OTI Festival 1988

The OTI Festival 1988 (Spanish: Decimoséptimo Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Décimo Sétimo Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the 17th edition of the OTI Festival, held on 19 November 1988 at the Teatro Nacional Cervantes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and presented by Pinky and Juan Alberto Badía. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster Argentina Televisora Color (ATC).

Broadcasters from twenty-two countries participated in the festival. The winner was the song "Todavía eres mi mujer" performed by Guillermo Guido representing Argentina; with "Un mundo diferente" by Marco de Brix representing Paraguay placing second; and "De tu boca" by Taty Salas representing the Dominican Republic and "Partiré, buscaré" by Rocky Belmonte representing Peru both placing third.

The Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) designated Argentina Televisora Color (ATC) as the host broadcaster for the 17th edition of the OTI Festival. The broadcaster staged the event in Buenos Aires. The venue selected was the Teatro Nacional Cervantes, which is the national stage and comedy theatre of the country. It was opened in 1921 and was designed by Fernando Aranda Arias and Emilio Repetto.

On 14 November 1988, a cocktail reception was held at Hotel Libertador upon the arrival of the delegations, attended by all the participating artists, executives from the participating broadcasters, OTI officials, and numerous accredited journalists.^[1]

Broadcasters from twenty-two countries participated in this edition of the OTI festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twenty Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. From the countries that participated in the previous edition, Brazil and Canada did not return.

Some of the participating broadcasters, such as those representing Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and the United States, selected their entries through their regular national televised competitions. Other broadcasters decided to select their entry internally.

Three performing artists had represented the same country previously: Ced Ride had represented the Netherlands Antilles in 1977, Marco de Brix had represented Paraguay in 1983, and Paulette had represented Panama in 1986.

The festival was held on Saturday 19 November 1988, beginning at 20:00 DST (23:00 UTC). It was directed by Roberto O. Muñoz, and presented by Pinky and Juan Alberto Badía. The musical director was Oscar Cardozo Ocampo, who conducted the 40-piece orchestra when required.

The show was opened with Estela Raval performing a song composed for the occasion by Chico Novarro. Jaime Torres made a guest performance playing the charango. The hosts presented Raúl Velasco with an honorary plaque awarded by the OTI for his contributions to the OTI Festival throughout its history. While Pinky was doing one of the presentations, an anonymous intruder entered the stage and greeted her with two kisses.

The winner was the song "Todavía eres mi mujer" performed by Guillermo Guido representing Argentina; with "Un mundo diferente" by Marco de Brix representing Paraguay placing second; and "De tu boca" by Taty Salas representing the Dominican Republic and "Partiré, buscaré" by Rocky Belmonte representing Peru both placing third. There was a trophy for each of the first three places. The first prize trophy was delivered by Guillermo Cañedo, president of OTI; the second prize trophy by Ricardo Porto, undersecretary of OTI mass communication; and the third prize trophy by Nicanor González, president of the OTI programs committee. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.

Each of the competing entries was introduced to the audience by a celebrity:

Each of the nine members of the single jury awarded 5–1 points to its five favourite songs, and wrote its vote anonymously on a ballot. The members of the jury were:

• Juan Carlos Calderón – songwriter
• Roberto Cantoral – singer-songwriter
• Susana Rinaldi – tango singer
• Mario Cavagnaro – singer-songwriter
• Antonio Cerviño – musician
• Casto Darío – singer
• Norma Aleandro – actress
• Shegundo Galarza – conductor
• José José – singer

Production used a computerized system to register the voting. The hosts announced in ascending order the results of each ballot, which were picked in random order. Viewers in the theater and at home were shown the results using a projector-board installed in the hall. During ballot 5, host Pinky accidentally announced the top result in first place, and it was registered 1 point to Uruguay instead of 5. To fix this, the computer generated random full results, and reverted them afterwards. After correctly registering one ballot, the points accumulated so far were displayed.

The festival was broadcast in the 22 participating countries and in Aruba, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.