Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Country	Denmark
National selection
Selection process	Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 1997
Selection date(s)	1 March 1997
Selected entrant	Kølig Kaj
Selected song	"Stemmen i mit liv"
Finals performance
Final result	16th, 25 points

Denmark was represented by rapper Kølig Kaj, with the song '"Stemmen i mit liv", at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 May in Dublin. "Stemmen i mit liv" was chosen as the Danish entry at the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on 1 March.

Final

The DMGP was held at the DR TV studios in Copenhagen, hosted by Hans Otto Bisgård. Ten songs took part with the winner being decided by televoting. "Stemmen i mit liv" emerged the winner by a relatively narrow margin over "Utopia" by Jette Torp and was regarded as something of a risky choice, as rap had only been tried once before at Eurovision (by the United Kingdom's Love City Groove in 1995), without a great deal of success.^[1]

DMGP - 1 March 1997

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Lars Nielsen	"Du er den eneste"	535	8
2	Gry Harrit	"Mon du tænker en smule på mig"	185	10
3	Gorm Bull Sarning	"Si' mig li' Mari'"	1642	3
4	Maria Abel	"Hyldest til livet"	1275	5
5	Stay Tuned	"Hvor går man hed med kærlighed"	452	9
6	Dennis Ademsen Jensen	"Livet er en ubåd"	642	7
7	Kølig Kaj	"Stemmen i mit liv"	5695	1
8	Jette Torp	"Utopia"	5331	2
9	Hans Olsen	"Et skyggespil"	916	6
10	Lei Moe	"Vejen til paradis"	1432	4

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Kølig Kaj performed 21st in the running order, following Russia and preceding France. Both song and performance were the target of a great deal of mockery from contest commentators – the BBC's famously derisive Terry Wogan remarked "This is about an eejit who falls in love with Directory Enquiries" and later "I'd like to meet the man who introduced rap to Denmark, and give him a piece of my mind". Although widely considered as a likely candidate for the infamous nul-points, at the close of voting "Stemmen i mit liv" had received 25 points, placing Denmark 16th of the 25 entries. The Danish jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners the United Kingdom.^[2]

See also

• Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 1997

References

1. ^ ESC National Finals database 1995
2. ^ ESC History - Denmark 1997