1981 NORDRING RADIO PRIZE

Edition number - 9

Date - September 7-11, 1981

Location - Gloucester Hall, St Helier, Jersey (United Kingdom)

Host - Len Jackson

Orchestra - BBC Radio Orchestra

Musical director - Robert Farnon

Number of participating countries - 9

Jury president - Kevin Roche (Ireland)

Jury - Elias Gistelinck (Belgium) / Bruce Steele (Canada) / Erkki Melakoski (Finland) / Michael Casey (Ireland) / Han Reiziger (Netherlands) / Helge Lindeman (Norway) / Stig Olin (Sweden) / Bill Bebb (UK) / Tim Bontjes van Beek (West Germany)

Overall winning entry / best production - Netherlands / Rob Pronk & Piet Hein van de Poel 

Award best solo instrumentalist - Ferdinand Povel (Netherlands)

Award best arrangement - Eero Koivistoinen (Finland)

Interval act - Gala Concert feat. Vince Hill & Acker Bilk, conducted by Robert Farnon

The winning team from the Netherlands Nordring 1981 on Jersey Island, from left to right: Ferdinand Povel, Piet Hein van de Poel, Eef Albers, Dolf van der Linden, Rob Pronk, Gé Titulaer, Norma Winstone, Lee Gibson, and Jerry Rix. For the Dutch entry 'Ages', arranger Rob Pronk took a selection of nearly forty songs and arranged them into a suite consisting of four parts, each representing a stage of the circle of life

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

BELGIUM (BRT)

Programme - “Just Listen….and Relax”

Subtitle - "An Invitation to Sit Back and Enjoy a Concert of Belgian Light Music in Modern Style" 

Vocals - Claude Lombard / Freddy Sunder / Marc Mercini / Sadi Lallemand 

Guitar - Freddy Sunder

Trombone - Marc Mercini

Vibraphone - Sadi Lallemand / Bob Porter

Flute & keyboards - Bob Porter 

Tenor saxophone, violin - Vic Ingeveldt

Arrangement - Willy Albimoor

Conductor - Etienne Verschueren

Production - Yvonne Verelst

CANADA (CBC)

Programme - “Northwest Passage”

Subtitle - "A Sequence of Traditional and Contemporary Canadian Folk Tunes, Designed to Impart a Feeling of Canada Through Its Music and People"

Vocals - Kate & Anna McGarrigle / Chaim Tennenbaum / Stan Rogers

Guitar - Chaim Tennenbaum

Bass - Pat Donaldson

Violin - Graham Townsend

Arrangement - Don Stephens

Conductor - Don Stephens

Production - Bill Garrett

FINLAND (YLE)

Programme - “Ultima Thule”

Subtitle - "A Composition for Jazz Quintet and Orchestra Inspired by the Nature, Culture and History of Lapland, and Depicting Life in This Region During the Different Seasons" 

Saxophones - Eero Koivistoinen

Flugelhorn, trumpet - Markku Johansson

Piano - Vladimir Shafranov

Bass - Pekka Sarmanto

Drums - Esko Rosnell

Composition - Eero Koivistoinen

Arrangement - Eero Koivistoinen

Conductor - Esko Linnavalli

Production - Erkki Lehtola

IRELAND (RTÉ)

Programme - “Dubliners”

Subtitle - "A Concert of Melody and Song Inspired by Composers and Writers Who Were Dubliners by Birth or Adoption, and Reflecting the Influence of the City on Themselves and on Music"

Vocals - Austin Gaffney / Joan Merrigan

Arrangement - John Tate / James Bolger / Noel Kelehan

Conductor - Proinnsías Ó Duinn

Production - Johnny Devlin

NETHERLANDS (NOS)

Programme - “Ages”

Subtitle - "Stages in Life – Each With Its Own Sorrows and Joys – Each With Its Own Songs, Most of Them About Love, Different Kinds of Love"

Vocals - Lee Gibson / Norma Winstone / Jerry Rix / Gé Titulaer

Guitar - Eef Albers

Tenor saxophone, flute - Ferdinand Povel

Arrangement - Rob Pronk

Conductor - Dolf van der Linden

Production - Rob Pronk / Piet Hein van de Poel

NORWAY (NRK)

Programme - “How to Play Music and Operate An Orchestra without Harming Anybody but The Ones Listening”

Subtitle - "The Influence of Composers, Arrangers, Conductors, and Artists on Music When Things Aren’t What They Ought to Be – or Vice Versa!" 

