Ann Marie David/Yaniv Dornbush
The Israeli singer Tali Golargant reacted with great excitement to her victory in Luxembourg's pre-Eurovision Song Contest and to her being sent to represent the small country in the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden this coming May.
"Hello Europe," she said in a video she shot on her Instagram.
"I'm Tali and I can't wait for Eurovision in the city of Malmö. Thank you very much, I'm so excited."
The 23-year-old Tali, who was born in Israel and works under the name Tali, will represent Luxembourg at Eurovision.
She won an overwhelming majority in the pre-Eurovision in Luxembourg both in the votes of the audience and in the judging points.
She won with the song with the symbolic name "Fighter. The contest was held as part of Luxembourg's return to Eurovision after a 31-year absence, and was broadcast live on the RTL network to millions of viewers across Europe.
Tali is the granddaughter of Tamar (Tami) Rosenfeld, an Israeli singer from the 1970s who also performed at the festival The singer in the nation's buildings in Jerusalem in those years.
The artistic part of the broadcast was attended by the friend of Israel, Eurovision winner Ann Marie David, and she even wore the yellow pin as a sign of identification and raising awareness of the Israeli hostages in Gaza. She received the pin and the request to wear it from the Israeli personal manager, Alon Amir. Ann Marie David won the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg and came in third place when she represented France in the contest held in Jerusalem in 1979, when the band Halab and Dvash won with "Hallelujah".
Watch Tali's performance after her win:
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Singer Tali Goulargant performs at the pre-Eurovision of Luxembourg/screenshot, RTL
Tali was born in Israel, the daughter of an Israeli mother and a Peruvian Jewish father who immigrated to Israel at the age of 18. Her family moved following her father's work to Chile and Argentina, and when she was 10 they moved to Luxembourg.
After high school she moved to New York, where she studied theater and music and where she also lives today.
Luxembourg's comeback to Eurovision whetted her appetite to compete in the competition.
Shortly before the competition we held (Saturday) an interview with Tali.
Tali, your song is called "Fighter" and your brother participated in the fighting in Gaza.
Think about it while you sing?
"Of course I will think about my brother. God willing, today is the first time he left Gaza. For me it is a victory. He came out and he will see me - so I won. Obviously I think about my brother in the song, but the song also talks about myself, about the inner strength Mine, about how to deal with this whole career. I live in New York usually, and this is a song about how I overcome all the rejections and everything on the way to get to where I am now."
Because of the war in Gaza, this year's competition is expected to be difficult for the Israelis, also for the representative from the country and maybe for you too if you choose.
"It's impossible to know if Israelis will be harassed because of the war. That's something I can't know. But the situation is difficult, difficult. I have a brother in Israel, he's in the army, it's a different world. My heart is with everything that's happening in Israel, but I'm here these days, representing Luxembourg, which is also home for me and where my heart is also."
Singer Anne-Marie David wears the pin of the Israeli kidnappers in the Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg/screenshot, RTL
Singer Tali Golargant/courtesy of the photographers
Following the Gaza war, quite a few voices were heard in Europe calling for Israel to be boycotted from this year's Eurovision Song Contest, among others from the Finnish pre-Eurovision contestants, the singer La Zara who represented France in Eurovision 2023 and also many in Iceland.
"Regarding the calls for a boycott, what I think as an Israeli, that Eurovision is a music festival and we are here to be together, to celebrate music and unite us all through culture," says Tali Lavala!
culture.
"I think all the calls for a boycott are bullshit, it's just nonsense, it's crazy and it's just hate. We're here to do something together with music, and it doesn't matter where you're from."
Earlier in Iceland, a leading Palestinian candidate from East Jerusalem, Bashar Murad, who expressed in the media a protest against Israel's actions in Gaza but "forgot" to mention the October 7th massacre.
"Oh my god, all this politics is crazy, it's harsh and hard to hear about it. The truth is I didn't know about it because I'm cut off. I'm constantly worried about my brother and my family."
Do you see yourself someday returning to Israel and competing to represent Israel in Eurovision?
"The truth is that it's really funny, after I was already at the auditions to promote Eurovision in Luxembourg, I received a call from Israel, from 'The next star', after they found me on Instagram, they invited me to come. I said, what a lunatic, Israel is also interested. Obviously, I see a chance that I will return to Israel and compete in the future for Representing Israel at Eurovision. My whole family is in Israel. Check it out."
The leaders of the extensive Israeli team behind Luxembourg's Eurovision preview: producer Tali Eshkoli and director Moshe Kaptan/Walla! system, Reuven Castro and Rafi Deloya
Tali is really not the only representation of Israel in Kedem in Luxembourg - nor is Tali the only one.
As first published in Walla!
Culture, the competition in Luxembourg is won by the veteran Israeli producer Tali Eshkoli and the director of the show is Moshe Kaptan, the stage's artistic director.
Eshkoli specializes in international productions and, among other things, produced the Eurovision 2019 event in Tel Aviv and the Miss Universe 2021 competition in Eilat.
Captain directed the artistic program at Eurovision 2019 that took place in Tel Aviv, and also directed various television programs including "The Masked Singer", "Survival", "X Factor" and "The Voice".
And this is not the end of the "Israeli occupation" in Luxembourg: the musical director is Tal Forer, the choreographer is Mor Hammi, the mobile director is Amir Ukrainitz, the stage designers are Avi Fahima and Maya Hanoch, the lighting designer is Dekar Azoulai, the stylist is Omer Yahav, the video art creator is Koren Bar , the stage manager is Ruthi Ron and the dancers, soundmen and Notsaf staff members are also Israelis.
If that is not enough, Alon Amir, the manager of the singer Anne-Marie David who was invited to perform at the competition, also came to Luxembourg.
Luxembourg is one of the seven founders of the Eurovision Song Contest.
After participating in the competition from 1956 to 1993 - she retired from it.
It has won Eurovision five times, and is among the only countries to have won the competition twice in a row, alongside Israel, Spain and Ireland.
Among other things, she won with the songs "Tu te reconnaistras" by Anne-Marie David and "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gal.
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