Israel

__** Artist Biography: **__ Israel will be represented in Eurovision this year by Noa and Mira Awad. This Israeli-Arab duo have previously collaborated on one album (//Now//) and paired up for Eurovision in hopes of winning Europeans’ hearts with their song //There Must Be Another Way.//

Noa, known by her full name in Israel, Achinoam Nini, is the country’s leading international concert and recording artist. Born in Tel-Aviv in 1969, Noa lived in New York City for fifteen years until returning to Israel at age 17. After serving the mandatory two years in a military entertainment unit in the Israeli army, Noa attended Rimon School where she studied music and also met her partner and collaborator Gil Dor. She is now married with two children. Noa’s style combines elements of Jazz, Classic, and Rock, and she draws her influences mostly from the singer-songwriters of the 60’s. Noa performs and writes her music with her partner Gil, who she has produced 10 albums and several compilations with over the course of 17 years. The two have sold over a million and a half copies of their current catalogue. Noa plays percussion, guitar, and piano. She has performed with many superstars including Sting, Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder, and Sheryl Crow in such prestigious venues as: Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in NYC, Olympia in Paris, Rome's Coliseum, and The Barbican in London. She has had successful tours throughout Europe, Japan, Brazil, the US, and Canada, and was the first Israeli artist to be formally invited to perform in Morocco. She has also recorded songs for use in soundtracks in films such as: //Babel, Goldeneye, Joan of Arc, Life is Beautiful,// and //Pace of Peace.//

Mira Anwar Awad is an Arab actress, singer, and songwriter. She was born to a Palestinian father and Bulgarian mother in the village of Rama, Gallillee in 1975. Like Noa, she attended Rimon School for Jazz and contemporary music. Mira also studied at the body theatre school with a scholarship from the America-Israel culture foundation. Mira Awad is a very talented individual with a wide range of skills. She is fluent in four languages (Arabic, Hebrew, English, Bulgerian) and has performed in many events including dances, musicals, plays, TV shows, and several films. She has also collaborated with many European music artists, and won an array of awards, including being recognized as an outstanding individual by the Israeli Cultural Excellence Foundation since 2008.

Israel’s song will be sang by two women named Noa and Mira. They will perform a song called //There Must be Another Way.// On the Eurovision website their style is described as being a unique Israeli- Arab combination. The song was composed by Noa and Mira themselves along with Gil Dor, same goes for the lyrics of the song. The song actually starts out in English with them singing the words “there must be another way” a few times over. It is very clearly an upbeat song from the start. It sounds like at the beginning like there is a keyboard in the background, it sounds very synthesized. Then most of the song is sung in Arab with the keyboard continuing and some drums and perhaps a maraca of some sort added in the background as well. There is one point in about the middle of the song where both the singers take off in a little duet. There pitch becomes higher and it goes a little bit faster, it is very feminine sounding. It defiantly has a very unique sound to it; it almost reminds me off a mix between a Latino and Greek sounding song. The song comes to an abrupt end as soon as the vocals end, much like how the song starts. Noa and Mira are very passionate singers and the nature of the song makes you want to move when you are listening to it. I would categorize this song as pop. media type="youtube" key="7mXWYHdBoUU" height="340" width="560"
 * __Song Information:__ **

__**Narrative Entry:**__
"There must be another way" has been dubbed "the most politically correct" song in the contest by presenter Andrey Malakhov. The lyrics focus on resolving the conflict in the Middle East. Lyrics like, "And when I cry, I cry for both of us. My pain has no name and when I cry, I cry to the merciless sky and say, there must be another way!” show the unity of the two groups. The fighting in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine has been violently waged for decades, and the duo's song is the long awaited eye opener for the war-wagers to see how unity is possible and greatly in demand. This year marks the first year that an Israeli Arab will represent Israel. Some think that it shows an inaccurate image of racial tensions between Israel and Palestine. The song was chosen during the height of Israel's military aggression, during a 22-day conflict that left over 1,000 Palestinians and only a dozen Israelis dead. The choosing of Nini to represent half of the country inaccurately portrays political and racial power in the country, according to some.  **__Country's Eurovision History:__** Israel's involvement in the Eurovision contest has been taking place since 1973. Israel has participated in 33 Eurovision competitions. To date there has been three victories recorded by Israeli artists. The first Israeli victory took place in 1978, with the song "Abanibi," by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. The next year, the Eurovision contest took place on familiar turf in Jerusalem. Milk and Honey were the performers for Israel in 1980, performing the song "Hallelujah". The comfort of their home turf led to a first place performance, earning Israel the title of repeat champions. The third and final Eurovision that Israel won was in the United Kingdom in 1998. The results of this year's contest angered many conservatives, for the Jewish transsexual Dana International won the contest with the song "Diva". This year will be the 34th time that Israel has had participants compete in this world wide musical competition. An interesting piece of history involved with Israel was in 1978 when a Jordanian broadcaster suspended the broadcast of Eurovision. A news station in Jordan, when realizing that Israel was going to win the contest, suspended coverage of Eurovision. After the contest had concluded, the Jordanian television station and media refused to acknowledge that Israel had won and reported that Belgium had won, when Belgium really finished in second. Since then, Israel's participation has continued as has their success. Below is a video to give you a taste of the music performed by Israeli musicians. This particular video shows the 1998 contest with a short clip of the final points being awarded and Dana International's performance of her song Diva.



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