SWITZERLAND – Emil Ramsauer, who was 95 at the time, competed for Switzerland in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest and is still the oldest ESC candidate to this day. He has now died at the age of 103.
It’s likely a record to last forever. In 2013, Switzerland sent a band to the ESC that consisted of members of the Salvation Army.
Emil Ramsauer, who was born on February 28, 1918, also belonged to the sextet on the double bass. At the age of ten, he decided to join the Salvation Army as a musician.
He was part of it until his death in early December 2021.
The trained printer Ramsauer was married twice and has four children. When he was over 100 years old, he still played the baritone horn in performances.
Most recently, the 103-year-old lived in a nursing home. At his funeral in a cemetery in Thun, south of Bern, musicians from the Salvation Army also performed, of course, reports the “Thuner Tagblatt”.
At the ESC 2013, Switzerland could not make it into the final. Ramsauer reached 13th place in the semifinals with his group and the song “You And Me”.
The highest score – ten points – came from France. Even participation in the Song Contest was questionable for a short time.
Because after the victory in the Swiss preliminary round, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) reported doubts about the group.
The name “Salvation Army” and the band uniforms were too religious for her – and thus a rule violation. Switzerland agreed to a compromise.
The uniforms disappeared – the name was changed to “Takasa” (Swahili for “clean”). Finally, Ramsauer described the performance in Malmö as the appearance of his life.
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