Quarto Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the 14th edition of the OTI Festival, held on 21 September 1985 at Teatro Lope de Vega in Seville, Spain, and presented by Paloma San Basilio and Emilio Aragón. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE).

Broadcasters from twenty-one countries participated in the festival, with Brazil not participating for the first time. The winner was the song "El fandango aquí" performed by Eugenia León representing Mexico; with "Y tú prohibida" by Marcelo Alejandro representing Argentina and "La Niña, la Pinta y la Santa María" by Jesús Fichamba representing Ecuador both placing second; and "Para poder vivir" by Juan Carlos Duque representing Chile placing third.

The Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) designated Televisión Española (TVE) as the host broadcaster for the 14th edition of the OTI Festival. TVE staged the event in Seville. The venue selected was the Teatro Lope de Vega, a theatre built as part of the Pavilion of Seville at the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. The event made use of both the theatre and the casino that formed the Pavilion, that was designed by Vicente Traver y Tomás.

TVE had initially planned to hold the event outdoors at the old Roman amphitheatre in Italica, but the idea was scrapped due to the impossibility of guaranteeing that it would not rain during the event or during the weeks of preparations and rehearsals.^[1]

Broadcasters from twenty-one countries participated in this edition of the OTI festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twenty Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America initially signed up for the festival, with Uruguay returning after having missed the previous edition. Brazil, who had initially signed up, ultimately did not participate for the first time because the winner of its national selection was under 18, and the performers at the festival had to be over that age. The OTI member in Bolivia justified its absence by lacking the financial resources required to participate.^[2]

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

The festival was held on Saturday 21 September 1985, beginning at 23:30 CEST (21:30 UTC). It was directed by Francisco Navarrete and presented by Paloma San Basilio and Emilio Aragón. The musical director was Eduardo Leiva, who conducted the 47-piece orchestra when required. The draw to determine the running order (R/O) was held on 20 August at La Rábida Friary in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva).^[4] Participants began rehearsing at the Teatro Lope de Vega on 16 September.^[1]

The show was opened with the hosts singing together "La música". In between the competing songs, the Ciudad de Sevilla ballet made a performance dancing sevillanas and Paloma San Basilio sang the song "Por culpa de una noche enamorada". The interval act featured a star guest performance by Rocío Jurado singing the songs "¡Decir Sevilla!" and "Necesito estar sola", and a medley of her hits "Ese hombre", "Lo siento mi amor", "Si amanece", "Como una ola", and "Señora", acompanied by the orchestra conducted by José Luis Sanesteban. Due to a three-way tie for first place during the voting, Rocio Jurado had to improvise and extend her performance to give the jury time to determine the result. ^[5]

The winner was the song "El fandango aquí" performed by Eugenia León representing Mexico; with "Y tú prohibida" by Marcelo Alejandro representing Argentina and "La Niña, la Pinta y la Santa María" by Jesús Fichamba representing Ecuador both placing second; and "Para poder vivir" by Juan Carlos Duque representing Chile placing third. There was a trophy for each of the first three places. The first prize trophy was delivered by Guillermo Cañedo, president of OTI; the second prize trophy by Manuel del Valle, mayor of Seville; and the third prize trophy by Nicanor González, president of the OTI programs committee. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry followed by all the participants singing together "La música".^[6]

Each of the seven members of the single jury awarded 5–1 points to its five favourite songs in a secret vote. Initially the jury was composed of eight members, but Raúl Velasco had to return hastily to Mexico due to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake that had occurred two days earlier. Only the top three places were revealed, with second place awarded to two songs jointly. The members of the jury were:

• Luis Miguel Dominguín – bullfighter
• Alberto Cortez – singer-songwriter
• Lola Flores – singer
• Teresa Sánchez López – model, Miss Spain 1984
• Antonio – dancer
• Adelaide Ferreira – singer, represented Portugal in 1984
• Fernando Ubiergo – singer-songwriter, won the festival for Chile in 1984

The festival was broadcast in the 21 participating countries and in Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, and Haiti, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.^[7]

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

• 14th OTI Festival, Sevilla 1985 at RTVE Play (in Spanish)