Mexico_in_the_OTI_Festival
Mexico in the OTI Festival
Overview of Mexico in the OTI Festival
The participation of Mexico in the OTI Festival first began at the second OTI Festival in 1973 held in Belo Horizonte and continued continuously until the last edition in 2000 held in Acapulco. Televisa, member of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), was responsible for the Mexican participation. During the contest’s run, it was one of the most successful countries with a record six wins, including a back-to-back victory in 1989 and 1990, and fourteen top 3 finishes.
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Mexico had initially expressed its desire to take part in the first OTI Festival in 1972 held in Madrid. In fact, Telesistema Mexicano, had selected Alberto Ángel "El Cuervo" as their representative with the song "Yo no voy a la guerra" composed by Roberto Cantoral, but the entry was disqualified because both the OTI and some voices in Francoist Spain felt that the song had political intentions, which made it unsuitable to compete in the contest.[1]
So Televisa, Telesistema Mexicano's successor, entered the contest for the first time the following year in the second edition of the contest. Mexico was the most successful country of the history of the festival along with Spain, with six victories each. Apart from the victories, the country ended in the top 10 on nineteen occasions.[2]
The first Mexican victory came in its first participation, in 1973 in Belo Horizonte, with the song "¡Que alegre va María!" sung by Imelda Miller [es].[3] Two year later, in 1975, the country won again the contest in San Juan with the song "La felicidad" sung by Gualberto Castro.[4] One decade later, in 1985, México won again with the song "El fandango aquí" sung by Eugenia León. This was a very controversial victory, which was attributed to the solidarity with the country because of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, that destroyed the capital city.[5] In 1989 and 1990 Mexico got two consecutive wins with "Una canción no es suficiente" sung by Analí and "Un bolero" sung by Carlos Cuevas. The last Mexican victory came in 1997 in Lima with the song "Se diga lo que se diga" sung by Iridián.
Televisa hosted the OTI festival six times, in 1974 and 1976 in the Ruiz de Alarcón Theatre in Acapulco. In 1981 and 1984 in Mexico City, being the National Auditorium the venue. In 1991, Acapulco hosted again the festival in the Convention Centre, the same venue where the last edition of the contest was held in 2000. It was also going to host the contest in 1999 in Veracruz, but it had to be cancelled due to floods in the host city.
The Mexican OTI Song Contest trajectory is known for its popular national final, the "National OTI Contest", which was passionately followed every year by the Mexican audience and known by its surprises and frequent scandals. This selection process is usually compared with its Swedish Eurovision Song Contest counterpart, the Melodifestivalen, due to the interest that it created and the big names who tried to represent México in the main OTI Festival.[6]
1 | First place |
2 | Second place |
3 | Third place |
F | Finalist |
X | Song disqualified / Contest cancelled |
Year | Artist | Song | Place | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1972 | Alberto Ángel "El Cuervo" | "Yo no voy a la guerra"[lower-alpha 1] | Disqualified X | |
1973 | Imelda Miller [es] | "Que alegre va María"[lower-alpha 2] | 1 | 17 |
1974 | Enrique Cáceres [es] | "Quijote" | 10 | 3 |
1975 | Gualberto Castro | "La felicidad"[lower-alpha 3] | 1 | 20 |
1976 | Gilberto Valenzuela | "De que te quiero te quiero"[lower-alpha 4] | 6 | 8 |
1977 | José María Napoleón | "Hombre"[lower-alpha 5] | 16 | 0 |
1978 | Lupita D'Alessio | "Como tú"[lower-alpha 6] | 3 | 44 |
1979 | Estela Núñez [es] | "Vivir sin ti"[lower-alpha 7] | 8 | 18 |
1980 | José Roberto | "Sólo te amo a ti"[lower-alpha 8] | 8 | 21 |
1981 | Yoshio | "Lo que pasó pasó..."[lower-alpha 9] | 3 | 22 |
1982 | Enrique Guzmán | "Con y por amor"[lower-alpha 10] | 4 | 22 |
1983 | María Medina [es] | "Compás de espera"[lower-alpha 11] | 10 | 12 |
1984 | Yuri | "Tiempos mejores"[lower-alpha 12] | 3 | – |
1985 | Eugenia León | "El fandango aquí"[lower-alpha 13] | 1 | – |
1986 | Prisma | "De color rosa"[lower-alpha 14] | 2 | – |
1987 | Ana Gabriel | "¡Ay, Amor!"[lower-alpha 15] | 3 | – |
1988 | María del Sol | "Contigo y con el mundo"[lower-alpha 16] | 5 | – |
1989 | Analí | "Una canción no es suficiente"[lower-alpha 17] | 1 | – |
1990 | Carlos Cuevas | "Un bolero"[lower-alpha 18] | 1 | – |
1991 | Rodolfo Muñiz | "Barrio viejo"[lower-alpha 19] | 3 | – |
1992 | Arturo Vargas | "Enamorado de la vida"[lower-alpha 20] | – | – |
1993 | Magdalena Zárate | "Siempre a medias"[lower-alpha 21] | 2 | – |
1994 | Fuga de Goya | "Rompe el cristal"[lower-alpha 22] | 5 | – |
1995 | Sayeg | "Cantos distintos"[lower-alpha 23] | F | – |
1996 | Sergio Arzate | "Del piso a la nube"[lower-alpha 24] | – | – |
1997 | Iridián | "Se diga lo que se diga"[lower-alpha 25] | 1 | – |
1998 | Fernando Ibarra | "Voy a volverme loco"[lower-alpha 26] | F | – |
1999 | Contest cancelled X | |||
2000 | Natalia Sosa | "Mi vida"[lower-alpha 27] | 3 | – |
Year | City | Venue | Hosts | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1974 | Acapulco | Ruiz de Alarcón Theatre | [7] | |
1976 |
|
[8] | ||
1981 | Mexico City | Auditorio Nacional | Raúl Velasco | [9] |
1984 | [10] | |||
1991 | Acapulco | Centro de Convenciones | [11] | |
1999 | Veracruz | Contest cancelled X | ||
2000 | Acapulco | Centro de Convenciones | [12] |
- Amiguet, Teresa (26 November 2022). "Prohibido cantar contra la guerra". La Vanguardia (in Spanish).
- "¿Qué fue de ellos? Mexicanos ganadores del Festival OTI | De10". de10.com.mx (in Spanish). 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
- D.F.-, NOTIMEX/ MÉXICO. "Rinden homenaja a Imelda Miller por 54 años de carrera" (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2017-04-05.
- "Una voz sin tiempo: Gualberto Castro, figura indiscutible de México - Retos por México". Retos por México (in European Spanish). 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
- "La representante de México, Eugenia León, ganadora del XVI Festival de la OTI". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). 1985-09-23. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
- "La OTI: OTI MEXICO". La OTI. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
- "Festival OTI de la Canción 1974". OTI Festival (in Spanish). 26 October 1974. Televisa / OTI.
- "Festival OTI de la Canción 1976". OTI Festival (in Spanish). 30 October 1976. Televisa / OTI.
- "Festival OTI de la Canción 1981". OTI Festival (in Spanish). 5 December 1981. Televisa / OTI.
- "Festival OTI de la Canción 1984". OTI Festival (in Spanish). 10 November 1984. Televisa / OTI.
- "Festival OTI de la Canción 1991". OTI Festival (in Spanish). 14 December 1991. Televisa / OTI.
- "Festival OTI de la Canción 2000". OTI Festival (in Spanish). 20 May 2000. Televisa / OTI.