OTI Festival 1994


The OTI Festival 1994 was the 23rd edition of the OTI Festival. It consisted of a semi-final on 14 October and a final on 15 October 1994, held at Teatro Principal in Valencia, Spain, and presented by Ana Obregón and. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana and host broadcaster Televisión Española, who staged the event after winning the 1993 festival for Spain with the song "Enamorarse" by.
Broadcasters from twenty-four countries participated in the festival. The winner was the song "Canción despareja" performed by Claudia Carenzio representing Argentina; with "Cuestión de suerte" by Ana María representing Spain placing second; and "Enfurecida" by representing Venezuela placing third.

Location

For the third consecutive year, the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana designated Televisión Española as the host broadcaster for the 23rd edition of the OTI Festival. TVE staged the event again in Valencia. The selected venue was the venue that hosted the two previous editions, Teatro Principal, a theatre opened in 1832 that was designed by Filippo da Pistoia.

Participants

Broadcasters from twenty-four countries participated in this edition of the OTI festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twenty-two Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. From the countries that participated in the previous edition, only Canada was absent.
Some of the participating broadcasters, such as those representing Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, and Panama, selected their entries through their regular national televised competitions. Other broadcasters decided to select their entry internally.
Two performing artists had previously represented the same country in previous editions: had represented Costa Rica in 1980 and 1982, and had represented Peru in 1988 and 1990.
CountryBroadcasterArtistSongLanguageSongwriterConductor
Argentina|1861lang\|es|Canción despareja|i=no

Festival overview

The festival consisted of a semi-final on Friday 14 October and a final on Saturday 15 October 1994. It was directed by and presented by Ana Obregón and. Francisco had presented the festival in 1993. The musical director was José Fabra, who conducted the 60-piece orchestra when required. The shows featured guest performances by Lola Flores, Sergio Dalma, Los Panchos, The Platters, José Feliciano, Emmanuel, Mireille Mathieu, El Consorcio, and María Vidal.

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on Friday 14 October 1994, beginning at 22:30 CET. The twenty-four participating entries were performed in the semi-final, of which only twelve advanced to the final. The position of the entries was not revealed, only the qualifiers were announced.
CountryArtistSongResult
1Nicaraguaill|Álvaro Villagra|eslang\|es|La sombra del sol|i=noN/A

Final

The final was held on Saturday 15 October 1994, beginning at 22:30 CET.
The winner was the song "Canción despareja" performed by Claudia Carenzio representing Argentina; with "Cuestión de suerte" by Ana María representing Spain placing second; and "Enfurecida" by representing Venezuela placing third. The first prize was endowed with a monetary amount of US$50,000, the second prize of US$30,000, and the third prize of US$20,000. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.
CountryArtistSongPointsPlace
Argentina|1861lang\|es|Canción despareja|i=no

Jury

The members of a single jury selected their favourite songs in a secret vote. The members of the event's orchestra acted collectively as one juror. The members of the jury were:

Detailed voting result

Each of the members of the jury awarded 5–1 points to its five favourite songs in order of preference, and wrote its vote anonymously on a ballot. In the semi-final, only the qualifiers were announced. In the final, the counting was conducted publicly, with the hosts announcing the results of each ballot, which were picked in random order.

Broadcast

The festival was broadcast in the 24 participating countries where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
CountryBroadcasterChannelCommentator
Netherlands Antillesefn|Delayed broadcast of the semi-final on 15 October at 14:15 AST right before the live broadcast of the final.N/A|

Reception

The Venezuelan entry, "Enfurecida" by Luis Silva was used as the opening theme song for the telenovela Pura sangre.