Celebrating 'Dia de Portugal' with our favourite Festival da Canção entries
Celebrated annually on June 10 - 'Dia de Portugal' or 'Portugal Day' commemorates the death of Luís de Camões, a poet and national literary icon on June 10, 1580.
Another notable annual event in Portugal is their Eurovision National Final 'Festival da Canção'. Unfortunately not all of our favourite entries can make it to the Eurovision stage - let's celebrate some of the more notable entries that didn't quite make it. .
Catarina Pereira - 'Canta por mim' (2010)
This upbeat banger certainly grabbed the public - soaking up a casual 25.53% of the televote on final night. The juries of 'Festival da Canção' weren't quite as easily pleased putting Caterina in 6th place for a nail biting one point difference between 'Canta por mim' and eventual winner 'Há dias assim'. This anthem won't be forgotten by the fandom.
Doce - 'Ali-bábá' (1981)
Competing in 'Festival da Canção' four times Doce eventually won and represented Portugal in 1982 with 'Bem Bom'. The prolific female quartet not only reached massive success in Portugal but abroad with international fan bases around the world. Although heavily backed favourites heading into the 1981 competition 'Ali-bábá' finished 4th.
Calema - 'A Dois' (2019)
A guilty pleasure - this song certainly isn't doing anything we haven't seen before at a Eurovision National Final, but seeing these two lads bopping along in Portugese to a Scandie-sque pop number isn't something we see often at 'Festival da Canção'. The brother duo finished 6th in the final.
Rui Andrade - 'Em Nome do Amor' (2011)
If large-male-power-ballads-with-a-keychange are your thing then 'Em Nome do Amor' delivers in buckets. Rui claimed a respectable 2nd in the televote - finishing in 3rd place overall - 'A luta é alegria' went onto represent Portugal in 2011.
Diogo Piçarra - 'Canção do Fim' (2018)
Beautiful, delicate and quintessentially Portuguese. 'Canção do Fim' is one of those rare songs that makes time freeze - totally atmospheric and magical. In dramatic circumstances Diogo won Semi-Final 2 with maximum points from both the televote and juries but withdrew two days after his performance. Second-place getters in the semi-final Cláudia and Isaura went on to represent Portugal with 'O jardim'.
What is your favourite Festival da Canção entry that didn't make it to Eurovision? Tell us @aussievisionnet on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.