A total of 320 songs were submitted to RTP to compete in Festival da Canção 2020, up on 2019.
RTP has revealed that a total of 320 songs were submitted to compete for the one spot as the public submission for Festival da Canção. The number of public song submission increased by 120 over 2019, however is still down on the record of 346 in 2018.
he composers for Festival da Canção 2020
- Rui Pregal da Cunha
- Tiago Nacarato
- Filipe Sambado
- MEERA
- Pedro Jóia
- Throes + The Shine
- Eliza Rodrigues
- Marta Carvalho
- António Avelar Pinho
- João Cabrita
- Hélio Morais
- Dino D’Santiago
- Jimmy P
- Blasted Mechanism
- Dubio ft. +351 (Public submission)
- Cláudio Francisco António (Masterclass submission)
Festival da Canção 2020 will take place over three nights. The semi-finals will take place on February 22 and 29 at RTP Studios in Lisbon. The final will take place on March 7 in a location yet to be confirmed.
First held in 1964, Festival da Canção is used to select the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. This year, Portugal was represented by Conan Osíris and his song “Telemóveis”. He failed to qualify to the Final, placing 15th in the first semi-final with 51 points.
Source: ESC Portugal
Portugal debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 represented by Antonio Calvario, the country finished last scoring nul points. Prior to 2016, the best result of Portugal was 6th place which came in 1996 when Lucia Moniz performed in Oslo. She scored 92 points, receiving the 12 points from both Norway and Cyprus. Since their debut, Portugal have missed a total of five contests. In 2017, Portugal produced a spectacular win when Salvador Sobral took home the crystal microphone with his song “Amar Pelos Dois.” The 2018 contest was held in Lisbon, Portugal for the first time.