You have to admire our friends in Portugal. It took them 167 attempts to get the win in 2017. But before Salvador did his stuff in Kyiv, those Lusophones have had some cracking little songs.
We can’t put our finger on why Portugal hasn’t done that well (apart from one win) when they enter decent songs, but devoted fans will always love them. In 2003 (yes, 20 years ago), RTP sent today’s birthday girl Rita Maria de Azevedo Mafra Guerra. Her fine fine song only scored 13 points. Very inexplicable when you look at some of the songs that finished ahead of it. Only four countries gave her points, even with her seamless move from Portuguese to English during the song. The song became all the more poignant as Rita’s brother died whilst she was in Rīga. It’s not Portugal’s worst ever performance, but if there are travesties in results, Rita’s has got to be one of the stand-outs.
Rita is 56 today.
Feliz aniversario, Rita!