Introduction

Last year, former ESC winner Dana International failed to qualify for the final in Düsseldorf. This year there has not been made a national final in Israel; the broadcaster IBA has determined a singer with a suitable song. The IBA has chosen Izabo with the song “Time”. Indeed this is a kind of typical Israeli song, which strongly reminds to the 1974 entry “Natati la khayay” by Poogy (7^th) regarding the melody and style. There is something oriental in the song which brings the exotic touch to it, if you watch the funny and very clever made video clip you can imagine how the stage performance is going to be.

This song is different and will probably not be expected in contest with a majority of pop songs, this can be a clear advantage to stand out of the others. But that’s exactly what makes up the charm of the Eurovision Song Contest!

History

For Israel it’s the 35^th anniversary being part in the Eurovision Song Contest. The first Israeli entry “Ey-sham” by Ilanit made a respectable 4^th place in 1973. Since Israel joined the ESC family it became one of the most successful countries with many strong and outstanding songs. Three times Israel has won the ESC: “A-ba-ni-bi” by Izhar Cohen and the Alphebeta in 1978, “Hallelujah” by Gali Atari & Milk and Honey in 1979 and “Diva” by Dana International in 1998.

There were a lot of good songs with big singers which came close to victory like “Hora” by Avi Toledano in 1982 (2^nd), “Hi” by Ofra Haza in 1983 (2^nd) and “Kan” by Duo Datz in 1991 (3^rd). Israel is also popular for great choreographies, especially in the 80’s and 90’s formation dance was strongly used in the Israeli contributions and has been mimicked from other countries, but not as successfully. The contest is enjoying a great interest in Israel.