Vocals - Ellen Nikolaysen / Wenche Hallan / Jahn Teigen

Arrangement - Sigurd Jansen

Conductor - Sigurd Jansen

Production - Sigurd Jansen

SWEDEN (SR)

Programme - “Sweets from Sweden”

Subtitle - "A Presentation of Swedish Light Music With Jazz Undertones, Composed by One of Sweden’s Grand Old Men of Show-biz"

Vocals - Sylvia Vrethammar

Clarinet - Putte Wickman

Trumpet - Jan Allan

Piano - Thore Swanerud

Lyrics - Claude Stephenson

Composition - Thore Swanerud

Arrangement - Georg Riedel

Conductor - Gustaf Sjökvist

Production - Rune Hallberg / Lars Hamberg

UNITED KINGDOM (BBC)

Programme - “We Loved You Madly”

Subtitle - "A Celebration of the Music of Duke Ellington"

Presenter - Len Jackson

Vocals - Madeline Bell / Danny Street / Marilyn Hill-Smith

Script - Peter Clayton

Arrangement - Steve Gray

Conductor - Barry Forgie

Production - Lawrie Monk

WEST GERMANY (NDR)

Programme - “Marchtime - The Music, Of Course”

Subtitle - "The Germans Have a Reputation as Lovers of Marching Music – but They Don’t Always Approach Their Subject Too Seriously!"

Presenter, piano - Paul Kuhn

Saxophones, clarinet, flute - Heinz von Hermann

Tuba - Ronald Pisarkiewicz

Arrangement - Hardy Schneiders

Conductor - Hardy Schneiders

Production - Helga Boddin

Musical director for West Germany's Nordring team in 1979, 1981, and 1982 was Hardy Schneiders, who also conducted Switzerland's Eurovision entry in 1971

NORDRING RADIO PRIZE

Index & General Information / 1973 Dronten / 1974 Groningen / 1975 Oslo / 1976 Inverness / 1977 Copenhagen / 1978 Oslo / 1979 Dublin / 1980 Helsinki / 1981 St Helier, Jersey / 1982 Malmö / 1983 Blankenberghe

ROLF ZUCKOWSKI

Born: May 12th, 1947, Hamburg (British Occupation Zone in Germany)

Nationality: German

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Hailing from Hamburg in Northern Germany, Rolf Zuckowski started his career in music in the band The Beathovens. Later, he regularly wrote the lyrics to pop songs, amongst which the German translation of ‘Oliver’, Norway’s entry to the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest. From the late 1970s onwards, Zuckowski started writing songs, theatre plays, musicals, books especially for children; his children’s records ‘Rolfs Vogelhochzeit’ (1978) and ‘Lieder, die wie Brücken sind’ (1982) made him a star in West Germany. In between all song writing and recording, Zuckowski presented the ZDF TV series Singen macht Spass and toured in Germany and abroad. In 2000, he was awarded the German Music Prize for his qualities as a composer, lyricist, producer, and singer of children’s music. Eight years later an ECHO Award for lifetime achievement was conferred upon him.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

In the 1970s, Zuckowski often worked with Swiss songwriter Peter Reber, member of Peter, Sue & Marc. With Reber, Zuckowski penned the orchestrations to four Swiss Eurovision entries, of which three by Peter, Sue & Marc, namely: ‘Djambo, Djambo’ (1976), ‘Trödler und co.’ (1979), and the international hit ‘Io senza te’ (1981). The latter two songs were conducted by Zuckowski himself. In 1977, Reber composed ‘Swiss Lady’ for the Pepe Lienhard Band; he and Zuckowski wrote the arrangement with Pepe Lienhard, but it was Peter Jacques who conducted the orchestra that year. Also in 1980, Zuckowski had a hand in the Swiss entry, 'Cinéma' by Paola, this time co-producing the item with Peter Reber.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1976 The Hague

Country – Switzerland

Song title – “Djambo, Djambo”

Rendition – Peter, Sue & Marc 

(Peter Reber / Susan Schell / Marc Dietrich)

