Introduction

Spain’s last victory is 46 years ago, it was “Vivo Cantando” by Salomé. For many times Spain would have deserved a victory, but the competition has grown, more and more countries take part and the music has changed a lot. The Spanish entries have often been traditional, but also modern, great ballads and disco songs. In some years the Spanish Television RTVE has organised a national final, but this year the decision has been made internally. The choice felt to one of Spain’s top dance music performers: Edurne.

The 29 years old Edurne García Almargo was born in Madrid. In the age of nine she joined a children’s choir and later she had several roles in TV series. She became well known through the Operación Triunfo in 2005. Starting from that she released five albums, climbed the Spanish charts, singing in musicals like “Grease”. Edurne received many awards already, so a triumph at the Eurovision Song Contest would complete her collection. Interesting to know is that her boyfriend David de Gea, the goal keeper of Manchester United.

The song “Amanecer” means “Morning Dawn” and is a more or less classical power ballad. RTVE has put a lot of effort in producing this year’s Spanish entry for Vienna. For the recording a full orchestra has been used and one of the composers is the Swedish Thomas G:sson, who has written the winning song “Euphoria” for Loreen in 2012 and also the Spanish entry 2012 “Quédate Conmigo”, which came 10th. The chorus of “Amanecer” is very catchy, with the right illumination on stage and a strong background choir this could do very well in Vienna. Edurne has a phenomenal voice which will certainly get a lot of attention.

History

Debut: 1961
Participations: 55
Finals: 55
Top 10: 24
Chance for Top 10: 44%

Spain joined the Eurovision family in 1961 with the debut song “Estando Contigo” by Conchita Bautista, which reached the 9th place in Cannes. From that time Spain has participated regularly, so it will be the 55th entry this year in Vienna.
Like France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, Spain belongs the Big 5 countries. That means these countries are directly qualified for the Grand Final and they don’t have pass the Semi Finals. The reason for this is the financial support to the EBU. Other countries would also belong to this “exclusive member club”. The host country will also have the right to directly start in the Grand Final.

The most successful time for Spain was in the late 60’s and early 70’s when there were two victories and some second places. The chance to reach the Top10 is 44%, as in the history Spain reached the Top10 for 24 times, out of 55 participations. Even if the Big 5 countries did not shape up that well in former years, Spain could at least make the 10th place for three times since 2004: Ramón with “Para Llenarme De Ti” in 2004, Pastora Soler with “Quédate Conmigo” in 2012 and Ruth Lorenzo with “Dancing In The Rain” last year in Copenhagen.

In the long history of Spanish entries there are a lot of gems. Most of the songs were sung in Spanish, while English is getting more and more used.