Estonia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "Kaelakee hääl", composed by Priit Pajusaar, with lyrics by Kaari Sillamaa, and performed by Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna. The Estonian participating broadcaster, Eesti Televisioon (ETV), organised the national final Eurolaul '96 in order to select its entry for the contest. Thirteen songs competed in the national final and "Kaelakee hääl" performed by Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna was selected as the winner by a jury panel. Estonia was announced among the top 22 entries of the qualifying round on 20 and 21 March 1996 and therefore qualified to compete in the final which took place on 18 May 1996. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fifth out of the 29 participating countries in the qualifying round with 106 points. Performing during the competition in position 11, Estonia placed fifth out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 94 points.

Background

Prior to the 1996 Contest, Eesti Televisioon (ETV) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Estonia only once, in where it placed twenty-fourth with the song "Nagu merelaine" performed by Silvi Vrait. ETV had previously attempted to participate in but failed to qualify from the qualification round. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ETV organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since its debut, the broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select its entry for the contest. The broadcaster announced the organisation of Eurolaul '96 in order to select its 1996 entry.

Before Eurovision

Eurolaul '96

Eurolaul '96 was the third edition of the national selection Eurolaul organised by ETV to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. On 9 October 1995, ETV opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 15 November 1995. 18 submissions were received by the deadline and a jury panel selected thirteen finalists from the submissions received by the deadline. Evelin Samuel and Pearu Paulus have both competed in previous editions of Eurolaul. The final took place on 27 January 1996 at the Dekoltee nightclub in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Karmel Eikner and broadcast on ETV. All thirteen competing songs were performed in playback, with some participants not even being present at the venue and instead appeared on a video wall screen. Kirile Loo didn't appear at all so there were simply many shots of the stage during her song. Following the votes from a jury, "Kaelakee hääl" performed Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna tied first with "Me rõõm ei kao" performed by Kadri Hunt on 62 points, however Ilus and Linna were declared the winners after a review of the scoring since they had received one top vote of 10 points, whereas Hunt hadn't received any. The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Jos Moons (Belgian musician and music teacher), Julian Vignoles (Irish music editor), Kato M. Hansen (OGAE Norway president), Dušan Popovič (Radio Slovenia music director), Antero Päiväläinen (Finnish producer), Kenris MacLeod (British Broadcasting Corporation music editor), Bent-Erik Rasmussen (Danish radio producer), Kemal Tursan (UNESCO and International Federation of Festival Organisations member from Turkey) and Lora Kvint (Russian composer).

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 took place at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway, on 18 May 1996. According to the Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country were required to qualify from an audio qualifying round, held on 20 and 21 March 1996, in order to compete for the Eurovision Song Contest; the top twenty-two countries from the qualifying round progress to the contest. During the allocation draw which determined the running order of the final on 22 March 1996, Estonia was announced as having finished in the top 22 and subsequently qualifying for the contest. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fifth in the qualifying round, receiving a total of 106 points. Following the draw, Estonia was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from and before the entry from. The Estonian conductor at the contest was Tarmo Leinatamm, and Estonia finished in fifth place with 94 points. ETV appointed Annika Talvik as its spokesperson to announce the votes awarded by the Estonian jury during the show. ETV's broadcast of the contest was watched by over 350,000 viewers in Estonia with a market share of over 60%.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonia and awarded by Estonia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the qualifying round and to Ireland in the final.

Qualifying round

Final