Lyrics – Peter Reber

Composition – Peter Reber

Studio arrangement – Peter Reber / Rolf Zuckowski

Live orchestration – Peter Reber / Rolf Zuckowski

Conductor – Mario Robbiani

Score – 4th place (91 votes)

1977 London

Country – Switzerland

Song title – "Swiss Lady"

Rendition – Pepe Lienhard Band 

(Pepe Lienhard / Bill von Arx / Pino Gasparini / Christian von Hoffmann / Mostafa Kafa’i Azimi / Georges Walther)

Lyrics – Peter Reber

Composition – Peter Reber

Studio arrangement – Peter Reber / Rolf Zuckowski / Pepe Lienhard Band

Live orchestration – Peter Jacques

Conductor – Peter Jacques

Score – 6th place (71 votes)

1979 Jerusalem

Country – Switzerland

Song title – “Trödler und co.”

Rendition – Peter, Sue & Marc feat. Pfuri, Gorps & Kniri (Peter Reber / Susan Schell / Marc Dietrich / Pfuri Baldenweg / Anthony Fischer / Kniri Knaus)

Lyrics – Peter Reber

Composition – Peter Reber

Studio arrangement – Peter Reber / Rolf Zuckowski

Live orchestration – Peter Reber / Rolf Zuckowski

Conductor – Rolf Zuckowski

Score – 10th place (60 votes)

1981 Dublin

Country – Switzerland

Song title – “Io senza te”

Rendition – Peter, Sue & Marc 

(Peter Reber / Susan Schell / Marc Dietrich)

Lyrics – Peter Reber / Nella Martinetti

Composition – Peter Reber

Studio arrangement – Peter Reber / Rolf Zuckowski

Live orchestration – Peter Reber / Rolf Zuckowski

Conductor – Rolf Zuckowski

Score – 4th place (121 votes)

WEBSITE

www.musik-fuer-dich.de

GIUSEPPE MARCHESE

Born: December 1st, 1947, Leonforte (Italy)

Nationality: Belgian

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Hailing from a small town in Sicily, Giuseppe ‘Pino’ Marchese has been an important factor in Belgium’s record studios since the early 1970s. In his early years, he mainly worked as a pianist and bass player; he was involved in the recordings of ‘Ça plane pour moi’ (Lou Deprijck/Plastic Bertrand) and ‘Born to be alive’ (Patrick Hernandez). Other artists he worked for as an instrumentalist include Kris De Bruyne, Two Man Sound, and Francis Goya. Somewhat later, he started writing arrangements for various singers, such as Barry & Eileen, Rocco Granata, and Will Tura. He is occasionally credited as a composer as well, for example for Franck Olivier. Since the 1990s, Marchese mostly worked with Flemish-language artists: Luc Steeno, Christoff, Wendy Van Wanten, Dana Winner, and John Terra, to name just a few.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Giuseppe Marchese made his debut on the Eurovision stage backing up Telex as a vocalist in the festival in The Hague in 1980 along with Evert Verhees and Erik Chale. Telex's prank entry 'Euro-vision' was performed without orchestral accompaniment.

Marchese had been disco singer Emly Starr’s arranger for three years already, when she was chosen by Flemish BRT to represent Belgium in the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Samson’, a song written by Penny Els, producer Kick Dandy, and Marchese himself. Giuseppe Marchese wrote the orchestration and conducted the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Dublin during the Belgian performance. 

Fifteen years later, in 1996, Marchese arranged another Belgian entry, ‘Liefde is een kaartspel’, composed by John Terra and sung by Lisa Del Bo. In both the Belgian preselection and the international final, this song was conducted by Bob Porter.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1980 The Hague

Country – Belgium

Song title – “Euro-vision”

Rendition – Telex (Marc Moulin / Dan Lacksman / Michel Moers), backed up by Erik Chale / Giuseppe 'Pino' Marchese / 

Evert Verhees

Lyrics – Telex

Composition – Telex

Studio arrangement – Telex

Live orchestration – none

Conductor – none

Score – 17th place (14 votes)

1981 Dublin

Country – Belgium

Song title – “Samson”

Rendition – Emly Starr

Lyrics – Kick Dandy / Penny Els

Composition – Kick Dandy / Giuseppe 'Pino' Marchese

Studio arrangement – Giuseppe 'Pino' Marchese

Live orchestration – Giuseppe 'Pino' Marchese

Conductor – Giuseppe 'Pino' Marchese

Score – 13th place (40 votes)

