The OTI Festival (, ), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition organised annually by the (OTI) among its members for twenty-eight editions between 1972 and 2000. Each participating broadcaster submitted an original song representing its country, in Spanish or Portuguese, to be performed and broadcast live to all of them via satellite, and then there was a vote to determine a winner.
The festival was a spin-off of the Eurovision Song Contest for Ibero-American broadcasters, and it was preceded by the , held in 1969 and 1970 in Mexico City. The first OTI Festival was held on 25 November 1972 in Madrid and the last one was held on 20 May 2000 in Acapulco. Since then, it has been cancelled due to the questioning of the voting system of the latter festivals, the lack of sponsors, the outdated style and low quality of the entries, and the withdrawal of some prominent countries. Broadcasters from twenty-seven countries participated at least once in the festival, with Chile, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela participating in all twenty-eight editions.
Performing at the festival provided artists with a local career boost and in some cases long-lasting international success. Several of the best-selling Ibero-American music artists competed with songs written by themselves or by others, including Ana Gabriel, Camilo Sesto, Ricardo Arjona, Dyango, Yuri, Lupita D'Alessio, and José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma". Many of the most renowned Ibero-American songwriters wrote competing entries, performed by themselves in some cases, including Manuel Alejandro, Claudia Brant, Juan Carlos Calderón, Roberto Cantoral, Lolita de la Colina, Emilio Estefan, Chabuca Granda, Juan Luis Guerra, Nelson Ned, Chico Novarro, and Cheo Zorrilla. The competing entries were mostly of the genre, although songs in other genres such as Latin pop, tropical music, and traditional folk also competed.
The main goals of the festival were to generate a process of cultural and artistic fellowship between Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, and to encourage the creation of original songs. It is the largest and longest-running spin-off of the Eurovision Song Contest, and produced many artists and songs.
Background After the , which was held in Mexico City in 1969 and 1970, the (OTI), which was established on 19 March 1971, created the –, as a televised international song competition for its member broadcasters following the format of the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition was named –, and was also known as –, or simply –.
The festival was created as a way of collaboration between the OTI member broadcasters, to generate a process of cultural and artistic fellowship between Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, and to encourage the creation of original songs among their authors, composers, and performers.
Participation
All members of the OTI were eligible to participate in the OTI Festival. Both state financed and private broadcasters from member countries of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) were able to join OTI as full members. Since only one entry per country was allowed, in some cases, different broadcasters from the same country collaborated to participate, broadcast, and even host, the festival jointly.
The OTI Festival was held for first time on 25 November 1972 at the of Madrid. Broadcasters from thirteen countries took part in the first edition of the event. Spain, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, Portugal, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico were the debuting countries.
Following the first edition, the OTI member broadcasters from the rest of the Ibero-American countries progressively started taking part in the event. The festival expanded even further away from the traditional Ibero-American sphere, to the point that even the United States and Canada (which had large communities of Spanish and Portuguese speakers), the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba (which were Dutch but where Papiamento, a Portuguese-based creole language influenced by Spanish, was the most widely spoken), and Equatorial Guinea (which is a Spanish-speaking African country), had broadcasters members of OTI which took part in the competition. In 1992, the festival reached a record of twenty-five participating countries, which made the 1992 festival the biggest song contest in the world, even beating the twenty-three participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1992.
Broadcasters from twenty-seven countries participated at least once in the festival, with Chile, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela participating in all twenty-eight editions. The participating broadcasters had sole discretion over the process they would use to select their entry for the festival. Some of them, such as those from Aruba, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, the Netherlands Antilles, and the United States, selected their entries through regular multi-stage televised national selections; while others selected their entries internally.
Year Country making its debut entry 1972 Argentina Brazil Bolivia Chile Colombia Dominican Republic Panama Peru Portugal Puerto Rico Spain Uruguay Venezuela 1973 Mexico Year Country making its debut entry 1974 Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Netherlands Antilles Nicaragua United States 1976 Costa Rica 1978 Paraguay 1986 Canada 1989 Aruba 1991 Cuba 1992 Equatorial Guinea
Production Format Each participating broadcaster, or group of broadcasters participating together, submitted an original song representing its country, to be performed in a live television programme broadcast via satellite simultaneously to all of them. In addition to be original, the songs in the competition had to be performed live accompanied by a light orchestra, have a maximum duration of three minutes, and the lyrics in Spanish or Portuguese. The festival was a one-night event, although on five editions (1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, and 2000) it was a two-night event with a semi-final and a final.
