O Jardim by Cláudia Pascoal
And now for the home entry from Portugal. Wow. Can you believe how many years we’ve been waiting to hear that? It’s going to be an emotional Contest of firsts, we’d better get used to that.
Apart from perhaps the scale of the final, it was pretty much business as usual in the Festival da Cançao this year, with the same kind of typically Portuguese no-hopers making up most of the line-up. The hot favourite withdrew after it was discovered his song bore an uncanny resemblance to a track recorded in 1976. The accusations of plagiarism were never quite established, but if they are founded it would be quite cosily Portuguese to have copied something that old-fashioned.
The winner is a simple, almost ethereal, ballad written to commemorate the death of the composer’s grandmother. The lyrics are beautiful, with a promise to tend the garden of the deceased now that they’re gone. Cláudia is joined on stage by the composer, Isaura, although she’s not officially credited on the track.
To be honest, as nice as it is, were it having to get through a semi final I don’t think it would have a chance, so it will be down to how kindly voters choose to reward Portugal as the host. Sometimes, this boosts a score, but at others, as we saw in Austria with The Make Makes, voters can be brutally unsentimental.
My marks: 7 points
Will it qualify? N/A, host nation