1996 Oslo

Country – Belgium

Song title – “Liefde is een kaartspel”

Rendition – Lisa Del Bo

Lyrics – Siirak Brogden / Daniël Ditmar

Composition – John Terra

Studio arrangement – Giuseppe 'Pino' Marchese

Live orchestration – Giuseppe 'Pino' Marchese

Conductor – Bob Porter

Score audio semi-final – 12th place (45 votes)

Score – 16th place (22 votes)

SHEGUNDO GALARZA

Born: September 7th, 1924, Segura, Guipúzcoa (Spain)

Died: January 4th, 2003, Lisbon (Portugal)

Nationality: Portuguese

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Hailing from the Basque Country, Shegundo Galarza moved to Portugal in the late 1940s. Between 1948 and 1950, he played the piano in the Estoril Casino. In the following years, from 1951 and 1956, he was a pianist in many different restaurants in Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa. Upon his return to Portugal, he opened a restaurant in Lisbon, ‘Monaco’, where he performed with his own music ensemble until 1974. 

From the early 1950s onwards, recordings by Galarza as a solo pianist were released by various companies. As a studio arranger, Galarza worked with Tony de Matos, Amália Rodrigues, Paulo de Carvalho, and many more. With his string orchestra, he performed in over 100 TV programmes and recorded around 50 LPs. He conducted for Portugal in the OTI Festival. In 1998, a tribute for Galarza was organised in the casino in Estoril, where his career in music had begun fifty years previously.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

As an arranger and/or conductor, Shegundo Galarza participated in all editions of the Festival RTP da Canção between 1978 and 1983. In 1981, he arranged and conducted the song which was chosen to represent Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest: ‘Play-back’, composed and performed by Carlos Paião. In the Eurovision final in Dublin, this up-beat pop song finished in eighteenth position.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1981 Dublin

Country – Portugal

Song title – "Play-back"

Rendition – Carlos Paião

Lyrics – Carlos Paião

Composition – Carlos Paião

Studio arrangement – Shegundo Galarza

Live orchestration – Shegundo Galarza

Conductor – Shegundo Galarza

Score – 18th place (9 votes)

JOAN BARCONS

Born: February 10th, 1942, Barcelona (Spain)

Died: January 20th, 2020, Mataró (Spain)

Nationality: Spanish

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Joan Barcons Moreno’s most important claim to fame is the fact that he is co-credited for the reworked French version of Spanish Eurovision winner ‘Vivo cantando’ (1969); this folk version was sung by Rika Zaraï and was a major hit in several European countries. As a studio arranger, he worked for Belter; later, he set up an independent recording studio in Barcelona. He wrote orchestrations for Peret, Manolo Escobar, Braulio, and Los Nins. Barcons also wrote film soundtracks and, later in his career, turned to teaching music, conducting the Barcelona Municipal Conservatory choir.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Apart from his involvement as an arranger of Eurovision winner 'Vivo cantando' in 1969, Joan Barcons arranged and conducted two Spanish Eurovision entries: ‘Sobran las palabras’, sung by Braulio in 1976 (16th place); and ‘Y solo tú’, sung by Bacchelli in 1981 (14th place).

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1969 Madrid

Country – Spain

Song title – "Vivo cantando"

Rendition – Salomé 

Lyrics – Aniano Alcalde

Composition – Maria José de Cerato

Studio arrangement – Joan Barcons

Live orchestration – Joan Barcons

Conductor – Augusto Algueró (MD)

Score – 1st place (18 votes)

1976 The Hague

Country – Spain

Song title – "Sobran las palabras"

Rendition – Braulio

Lyrics – Braulio Antonio García Bautista

Composition – Braulio Antonio García Bautista

Studio arrangement – Joan Barcons

Live orchestration – Joan Barcons

Conductor – Joan Barcons

Score – 16th place (11 votes)

1981 Dublin

Country – Spain

Song title – "Y solo tú"

Rendition – Bacchelli

Lyrics – Amado Jaén

Composition – Amado Jaén

Studio arrangement – Joan Barcons

Live orchestration – Joan Barcons

Conductor – Joan Barcons

Score – 14th place (38 votes)

