Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963

Belgium was represented at the Eurovision [Song Contest 1963] with the song "Waarom?", composed by with lyrics by Wim Brabants, and performed by Jacques Raymond. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Dutch-speaking Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep, selected its entry through a national final. Raymond had previously finished second in the, and would later represent the country in a duet with Lily Castel in.

Before Eurovision

Canzonissima was the national final format developed by Dutch-speaking broadcaster Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep which determined the song that would represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963. The competition consisted of nine semi-finals held between October 1962 and February 1963, and a final on 16 February 1963.
Canzonissima 1963 was the first of four series of the show, with seasons in, 1967–1968, and. The 1966–1967 and 1970–1971 editions of the show acted as BRT's national final for the Eurovision Song Contest in their respective years. The Canzonissima format would also inspire the format for , the first edition of Eurosong – the long-term Dutch-speaking selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Format

Canzonissima 1963 consisted of nine semi-finals and final. Each semi-final consisted of twelve songs which would be scored by a jury panel and through audience voting. The top three songs from each semi-final qualified to the next semi-final, whilst the remaining songs would be eliminated and be replaced with new songs in the next semi-final. For a song to qualify to the final, it would have to finish in the top three in three consecutive semi-finals.
Since songs introduced in semi-finals 8 and 9 could not participate in three semi-finals, the rules for qualification were changed in semi-final 9. Instead, songs would have to get more than the average number of points that every song that qualified to the final got in their last semi-final.

Competing entries

Twelve artists, chosen by BRT, competed in Canzonissima 1963: Bob Benny, Chris Ellis,,, Jacques Raymond,, Jo Leemans, Lieve Olga, Lize Marke,, Staf Wesenbeek, and Will Ferdy. However, a list published by prior to the start of the first show claimed that Chris Wijnen would compete, instead of Bob Benny.
BRT opened submission periods for interested composers for all nine semi-finals separately. The submission deadline for each semi-final was 21 days prior to the airing of that semi-final. All submissions had to be anonymous, include the lyrics and at least a piano score of the song, not have been published beforehand, and had to last no longer than 3½ minutes. A total of 88 songs were chosen to compete in Canzonissima 1963.
The songwriter of a song were allowed to pick which of the twelve artists they would like to perform their song. However, BRT did not always follow the songwriter recommendation. If a songwriter did not specify an artist then the same jury that chose the competing entries would select an artist for them.

Shows

Semi-finals

Voting in the semi-finals was done by an applause meter and a 5-member jury panel. The applause meter gave out 1 to 50 points depending on how loud the applause from the audience was, but since it only counted noise, boos were also counted by the applause meter. The 5-member jury panel consisted of Pieter Leemans, Jef Claessen,,, and Gerd Mertens, who would each give out 1 to 10 points to every song.

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1	Jo Leemans	"Mambo op het strand"	19	23	42	9=
2	Staf Wesenbeek	"Dromen aan 't kanaal"	34	39	73	2
3	Lieve Olga	"Vierentwintig uren"	16	26	42	9=
4	Jacques Raymond	"Het beloofde land"	25	23	48	7
5	Lize Marke	"Saksisch porselein"	27	45	72	3
6		"Dingen waarvan ik veel hou"	15	29	44	8
7	Will Ferdy	"Dag lieve juffrouw lente"	21	39	60	5
8		"'t Was met mimosa"	13	26	39	12
9	Bob Benny	"Kleine blauwe zwaluw"	50	36	86	1
10	Chris Ellis	"Paris"	29	39	68	4
11		"Als je lacht... "	15	42	57	6
12		"Laat ons dromen"	19	23	42	9=

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1	Bob Benny	"Mia bella Marinella"	38	33	71	5
2		"De eerste melodie"	32	25	57	9=
3	Staf Wesenbeek	"Dromen aan 't kanaal"	32	31	63	8
4	Lize Marke	"Het houten brugje"	45	29	74	3
5		"Op mijn schildersatelier"	25	22	47	12
6		"Dat is hij	36	19	55	11
7	Jacques Raymond	"Voorbij"	32	32	64	7
8	Lize Marke	"Saksisch porselein"	45	41	86	1
9	Staf Wesenbeek	"Dat klein gebaar"	31	26	57	9=
10	Bob Benny	"Kleine blauwe zwaluw"	41	31	72	4
11	Jo Leemans	"'k Ben zo gelukkig"	43	26	69	6
12	Will Ferdy	"Ode aan de zon"	43	33	76	2

