Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976

Portugal was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song "Uma flor de verde pinho", composed by José Niza, with lyrics by Manuel Alegre, and performed by Carlos do Carmo. The Portuguese participating broadcaster, Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP), selected its entry at the Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1976, after having previously selected the performer internally.

Eurovision Song Contest 1976
Participating broadcaster	Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP)
Country	Portugal
National selection
Selection process	Artist: Internal selection Song: Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1976
Selection date(s)	7 March 1976
Selected artist(s)	Carlos do Carmo
Selected song	"Uma flor de verde pinho"
Selected songwriter(s)	José Niza Manuel Alegre
Finals performance
Final result	12th, 24 points
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1975 • 1976 • 1977►

Before Eurovision

Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1976

Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) held the Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1976 at its Lumiar studios in Lisbon on 7 March 1976, hosted by António Vitorino de Almeida, Ana Zanatti, and Eládio Clímaco. Eight songs took part in the final. Thilo Krasmann conducted all the songs.^[1][2]

For the first time, only one singer was chosen to perform all the songs: Carlos do Carmo, a highly respected fado singer, was invited to perform the eight songs, chosen by public contest.^[3]

The voting system was once again changed: for the first time, the public was invited to participate on the choice, casting votes on postcards via post until 3 March. On 22 February, the eight compositions were presented to the general public, on RTP1 and on the 23 on RTP2, although the respective authors and composers were not yet known. On 7 March and after the votes of the Portuguese people were scrutinized, the eight songs are again presented from 8th to 1st place, where the authors of each theme and the percentage of votes obtained for each song were revealed.^[3]

Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa - 7 March 1976

Draw	Song	Percentage	Place
1	"Onde é que tu moras"	4.70%	7
2	"Estrela da tarde"	9.29%	6
3	"Os lobos e ninguém"	9.84%	5
4	"Novo fado alegre"	23.97%	2
5	"No teu poema"	13.24%	3
6	"Maria-criada, Maria-senhora"	3.58%	8
7	"Cantiga de Maio"	10.13%	4
8	"Uma flor de verde pinho"	25.25%	1

At Eurovision

On the night of the final, Carmo performed 15th in the running order, following Austria and preceding Monaco. At the close of the voting the song had received 24 points, coming 12th in the field of 18 competing countries.^[4][5] The orchestra during the Portuguese entry was conducted by Thilo Krasmann.^[6]

Voting

Points awarded to Portugal[7] Score Country 12 points  France 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points  Luxembourg 5 points 4 points  Greece 3 points 2 points 1 point  Finland  Italy

Points awarded by Portugal[7] Score Country 12 points  United Kingdom 10 points  Italy 8 points  Belgium 7 points   Switzerland 6 points  Netherlands 5 points  France 4 points  Norway 3 points  Monaco 2 points  Israel 1 point  Greece

References

1. Ficha técnica, letras das canções e as capas dos discos, sempre que os temas concorrentes foram editados.
2. ESC National Finals database 1976
3. "INFORMAÇÃO". 1976 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-04-02.
4. "Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
5. ESC History - Portugal 1976
6. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 93–101. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
7. "Results of the Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.