Swedish Eurovision Song Contest fans, stay tuned! Tonight, Swedish broadcaster SVT will air a programme dedicated to the 1960 Swedish national selection again, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Eurovision Song Contest.
Melodifestivalen?
The name Melodifestivalen was not yet 'invented' in 1960, but popped up for the first time seven years later, in 1967. The programme was instead called Eurovisionsschlagern. 1960 was Sweden�s third attempt at the Eurovision Song Contest and only the second time with an open and televised national selection. In 1958 the song had been chosen internally.
16 songs
The 1960 Swedish national selection consisted of a semifinal with 16 competing songs, only broadcast on radio. Eight songs were selected to proceed to a second round. The televised final, which took place in Stockholm on the 2nd of February, started with the immediate elimination of four songs in the first voting round. The remaining four songs were performed twice, with different artists each time and with a large orchestra and a small orchestra respectively.
We have a winner…?
The winning song, Alla andra får varann, was performed by Östen Warnerbring and Inger Berggren respectively. But none of them was allowed to become Sweden�s third representative at the fifth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Before the selection, it was already decided that the popular singer Siw Malmkvist would represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in London. Siw Malmkvist finished 10th.
The re-run of the 1960 Eurovisionsschlagern will start at 21:00 CET on SVT1. Unfortunately, it's not possible to see the show online.
