When the new year comes, one thing the Eurofandom will be looking forward to is national final season. And one which will make its return after many years is the Luxembourgish national final, which already has garnered much interest. With over four hundred initial entries narrowed down through a series of auditions to eight, it promises a new dawn for Luxembourg.
Despite its storied Eurovision history, with five wins in thirty-seven years, Luxembourg has only held five national finals in its thirty-seven year Eurovision history, of which two of them were meant to decide the song alone. They usually were quite short, with only a few songs at hand, but with a variety of them too!
Let’s take a look at what Luxembourg’s national finals have brought us!
1971: Hei Elei, Kuck Elei
The first time that Luxembourg turned to the public for their entry was on January 10, 1971, on the show “Hei Elei, Kuck Elei”. Airing between 1969 and 1991, “Hei Elei, Kuck Elei” was notable for being the first Luxembourgish-language show on television.
Three artists, Monique Melsen, Marie Christine, and Fausti, performed three different songs, and the winning song was determined by a postal vote. Three days later, a jury would determine who would be the best singer for it.
Curiously, not much is known about the other songs, other than Monique Melsen won with “Pomme, Pomme, Pomme” and placed fourteenth in Dublin. Notably, Monique was one of only eight singers originally from Luxembourg in the country’s first thirty-seven years in the contest.
1976: The First National Final
The first proper Luxembourgish National final took place twenty years after the first Eurovision Song Contest, on Valentine’s Day. There, five artists performed their songs, with a jury and public vote deciding the winner, announced a week later.
Like with most of Luxembourg’s entries, this national final’s net was cast far and wide. Marianne Rosenberg, who made her name as a famous schlager singer, competed with the song “Tout peut arriver au cinema”, which would later become a hit with its German version. Il était une fois were a famous French group, who competed with the song “Tu sais que l’amour est une fleur“.
Another German schlager singer, Jürgen Marcus, ended up winning the chance to represent Luxembourg. He previously tried to represent Germany in 1975 with “Ein Lied zieht hinaus in die Welt“, which came in ninth, but became a huge hit afterwards.
1978: The One with Bacarra
With their hit song, “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie“, Bacarra was one of the biggest names in the 1970s. However, they weren’t automatically selected by RTL to represent the country, but were invited in another televised national final on March 21.
And they had competition too–Jean Paul Cara, who competed with the song “Un Arbre dans la ville“, was one of the co-writers of France’s 1977 winner, “L’oiseau et l’enfant”. Before representing Belgium in 1987, Liliane Saint-Pierre tried her hand for Luxembourg, with the self-written song “Mélodie”.
Not much is known about this national final, whether where it took place, or even the scoring system. However, Bacarra’s “Parlez-vous français?” ended up winning by eighteen points, and came in seventh at the Eurovision Song Contest.
1989: One Band, Three Songs, Twenty Minutes
After the 1988 contest, where Lara Fabian placed fourth with “Croire”, RTL was downsized when they sold their French broadcaster. As a result, their talent pool shrunk also, and looked further to their local talent.
The band they selected, Park Café, already released their debut album in 1987, and made their runs through outdoor festivals. Their lead singer, Maggie Parke, originally came from Salt Lake City, Utah; and she spoke in Luxembourgish between the songs. Her husband, trumpeter Gast Waltzing, not only taught the instrument, but also composed music for film and TV.
This national final had Park Café sing three songs–“Je l’aime”, “Chaque fois”, and “Monsieur” in previously recorded videos. For the first time, televoters would decide whom would represent Luxembourg, and they selected “Monsieur” with 66.5% of the vote.
1992: An Accidental Victory
By 1992, Maggie Parke and Gast Waltzing were busy on other projects, and so the other members of Park Café went off in other directions. Some of them would come together as the band Kontinent, with Marion Welter singing lead.
Like with the previous national final, the 1992 was small, with only two songs in contention. Most notably, both songs were in Luxembourgish, making it the first time since 1960 where a Luxembourgish entry was in its own language.
The audience chose their entry through sending postcards, and after a close battle between “Sou frai” and “Iwerall doheem”, the former won with only 51% of the vote.
2024: A New Beginning
The Luxembourg Song Contest brought interest from all across Luxembourg, and RTL is doing everything to make sure it brings a new generation of Luxembourgish artists their chance to shine on the European stage, as well as the chance to broadcast to a wider audience.
In their short national final history, Luxembourg played with different formats and found singers from across Europe to compete in them. While there was diversity in the songs they sent, they ultimately didn’t translate onto the scoreboard , and were quickly abandoned. Therefore, with the first iteration of the Luxembourg Song Contest, the goal is not only to make a statement, but show what Luxembourgish music is all about.
The Luxembourg Song Contest will be held on 27 January.