DAVID SPRINFIELD

Born: August 28th, 1947, Casablanca (French Morocco)

Died: February 9th, 2017, La Seyne-sur-Mer (France)

Nationality: French

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

David Sprinfield (pseudonym of Daniel Sauveur Tome) began playing the piano at the age of 8. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he wrote songs for the likes of Sophie & Magaly, Les Felins, Alain Fondat, and Daniel Lubrano. Orchestrations of his were recorded for songs by Franck Olivier and Pierre Charby.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

David Sprinfield arranged and conducted the 1981 French Eurovision entry ‘Humanahum’ (composed by Jean-Paul Cara with lyrics by Joe Gracy, the team of songwriters which was also behind ‘L’oiseau et l’enfant’, which won the contest in 1977), performed by Jean Gabilou, who came 3rd – only 11 points behind the eventual winning song from the United Kingdom.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1981 Dublin

Country – France

Song title – “Humanahum”

Rendition – Jean Gabilou 

Lyrics – Joe Gracy

Composition – Jean-Paul Cara

Studio arrangement – David Sprinfield

Live orchestration – David Sprinfield

Conductor – David Sprinfield

Score – 3rd place (125 votes)

HENRIK OTTO DONNER

Born: November 16th, 1939, Tampere (Finland)

Died: June 27th, 2013, Jakobstad / Pietarsaari (Finland)

Nationality: Finnish

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Henrik Otto Donner studied the trumpet at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, and electronic music at the Siemens-Studio in Munich. He can probably be considered as Finland’s single most important avant-garde composer, having some experimental pieces to his credit, such as ‘Ideogramme I’ (combining the sound of twelve radios with an ensemble consisting of flute, clarinet, trombone, and percussion; 1962) and ‘Street Piece Helsinki’ (1963). Moreover, he worked as a jazz trumpeter, arranger, and composer; he led the group Free For All and worked with influential jazz musicians such as Mauri Antero Numminen and Juhani Aaltonen. Donner regularly composed music for TV programmes and films.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

With Jim Pembroke, Henrik Otto Donner composed the 1981 Finnish Eurovision entry ‘Reggae O.K.’ by Rikki Sorsa and also penned the orchestration to it. Because regular Finnish conductor Ossi Runne was the TV commentator for the Finnish viewers in that’s years contest, it was Donner himself who conducted the orchestra in Dublin. One year later, Runne was back as a conductor, but Donner again teamed up with Pembroke to compose the Finnish entry, the much-discussed ‘Nuku pommiin’ by Kojo; again, Donner wrote the arrangement. Whereas ‘Reggae O.K.’ finished 16th, ‘Nuku pommiin’ failed to pick up any points and came 18th and last.

Several years before, in 1975, Donner was the producer of country band Pihasoittajat. When the group won the Finnish Eurovision selection, Donner wrote a tiny orchestration of strings over the band arrangement which was played in the festival final in Stockholm.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1975 Stockholm

Country – Finland

Song title – "Old Man Fiddle (Viulu-ukko)"

Rendition – Pihasoittajat (Kim Kuusi / Henrik Bergendahl / Arja Karlsson / Hannu Karlsson / Harry Lindahl / Seppo Sillanpää)

Finnish lyrics – Hannu Karlsson

English lyrics – Arthur Ridgway Spencer

Composition – Kim Kuusi

Studio arrangement – Kim Kuusi

Live orchestration – Henrik Otto Donner

Conductor – Ossi Runne

Score – 7th place (74 votes)

1981 Dublin

Country – Finland

Song title – "Reggae O.K."

Rendition – Riki Sorsa 

Lyrics – Olli Ojala

Composition – Henrik Otto Donner / Jim Pembroke

Studio arrangement – Henrik Otto Donner

Live orchestration – Henrik Otto Donner

Conductor – Henrik Otto Donner

Score – 16th place (27 votes)

1982 Harrogate

Country – Finland

Song title – "Nuku pommiin"

Rendition – Kojo (Timo Kojo)

Lyrics – Juhani 'Juice' Leskinen

Composition – Henrik Otto Donner / Jim Pembroke

Studio arrangement – Henrik Otto Donner

Live orchestration – Henrik Otto Donner

Conductor – Ossi Runne

Score – 18th place (0 votes)