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1	Will Ferdy	"Kleine jongen"	33	25	58	10
2	Lize Marke	"Het houten brugje"	45	30	75	4
3		"De gouden wals"	31	29	60	9
4	Jo Leemans	"Levensdroom"	41	20	61	8
5		"Namanouito"	38	19	57	11
6	Lieve Olga	"Ik hou van Antwerpen"	34	18	52	12
7	~~Will Ferdy~~	~~"Ode aan de zon"~~	50	30	80	3
8		"Er speelt een orgel"	46	38	84	2
9	Staf Wesenbeek	"Zonder jou"	50	22	72	6=
10	Lize Marke	"Saksisch porselein"	50	41	91	1
11	Jacques Raymond	"Langs de blauwe wegen"	43	31	74	5
12	Chris Ellis	"Toen... werd ik verliefd	50	22	72	6=

After semi-final 3, "Ode aan de zon" was disqualified as it was released by the composer Henk van Montfoort. Because of this, the 4th places of semi-final 2 and semi-final 3 were added to semi-final 4, causing it to have 14 songs instead of 12.

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1	Jacques Raymond	"Illusie"	34	30	64	9=
2	Chris Ellis	"In Shangai"	38	17	55	13=
3	Staf Wesenbeek	"Nooit meer"	36	19	55	13=
4		"Er speelt een orgel"	44	36	80	1
5	Bob Benny	"Van hart tot hart"	37	32	69	6
6	Lize Marke	"Het houten brugje"	36	30	66	7
7	Jacques Raymond	"Het geluk"	42	23	65	8
8	~~Bob Benny~~	~~"Kleine blauwe zwaluw"~~	47	32	79	2
9	Lieve Olga	"Zij aan zij"	44	20	64	9=
10		"O wist je"	44	26	70	5
11	Jo Leemans	"Zo mooi"	41	30	71	4
12		"Hello aardig meisje"	32	25	57	12
13		"Mijn droom is voorbij"	40	35	75	3
14	Staf Wesenbeek	"Als jij maar bij me bent"	35	25	60	11

After semi-final 4, "Kleine blauwe zwaluw" was disqualified as Bob Benny had published the song. Instead, "Zo mooi" by Jo Leemans qualified for the next semi-final.

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1		"Antonio"	35	21	56	9
2	Lize Marke	"Alleen maar 'liedjes zingen'"	37	26	63	4
3		"Belinda"	35	24	59	7
4		"Heimwee naar mijn dorpje"	23	21	44	12
5	Jo Leemans	"Een lied"	30	28	58	8
6	Will Ferdy	"'k Had het willen zien"	25	36	61	5
7		"Er speelt een orgel"	36	39	75	1
8	Lieve Olga	"Con amore"	42	24	66	3
9	Bob Benny	"Morgen is 't weer vakantietijd"	25	30	55	10=
10	Chris Ellis	"Geen eigenwijze nozem"	28	27	55	10=
11		"Mijn droom is voorbij"	21	39	60	6
12	Jo Leemans	"Zo mooi"	37	35	72	2

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1	Jacques Raymond	"Fata morgana"	25	18	43	10=
2	Chris Ellis	"In de lente van mijn leven"	24	15	39	12
3	Stef Wesenbeek	"Blij refrein"	30	21	51	7
4		"Dromen"	34	33	67	1
5		"De lente in mijn hart"	26	20	46	9
6	Jo Leemans	"Zo mooi"	25	37	62	3=
7		"Blauw, blauw"	28	20	48	8
8		"Song festival"	33	23	56	6
9	Jacques Raymond	"De oude berkenboom"	26	32	58	5
10	Lieve Olga	"Con amore"	42	22	66	2
11	Stef Wesenbeek	"Slechts jij alleen"	26	17	43	10=
12	Lize Marke	"3 x 3 = 9"	37	25	62	3=

