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| Eurovision Song Contest 1980 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participating broadcaster | Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) | |||
| Country |  Norway | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Melodi Grand Prix 1980 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 22 March 1980 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Hætta | |||
| Selected song | "Sámiid ædnan" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
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| Placement | ||||
| Final result | 16th, 15 points | |||
| Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with the song "Sámiid ædnan", composed by Sverre Kjelsberg, with lyrics by Ragnar Olsen, and performed by Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Hætta. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), selected its entry through the Melodi Grand Prix 1980.
The song’s chorus, consisting of traditional Sami yoik song, was first performed publicly by Mattis Hætta and was broadcast on NRK in October 1979, in connection with the hunger strike song by Sami activists in front of the Norwegian parliament building in connection with the Alta controversy.[1] The verse of the song also refers to this with the line "framførr tinget der dem satt, hørtes joiken dag og natt" (in front of the parliament where they sat, the yoik was heard day and night). Only Kjelsberg was credited as composer of the entry, although Hætta wrote the chorus. The song remains one of the best-remembered Norwegian entries, particularly in Norway itself.