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Yizhar Cohen: "I'm shocked how I'm still a Eurovision icon for young people" - voila! culture

2023-04-03T16:22:05.876Z


Last night was held in Tel Aviv on the eve of the opening of the Israel Calling events - the promo show for the Eurovision Song Contest that will take place tonight. Watch the interview with Yizhar Cohen


Yizhar Cohen (Yaniv Dornbush)

Ten cabins of glitter and glamor landed in Israel last night, all of them were taken on the opening night of the Israel Cooling events held in Tel Aviv.

The event is part of the round of promo shows leading up to the Eurovision Song Contest, and the singers from the frozen European countries came to enjoy a bit of the Israeli sun.

Tonight, the big show will be held in Hangar 11 where some of the singers who will participate this year will appear one after the other, alongside Eurovision legends such as Ann Marie Dodd who won the 1973 contest and Katrina who gave Great Britain its last victory in 1997.

Johnny Logan will also be there, and at least until May he will hold the title of the only artist ever to have won two Eurovisions, 1980 and 1987, somewhere in the years when Ireland was considered the queen of the competition.



Past Israeli participants will also drive the crowd crazy, including Yizhar Cohen, who put Israel on the map of winning the competition: "I enjoy being here every year. This train is moving, and I am the engine that leads many new and young cars behind it. It's fun to support and strengthen."



We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Most of the artists participating this year weren't even born when you won.

How is it to continue to be in demand?



"I perform all over Europe at events for Eurovision fans, who are millions. I'm shocked how I'm an icon for them, the 10th and 15th generation already. It's strange, but there's something about Eurovision that holds nostalgia and makes it always contemporary, so I constantly feel like I've won Yesterday. I'm no longer concerned with winning, but with what I can give from here in our holy land. There are also many political matters and I know how to stand firm in front of everyone there in Europe."



Despite the political affairs, we have Israel Koling here and singers come from all over Europe.



"We used to get excited about every foreign artist who came to Israel. I was born in the 1950s, so there was hysteria. Today we are normal, we are part of the world. I was lucky to open this gate to the great sea and beyond. We wish Noa great success."

I opened the gate.

Yizhar Cohen (photo: screenshot, Yaniv Dornbush)

Most of the participants arrived in Tel Aviv straight from the promo event held on Saturday in Warsaw, and immediately went to the beach: "We went swimming, it's a beautiful country, the weather here is amazing and we are excited for the coming days," said the members of the Wild Youth band that will represent Ireland.

Riley, the representative of Denmark, received a warm recommendation to come to the country from his British manager, and like other representatives, he too did not hesitate to come to the Holy Land.

It is interesting to note that Denmark is the only northern country that reached Israel Koling, with Sweden, Finland, and Norway, the three at the top of the betting tables, conspicuous by their absence.

Iceland doesn't visit us either, but after the Eurovision events in Tel Aviv it's not surprising at all.



Tali Eshkoli, who initiated the Israeli promo event and has been producing it since 2016, says that it is never easy to bring artists to Israel, but this year it was even more difficult: "We have to invest much more effort in bringing the Eurovision participants to Tel Aviv compared to organizers of similar events in London or Madrid. It starts with the flight time, various costs such as accommodation, and a problematic image that for years I've been smashing through Israel Calling."

According to Eshkoli, "this year I assume that there is an added difficulty because of the situation in Israel that is reflected on the outside. People asked us if everything is fine here because of pictures from the demonstrations, but there are also countries, without going into detail, that said 'no' just because it is in Israel."

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Noa Kirel (Photo: surfers' photos, Yaniv Dornbush)

And there is, of course, one country in bigger trouble, Ukraine, which will be the second Eurovision in a row under Russian attack.

We asked the representatives of Ukraine how it felt to be part of this year's competition, and they replied: "We are grateful to everyone who voted for us and chose us to represent our country in this difficult time. We appreciate it and will do everything to make our performance the best. We hope that the whole world will unite Against evil, so that we can all have peace."



While the representatives of the countries that did decide to honor us with their presence showed us that they actually know Unicorn and know how to hum "phenomenal", Noa Kirel arrived for a few minutes, took a picture on the green carpet, received a greeting from Culture Minister Miki Zohar, and fled to Ben Gurion Airport for her next flight.

Kirel is expected to be one of the few singers this year who will not participate in any promo shows, so we won't hear her perform the song live until rehearsals begin.

The interview with Ann Marie David:

Ann Marie David (Yaniv Dornbush)

One of the greatest Eurovision legends of all time, Ann Marie David, hosted us in her suite at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv.

Dovid won the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest when she represented Luxembourg, and in that year a Middle Eastern country, small and surrounded by enemies, participated for the first time.

Six years later, David tried to win the Eurovision Song Contest one more time, this time in Jerusalem representing France, where she finished in third place.



"It's funny, because in 1973 I didn't expect that I would be celebrated and honored even 50 years later, and that I would still be participating in Eurovision events, but here I am, and I'm very happy. It's a miracle for me. Eurovision is a real family, we always enjoy meeting each other" .



The Eurovision fans could be my kids, and they still recognize you.



"I said, it's a miracle! People who don't follow Eurovision don't understand what we're talking about when we say the Eurovision family. But it's passed from generation to generation. The grandparents knew me and they passed it on to their children who passed it on to their children. When I performed in Warsaw it was strange, in the front row were Really young children. I could have been their grandmother! They sang my songs in French with me. It surprised and moved me."



With all the political problems we have right now, does it feel different when you're here?



"Absolutely not, it has never stopped me from going anywhere and especially to Israel. I have many friends here, I love this country, the only thing is that I am a guest here. I was not born here, I do not vote here, I do not pay taxes here. I will be Be clear on this issue: it is very important to me to support people who want equality, who want protected human rights. If you start differentiating between origins, nations, LGBT people, different religions, it becomes a mess.

We are all human and must be respected.

Even if you're the head of state, you can't cancel freedom just because you think it's better for the country."

  • culture

Tags

  • Noa Kirel

  • Eurovision 2023

Source: walla

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