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1		"Dromen"	29	34	63	4
2	Stef Wesenbeek	"Heimwee naar jou"	23	24	47	9=
3	Lize Marke	"3 x 3 = 9"	34	27	61	5
4	Jacques Raymond	"Waarom?"	34	32	66	2
5		"Leugens"	27	26	53	6
6		"Stof en as"	20	20	40	11
7	Lieve Olga	"Con amore"	39	25	64	3
8	Jo Leemans	"Er zweeft een engel"	24	27	51	8
9	Bob Benny	"Twee harten"	27	25	52	7
10	Lize Marke	"Luister naar de wind"	41	39	80	1
11	Will Ferdy	"Het straatje"	17	20	37	12
12		"Het sprookje"	23	24	47	9=

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1	Jacques Raymond	"Romantiek"	28	21	49	7=
2		"Verlangen"	23	26	49	7=
3		"Snel gaat de tijd"	18	27	45	10
4	Lize Marke	"Mijn engel"	41	21	62	3
5	Will Ferdy	"Lente"	28	29	57	5
6	Jo Leemans	"Meer dan eens"	29	31	60	4
7	Stef Wesenbeek	"Kom, zeg me eens"	24	23	47	9
8	Jacques Raymond	"Waarom?"	31	34	65	2
9	Lize Marke	"Luister naar de wind"	50	40	90	1
10	Bob Benny	"Dans een polka"	34	21	55	6
11		"Mijn kleine gouden ster"	22	22	44	11
12		"Ontrouw"	21	18	39	12

Draw	Artist	Song	Public	Jury	Total	Place
1	Chris Ellis	"Veel mooier"	19	19	38	12
2	Jacques Raymond	"Denk steeds aan mij"	29	28	57	5
3	Lize Marke	"Mijn engel"	31	22	53	7
4	Will Ferdy	"Toen"	38	19	57	5
5		"Wanneer de rozen bloeien"	16	24	40	11
6		"Erna"	25	24	49	8
7	Lize Marke	"Troubadour"	31	28	59	4
8		"Zeg mij dat mijn hart"	22	23	45	10
9	Jacques Raymond	"Waarom?"	41	35	76	2
10	Lize Marke	"Luister naar de wind"	50	39	89	1
11	Bob Benny	"Estramadura"	35	27	62	3
12	Jo Leemans	"Kleurensymfonie"	16	32	48	9

To qualify from the ninth semi-final, songs had to receive at least 73 points, the average number of points that every previous song that qualified to the final got in their last semi-final.

Final

The final was held on 16 February at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, hosted by Denise Maes and. The winner was chosen by two separate juries. The first jury consisted of 20 professionals, while the second jury consisted of 20 people who were mostly winners of De Muziek Kampioen, a Dutch-speaking music quiz show. At the start of the show, the hosts explained that the competition was exclusively to select the song that would represent Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, and not the artist. However, Jacques Raymond was selected as the performer of "Waarom?" at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 anyway. Each song was sung twice by two different artists; songs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 were performed by Anita Berry, and song 5 was performed by John De Mol, then every song was performed by the singer who performed it in the semi-finals.

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury 1	Jury 2	Total	Place
1		"Saksisch porselein"	124	123	247	4
1	Lize Marke	"Saksisch porselein"	124	123	247	4
2		"Er speelt een orgel"	127	147	274	3
2		"Er speelt een orgel"	127	147	274	3
3		"Zo mooi"	114	127	241	5
3	Jo Leemans	"Zo mooi"	114	127	241	5
4		"Con amore"	60	126	186	6
4	Lieve Olga	"Con amore"	60	126	186	6
5		"Waarom?"	114	178	292	1
5	Jacques Raymond	"Waarom?"	114	178	292	1
6		"Luister naar de wind"	169	120	289	2
6	Lize Marke	"Luister naar de wind"	169	120	289	2

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Raymond performed 14th in the running order, following and preceding. Voting was by each national jury awarding 5-4-3-2-1 to their top 5 songs, and at the close of the voting "Waarom?" had received 4 points, placing Belgium 10th of the 16 competing entries. The Belgian jury awarded its 5 points to contest winners.
The contest was broadcast on BRT and RTB.

Voting

Score	Country
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Score	Country
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point