The ABU Popular Song Contest was held between 1985 and 1987 between the member broadcasters of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.
The ABU Popular Song Contest also known as the Asia Broadcasting Union Song Contest, was an annual contest held in the mid to late 1980s. The event was held under the leadership of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and based on the established Eurovision Song Contest held in Europe. During its history, fifteen countries competed in the contest.
The contest was first discussed in 1984 at an ABU meeting in Sydney, Australia. From the meeting a steering committee of six members was formed after the ABU General Assembly in Tokyo, it featured members from Korea, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. SBC of Singpoare was requested to host the contest due to their technical knowledge.
The rules for the contest were:
- Songs cannot exceed 3 minutes in length
- Songs must be originally and can be in any national language and English
- Songs can be selected either through a national selection or internal selection
- Up to six people may be on stage
List of countries that competed in the contest
- 🇦🇺 Australia – SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) – All editions
- 🇧🇳 Brunei – All editions
- 🇫🇯 Fiji – 1985 & 1986
- 🇭🇰 Hong Kong – All editions
- 🇮🇳 India – 1985
- 🇮🇩 Indonesia – All editions
- 🇯🇵 Japan – 1986 to 1987
- 🇲🇾 Malaysia – RTM – All editions
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand – TVNZ – All editions
- 🇵🇰 Pakistan – PTV – 1985
- 🇵🇭 Philippines – 1985 & 1987
- 🇰🇷 South Korea – All editions
- 🇸🇬 Singapore – SBC – All editions
- 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka – 1986
- 🇹🇭 Thailand – 1985
- 🇹🇷 Turkey – 1985
1985
The ABU Popular Song Contest 1985 was held in Singapore on October 12, and hosted by the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, the contest was hosted by Naseer Kamaruddin and Jenny Teo and lasted 2.5 hours.
Thirty-three countries were eligible to compete in the first contest, with broadcasters having until August 12 to select their entries.
National Selections
PTV of Pakistan formed a panel to select their entry for the competition formed of programme and music experts.
In 1985, Singapore held a selection on August 10 to determine its representative for the contest. Peter Chua was selected in ‘National Competition’ to represent the host nation. 232 songs were submitted for the competition.
The Final
A total of fourteen countries participated in the contest:
- Fiji – Danny Costello – “Moonlight Tango”
- Australia – Robby Krupsi – “Love Comes Easily to You”
- Turkey – Ahmet Ozhan – “The Spring of Our Lives”
- Thailand – Anchalee Chong Khadikij – “To Do Or To Die”
- Indonesia – Vina Panduwinata – “One in a Melody of Love”
- Hong Kong – Danny Summer – “Empty Chair”
- Pakistan – Muhammad Ali Shehki & Allan Faqir – “Humma-Humma” (Shades of Devotion)
- Philippines – Ivy Violan – “Who Else Can?” – 2nd
- New Zealand – Rob Winch – “I Need To Know”
- Brunei – Johari Hj Omar – “Semangat Berjuang (Fighting Spirit)”
- India – KP Udayabhanu – “Cloud”
- Singapore – Peter Chua – “Ong seng chye” (Is it too late?)
- South Korea – Chung Eun Sook & Koo Chang Mo. – “The Beautiful World” – 1st
- Malaysia – Sudirman Hj Arshad – “Pesta Dunia” – 5th
The winner was decided by a panel of judges from five countries; South Korea, Japan, Egypt, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. The judges were:
- Johari Salleh – Composer from Malaysia
- Guy Flecther – Songwriter from the United Kingdom
- Lim Jeong Soo – Chairman of the Korea Phonogram Association
- Yasushi Nakamura – Singer and composer
The prizes were:
- First Prize – $10,000
- Second Prize – $3,000
- Best Performer or Group – $5,000
The interval acts for the show were:
- Bobbysocks – Winners of Eurovision 1985 for Norway
- Hiromi Iwasaki
- Kaye Hamid
- Christina Ong
- Ali Ahamed
- Max Surin
The contest was also broadcast in the non-participating countries of Japan, Jordan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Of note is that Fiji and India both only aired the contest on radio, Fiji did so as it lacked a TV station.
1986
The ABU Popular Song Contest 1986 took place in Wellington, New Zealand on November 21. The contest was held at the Michael Fowler Centre with Pete Sinclair and Judy Bailey as the hosts for TVNZ.
TVNZ was chosen as host after the broadcaster initiated discussions with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union to host the contest.
Eleven countries competed in the second edition of the contest. India, Turkey, Thailand, Philippines and Pakistan all withdrew from the competition, while Sri Lanka made its debut. Originally both Pakistan and the Philippines were reported to be competing while Brunei was not listed as a participant.
National Selections
Hong Kong was represented by Anthony Lun who won the national selection to compete in the contest.
Singapore selected their representative through a televised national selection held on August 10. 173 songs were submitted for the selection, 135 in English, 27 in Chinese and 11 in Malay. A panel of 10 judges selected 12 finalists, auditions would be held on June 23. Originally Jatt All won the selection, but was replaced by SBC for the final with Kaye Hamid. SBC held the right to change the singer of the winning song.
The Final
The lineup for the contest and the competing artists were:
- Singapore – Kay Hamid – “I Will”
- Japan – Yoshie (Kashiwarbara)
- Brunei – Salmaya Hj.Hussein
- Hong Kong – Anthony Lun
- Australia – Andrea Lee & Michael Kyrios – “To Know the Hand that Touches Me” (Was performed in English and Greek)
- Fiji – Daniel Res Stello – “Birds of Summer” – Top three
- Sri Lanka – Ivod Dennis & Angelina
- Malaysia – Kathijah Ibrahim – “The Song of the Waves”
- Indonesia – Diana Naustion & Melke Goeslkow – “Flowers of Love”
- South Korea – Choi Jin Hee – “The Lovers Circle” – Top three
- New Zealand – Bunny Walters – “Taken By Love” – 1st
The winner was chosen by a five member jury, among the jurors were:
- Glen Sherrock
- Mike Love – from The Beach Boys
- Iskandar Ismail
1987
The 1987 edition of the contest took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on September 26 at the Putra World Trade Centre. RTM of Malaysia hosted the competition.
Ten countries participated in the last edition of the contest, Fiji and Sri Lanka withdrew, while the Philippines returned.
National Selections
Singapore again held a national selection to determine its participant with twelve artists competing in front of a jury, the selection was held on June 6. 108 entries were submitted with 12 competing in the final.
The Final
The participants in the contest were, the results are:
- South Korea – Chang Deok – “Dang sin eul ki da lil li” (I Will Wait For You)
- Australia – Kate Ceberano – “Time Can’t Keep Us Apart” – 1st
- Indonesia – Elfa’s Singers – “Pesta” (Party)
- Hong Kong – Blue Jeans – “No Such Reason”
- New Zealand – Annie Crummer – “It’s That What Friends Are For” – 3rd
- Philippines – Dulce – “Langit” (Heaven) – 2nd
- Japan – Miyuku Utsumi – “Kokuhaku” (My Truth)
- Singapore – Robert Fernando – “Back in Love Again”
- Malaysia – Francissa Peter & William Clark – “Cinta Abadi” (A Love That Is Eternal)
- Brunei – Joffry & Norhayati – “Kedamaian” (Peace and Quiet)
End of the ABU Popular Song Contest
The ABU Popular Song Contest ran for three editions and was suspended in 1988. SBS states in its annual report that the contest was ended for administrative reasons, and was merged with Golden Kite World Song Festival in 1989 to become the ABU Golden Kite World Song Festival.