1959 жылғы Еуровидение ән байқауы

International song competition

The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France, and hosted by French television presenter Jacqueline Joubert. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (RTF), the contest, originally known as the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1959 ( Due to the growth in the film festival a new building bearing the same name was opened in 1982, with the original building renamed as the Palais Croisette. A garden space with plants from Southern France was installed in front of the building for the contest, and the flags of the participating nations were raised on the roof. The audience comprised 1500 invited guests. This marked the second occasion in which the previous year's winning country organised the event, and the first time in which the winning country was given first choice at hosting the following year's event, as the rights to host the 1958 contest were only awarded to the Netherlands after all other countries declined.

A total of eleven countries competed in the contest, with making its first appearance and the returning after a one year absence. The United Kingdom's absence from the 1958 contest is generally reported to have been due to the country's poor result in 1957, but their return coincided with the international success of "[[Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song)", the Italian entry from the previous year's contest, and the appointment of Eric Maschwitz as Head of Light Entertainment at the BBC. Beginning with this event the United Kingdom holds the record for the longest string of consecutive appearances in the Eurovision Song Contest, appearing in every subsequent contest final as of 2023. was absent from the event, having participated in all previous contests, and appears to have decided against participating late in the preparations for the contest as the country was listed among the participants in several radio and television listings. + Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor ORF Ferry Graf "Der K. und K. Kalypso aus Wien" German Günther Leopold, Norbert Pawlicki Franck Pourcel NIR Bob Benny "Hou toch van mij" Dutch Hans Flower, Ke Riema Francis Bay DR Birthe Wilke "Uh, jeg ville ønske, jeg var dig" Danish Carl Andersen, Otto Lington Kai Mortensen RTF Jean Philippe "Oui oui oui oui" French Pierre Cour, Hubert Giraud Franck Pourcel HR Alice and Ellen Kessler "Heut' woll'n wir tanzen geh'n" German Astrid Voltmann, Helmut Zander Franck Pourcel RAI Domenico Modugno "[[Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)" Italian Domenico Modugno, Dino Verde William Galassini TMC Jacques Pills "Mon ami Pierrot" French Raymond Bravard, Florence Véran Franck Pourcel NTS Teddy Scholten "[['n Beetje" Dutch Willy van Hemert, Dick Schallies Dolf van der Linden SR Brita Borg "Augustin" Swedish Åke Gerhard, Harry Sandin Franck Pourcel SRG SSR Christa Williams "Irgendwoher" German Lothar Löffler Franck Pourcel BBC Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson "Sing Little Birdie" English Stan Butcher, Syd Cordell Eric Robinson

The contest was organised and broadcast by the French public broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (RTF), with fr serving as director and Franck Pourcel serving as musical director. Each country was allowed to nominate their own musical director to lead the orchestra during the performance of their country's entry, with the host musical director also conducting for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor. Its design was inspired by the era of Louis XIV. The stage featured three revolving platforms, each of which was segmented into four, similar to a revolving door, to include various backdrops. These backdrops were specific to each of the participating countries and featured scenery or objects associated with that country. A few days prior to the contest, hotel and shop owners in Cannes complained that the contest was covered and advertised too sparsely by RTF and subsequently feared that too few tourists would come to Cannes.