Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992

Finals performanceFinal result21st, 10 pointsLuxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest

◄1991 •

1992

• 1993►

Luxembourg participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "Sou fräi" (Luxembourgish pronunciation: [zəʊ ˈfʀæːɪ]; transl. "So free") written by Jang Linster and Ab van Goor. The song was performed by Marion Welter and the band Kontinent, which was internally selected by the Luxembourgish broadcaster RTL Hei Elei (RTL) in March 1992 to represent Luxembourg in Malmö, Sweden. RTL organised a national final in order to select Marion Welter and Kontinent's song and "Sou fräi" emerged as the winning song on 22 March 1992 following a public postcard vote.

Luxembourg competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 1992. Performing during the show in position 14, Luxembourg placed twenty-first out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 10 points.

Background

Prior to the 1992 contest, Luxembourg had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-six times since debuting in its first edition of 1956.^[1] The country had won the contest on five occasions: in 1961 with "Nous les amoureux" performed by Jean-Claude Pascal, in 1965 with "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" performed by France Gall, in 1972 with "Après toi" performed by Vicky Leandros, in 1973 with "Tu te reconnaîtras" performed by Anne-Marie David, and finally in 1983 with "Si la vie est cadeau" performed by Corinne Hermès.

The Luxembourgish national broadcaster, RTL Hei Elei (RTL), broadcasts the event within Luxembourg and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, RTL has selected the Luxembourgish entries by using both national finals and internal selections. For the 1992 contest, the broadcaster opted to internally select the artist and organise a national final to select the song.^[2]

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

On 11 March 1992, RTL announced that Marion Welter had been internally selected to represent Luxembourg in Malmö. It was also announced that a national final would be held to select the song Welter would perform.^[3]

National final

Two songs, written in Luxembourgish by Jang Linster and Ab van Goor, were selected for the national final and announced on 11 March 1992.^[3] Video recordings of Marion Welter performing the two competing songs at the RTL studios in Luxembourg City were presented during the 15 March 1992 broadcast of the television programme RTL-Hei elei and the public was able to vote for their favourite song through postcard voting until 19 March 1992.^[4] The winning song, "Sou fräi", was announced in the subsequent episode of RTL-Hei elei on 22 March 1992.^[5]

Final – 22 March 1992

Draw	Song	Percentage	Place
1	"Sou fräi"	51%	1
2	"Iwerall doheem"	49%	2

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 took place on 9 May 1992 at the Malmö Isstadion in Malmö, Sweden. On 3 December 1991, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Luxembourg was set to perform in position 14, following the entry from Switzerland and before the entry from Austria.^[6] Marion Welter was joined on stage by Kontinent, a five-member band consisting of Änder Hirtt (vocals), Patrick Hartert (keyboards), the co-composer of "Sou fräi" Ab van Goor (drums and vocals), Romm Heck (bass and vocals) and Gordon Smith (guitar and vocals).^[7] The Luxembourgian conductor at the contest was Christian Jacob and Luxembourg finished in twenty-first place with 10 points.^[8]

In Luxembourg, the contest was broadcast on RTL Hei Elei with commentary by Romain Goerend.^[9] The Luxembourgian jury awarded its 12 points to Malta in the contest.

Voting

References