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After being host of the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest, Sweden withdrew from the contest as Swedish TV thought that the contest had become too commercial. They were also afraid of winning again and having to host the expensive show so soon. Turkey and Malta withdrew as well, but Greece and Austria returned. 18 countries participated in the 1976 song contest altogether. Former Dutch Eurovision Song Contest winner Corry Brokken hosted the contest.
The orchestra rules changed this year. For the first time, instrumental playback was allowed if certain passages in the music could not be reproduced by the live orchestra. Most of the countries decided to sing in English hoping that they might earn a better placing with this. The Yugoslav entry was sung by Ambassadori and it marked the last Yugoslav entry for five years - the country would only come back in 1981.
4/3/1976