The programme was staged by one, or jointly by several, of the participant broadcasters and was transmitted from a selected venue in the host city. Although it was usually held in indoor venues such as theaters, auditoriums, or convention centers, the 1975 festival was held in a television studio, and the 1995 and 1997 festivals were held outdoors. The organizers provided a full light orchestra and a choir of backing singers to accompany all the competing entries. Each participating delegation could bring its own conductor to lead the orchestra in the performance of its entry, with the host musical director available to conduct those that did not bring their own conductor.
A draw to determine the running order was held in advance. The competing acts performed sequentially following that running order, and they were presented by the hosts who announced the name of the country, the song, the songwriter(s), the conductor, and the performer(s). Occasionally, these introductions were made by a guest celebrity. The show used to feature top-level guest artists who performed in the opening or interval act, and sometimes between the competing entries.
Hosting
The location of the festival was decided following two criteria throughout its history. Initially, the winning broadcaster would organize and stage the contest the following year. Because many participating broadcasters were suffering from political and economic instability in their countries, the OTI decided, just before the 1977 festival, to drop that rule and open a selection process to choose the host broadcaster starting with the 1978 edition, to which all its members were eligible to apply. The 1977 festival was won by Nicaragua, which was not able to host the 1978 festival due to the Nicaraguan Revolution, becoming the first to not be able to do so. The 1999 edition, which was going to be held in Veracruz, had to be suspended due to the severe flooding that occurred in early October in the country, which devastated the city.
Spain and Mexico were the countries that hosted the contest the most, with six editions each one. In total, the festival was hosted in thirteen countries, out of the twenty-seven that ever participated.
Editions
Year Date of Final City Venue Presenter(s) Host broadcaster(s) Orchestra 1972 25 November Madrid Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones TVE RTVE Light Music Orchestra 1973 10 November Belo Horizonte TV Itacolomi–Rede Tupi Rede Tupi Symphony Orchestra 1974 26 October Acapulco Televisa Acapulco Philharmonic Orchestra 1975 15 November San Juan Telemundo Studio 2 WKAQ-Telemundo Telemundo Symphony Orchestra 1976 30 October Acapulco Teatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Televisa Acapulco Philharmonic Orchestra 1977 12 November Madrid Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid RTVE RTVE Light Music Orchestra 1978 2 December Santiago Teatro Municipal Philharmonic Orchestra of Santiago 1979 8 December Caracas OTI orchestra § 1980 15 November Buenos Aires Teatro General San Martín ATC rowspan="2" 1981 5 December Mexico City Auditorio Nacional Televisa 1982 27 November Lima Teatro Auditorio Amauta Panamericana Televisión OTI orchestra § 1983 29 October Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall SIN rowspan="8" 1984 10 November Mexico City Auditorio Nacional Televisa 1985 Seville Teatro Lope de Vega TVE 1986 15 November Santiago Teatro Municipal 1987 24 October Lisbon Teatro São Luiz RTP 1988 19 November Buenos Aires Teatro Nacional Cervantes ATC 1989 18 November Miami James L. Knight Center Univision 1990 1 December Las Vegas Caesars Palace Circus Maximus Showroom 1991 14 December Acapulco Centro de Convenciones Raúl Velasco Televisa SUTM Orchestra § 1992 5 December ValenciaTeatro Principal TVE 1993 9 October Mediterranean Symphony Orchestra 1994 15 October OTI orchestra § 1995 11 November San Bernardino rowspan="3" 1996 14 December Quito Teatro Nacional 1997 25 October Lima Plaza Mayor CPR 1998 14 November San José Teatro Nacional Repretel Costa Rica Philharmonic Orchestra § 1999 20 November ◇ Veracruz ◇ Televisa ◇ 2000 20 May Acapulco Centro de Convenciones Televisa
Voting system
The voting system to decide the outcome of the festival changed over the years. Initially, voting was public, with a five-member jury assembled by each participating broadcaster(s) in their country casting their votes by telephone, and the counting being displayed on a scoreboard. Each jury member voted only for one song, which could not be the one representing their country, with the song with the most votes winning, and the second- and third-placed songs usually also being awarded. In 1977 the number of jurors per country was changed to three due to an increase of participating entries. In 1978, the voting was changed so that each country cast 1–5 points to its five favorite songs in order of preference. And in 1982, remote juries were abolished and each participating delegation appointed a single juror who was present in the hall instead.
Starting in 1983, voting became secret, with only the top three entries revealed at the end. That year, each participating delegation appointed a juror who was present in the hall and who scored all entries, except its own, between 1 and 5 points in a secret voting. From 1984 on, the outcome was decided by a professional jury assembled by the organizers composed by well-known music personalities, which was present in the hall and voted secretly.
Technological challenges