Yamaha Music Festival

Yamaha Music Festival

The Yamaha Music Festival, officially known as World Popular Song Festival and unofficially as the "Oriental Eurovision", used to be the world's biggest song contest, until it ended in 1989; that honour has now passed to the Eurovision Song Contest, in terms of viewership and participation. It was organised by the Yamaha Music Foundation in Tokyo, Japan from 1970 until 1989. The first edition of the World Popular Song Festival (WPSF) took place on 20, 21 and 22 November 1970 with 37 participating countries from all continents.

Belgium was represented at the 1970 edition by the dazzling Daliah Lavi, famous for her role in "Casino Royale" (1967), the James Bond parody featuring Woody Allen. Ms. Lavi performed the chanson "Prends L'Amour" and ended up 13th in the Grand Final (the contest had two semi-finals and one final). The Netherlands delegated world-known jazz singer Rita Reys with the song "Just Be You", a composition by her husband Pim Jacobs. Other famous 1970 participants were 1969 Eurovision winner Frida Boccara for France, Jacques Michel for Canada and Ted Mulry for Australia, who scored a national number 1 hit with his entry. Winner of the 1st WPSF was Israel with the duo Hedva & David. More than 2 million copies of their winning entry "Ani Holem Al Naomi" ("I Dream Of Naomi") were sold worldwide, giving a serious credibility boost to the new Festival.

Well-established names as well as new talents tried their fortune at the WPSF: a very young ABBA under the name Björn & Benny with uncredited backing vocals by their partners Agnetha and Anni-Frid performing the track "Santa Rosa" with little success (later relegated to the B-side of their second single "He Is Your Brother"), Céline Dion (Best Song Award in 1982), Bryan Adams (Participating in 1982), Tina Charles, Eros Ramazzotti, Gianna Nannini, Demis Roussos, Bonnie Tyler, B.J. Thomas, LaToya Jackson, Erasure, Italian singer-songwriter Alice and many others.

In the history of the WPSF the United Kingdom is the ultimate "pop nation", winning the "WPSF Grand Prix" 5 times in the seventies (even three times in row). The United Kingdom is followed by the United States with 4 Grand Prix victories. Not only big nations but also smaller countries managed to deliver the ultimate "world pop song": Jamaica in 1972 with Ernie Smith, Norway in 1974 with Ellen Nikolaysen, Cuba in 1981 with Osvaldo Rodríguez and Hungary in 1983 with Newton Family.

Grand Prix Winners

Awards

*Grand Prix

*Most Outstanding Performance Award (MOPA)

*Outstanding Performance Award (OPA)

*Outstanding Song Award (OSA)

*Kawakami Award

External links

* [http://www.yamaha-mf.or.jp/history/e-history/wpsf/ Official Site by Yamaha Music Foundation]
* [http://users.telenet.be/wpsf Detailed information about the WPSF - partly in English, partly in Dutch]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Yamaha Music Festival — Yamaha Music Festival, est un concours de chanson internationale originaire du Japon, apparenté aux Concours Eurovision de la chanson. Histoire Le festival a été créé en 1970 à Tokyo par la Yamaha Music Fondation avant de prendre fin en 1989. De… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Yamaha Music Foundation — is an organization established by the authority of Japanese Ministry of Education for the purpose of promoting music education and music popularization. Its unique, systematic teaching method and teacher training programs are highly evaluated not …   Wikipedia

  • Yamaha Music Foundation — Die Yamaha Music Foundation (jap. 財団法人ヤマハ音楽振興会, zaidan hōjin yamaha ongaku shinkōkai, dt. „Yamaha Stiftung für Musikförderung“) ist eine 1966 gegründete japanische Stiftung mit Sitz in Meguro, Tokio zum Zweck der Förderung und Popularisierung von …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nippon Television Music Festival — Awarded for Outstanding achievements in the record industry Presented by Nippon Television Country Japan First awarded 1975 Last …   Wikipedia

  • Newport Music Festival — Location(s) Newport, Rhode Island Years active 1969 present Genre classical Not to be confused with Newport Folk Festival or Newport Jazz Festival. Newport Music Festival is a classical music festival that takes place in Newport, Rhode… …   Wikipedia

  • Music in Japanese animation — is often closely tied to the Japanese music industry, but is also a significant industry, and genre in its own right, with genre often referred to as anison , a portmanteau of animation and song , or anime song . It is common for television and… …   Wikipedia

  • Music of Japan — The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 ( on sound) with the kanji 楽 ( gaku fun, comfort).[1] Japan is the second… …   Wikipedia

  • Music Expo — est à mi chemin entre le salon de la musique actuelle et le festival de concerts musicaux français de hip hop, pop, rock et électro. Se déroulant pendant deux jours, le but du salon festival est de rassembler les musiques urbaines et actuelles au …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Music of Somerset — Somerset is a county in the southwest of England. It is home to many types of music. Contents 1 Folk music 2 Classical 3 Venues 4 Youth groups …   Wikipedia

  • World Popular Song Festival — The World Popular Song Festival, also known as Yamaha Music Festival and unofficially as the Oriental Eurovision , was an international song contest held in 1970 1989. It was organised by the Yamaha Music Foundation in Tokyo, Japan from 1970… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”