Alphabeta

Last updated
Alphabeta
Origin Israel
Years active1978
Members
  • Reuven Erez
  • Lisa Gold-Rubin
  • Nehama Shutan
  • Esther Tzuberi
  • Itzhak Okev

Alphabeta were a group of Israeli singers who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978 with Izhar Cohen.

The singers were Reuven Erez, Lisa Gold-Rubin, Nehama Shutan, Esther Tzuberi, and Itzhak Okev. The winning song was A-Ba-Ni-Bi . Israel received five consecutive maximum 12 points during the voting, a Eurovision Song Contest record. [1] The total score for the song was 157 points. [2]

When it became clear that Israel was going to win the contest, Jordan stopped its live broadcast on the pretext of technical difficulties. The viewing public was shown a picture of daffodils. [3] A day later, Jordan presented the song from Belgium, which came in second, as the winning song. [4] This victory entitled Israel to host the contest in Jerusalem in 1979. [5]

The head of the Israeli delegation, Rivka Michaeli, said that Cohen's song was sent to the contest because the other entries in the Israeli national competition were so bad. Nevertheless, Izhar Cohen was said to be confident that he would win. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since making its debut in 1973. Israel was able to enter the contest as the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which was responsible for the event. The IBA was succeeded as the broadcaster in charge of the Israeli entry by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan) in 2018. Israel has won the contest four times, and has hosted the contest in Jerusalem in 1979 and 1999, and in Tel Aviv in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A-Ba-Ni-Bi</span> 1978 song by Izhar Cohen

"A-Ba-Ni-Bi" was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, performed for Israel by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "HaSheket SheNish'ar" written by Pini Aaronbayev, Eyal Shachar and Ben Green. The song was performed by Shiri Maimon. The Israeli entry for the 2005 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2005, organised by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The competition took place on 2 March 2005 and featured fourteen entries. "HaSheket SheNish'ar" performed by Shiri Maimon emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from five regional juries and a regional televote.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Push the Button" written by Kobi Oz. The song was performed by the band Teapacks, which was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in January 2007 to compete at the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. The song Teapacks would perform at Eurovision was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2007 which took place on 27 February 2007 that featured four songs. "Push the Button" emerged as the winning song after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from an eleven-member jury panel, an online vote and a public vote.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "The Fire in Your Eyes" written by Dana International and Shay Kerem. The song was performed by Boaz Ma'uda, who was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in collaboration with the commercial broadcaster Keshet in November 2007 to compete at the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia, The song Ma'uda would perform at Eurovision was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2008 which took place on 15 March 2010 that featured five songs. "Ke'ilu Kan" emerged as the winning song after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from two regional juries, two thematical jury groups, a jury panel and a public vote. The song title was later translated from Hebrew to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "The Fire in Your Eyes".

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Ding Dong" written and performed by Dana International, who had previously represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 where she won the contest with the song "Diva". The Israeli entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2011, organised by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The competition took place on 8 March 2011 that featured ten entries. "Ding Dong" performed by Dana International emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from three thematical jury groups, a twelve-member jury panel and a public vote.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Leha'amin" written by David D'Or, Ofer Meiri and Ehud Manor. The song was performed by David D'Or, who was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to compete at the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey. The song D'Or would perform at Eurovision was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2004 that took place on 5 February 2004 and featured four songs. "Leha'amin" emerged as the winning song after gaining the most points following the combination of a jury vote, an audience vote and a public televote.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Time" written by Ran Shem-Tov and Shiri Hadar. The song was performed by the band Izabo, which was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to compete at the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. Izabo and the song "Time" were announced as the Israeli entry on 7 February 2012. The song was presented to the public on 1 March 2012.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Same Heart" written by Rami Talmid. The song was performed by Mei Finegold, who was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to compete at the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. The song Finegold would perform at Eurovision was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2014 that featured three songs submitted by the public and Finegold herself, which were presented to the public via the release of their official music videos during a show on 27 February 2014. "Same Heart" emerged as the winning song on 5 March 2014 after gaining 55% of the public vote.

Israel participated in, hosted, and won the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, which was held on 31 March 1979 at the International Convention Center's Ussishkin Auditorium in Jerusalem. Their entry, "Hallelujah," was composed by Kobi Oshrat, written by Shimrit Orr, and performed by Milk and Honey.

Israel was present at the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Munich, Germany. Their entry was "Hi" ("Alive"), written by Ehud Manor, composed by the previous year's Israeli representative Avi Toledano, and performed by Ofra Haza. The song was selected through Israel's traditional national final, the Kdam Eurovision.

Israel participated in and won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, held on 22 April 1978 in Paris, France. It marked Israel's first win at the contest and the first win for a country outside of continental Europe. The winning song was "A-Ba-Ni-Bi," composed by Nurit Hirsh, written by Ehud Manor, and performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta.

Israel was represented by the artist Izhar Cohen, with the song "Olé, Olé", at the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 4 May in Gothenburg, Sweden. "Olé, Olé" was the winner of the Israeli national final, held on 28 March. This was the second time Cohen was in the Eurovision Song Contest, the previous time Cohen was in the ESC was in 1978 with Alphabeta with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) collaborated with the commercial broadcaster Keshet and Tedy Productions which organised the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion to select the singer. The winner of the Israeli national selection was Imri Ziv and a committee of the Israeli broadcaster internally selected for him the song "I Feel Alive" written by Dolev Ram and Penn Hazut. The song was presented to the public on 13 March 2017.

Israel was present at the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest, which was held at the Palais du Centenaire in Brussels, Belgium. Their entry was "Shir Habatlanim", written and composed by Zohar Laskov and performed by actor-comedians Natan Datner and Avi Kushnir, who dubbed themselves the Lazy Bums. The song was selected through Israel's traditional national final, the Kdam Eurovision.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Light a Candle" written by Svika Pick and Yoav Ginai. The song was performed by Sarit Hadad, who was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in November 2001 to compete at the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia. The song Hadad would perform at Eurovision, "Light a Candle", was also internally selected and presented to the public on 26 February 2002 during the Meni Peer Show which was broadcast on Channel 1.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Words for Love" written by Yoni Roeh and Yossi Gispan. The song was performed by Lior Narkis who was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to compete at the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia. The song Narkis would perform at Eurovision was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2003 that took place on 23 January 2003 and featured four songs. "Milim La'Ahava" emerged as the winning song after gaining the most points following the combination of a jury vote and a public televote. The song was later retitled as "Words for Love".

Israel participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Israeli broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan) collaborated with the commercial broadcaster Keshet and Tedy Productions, which organised the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion to select the singer. The winner of the Israeli national selection was Netta Barzilai, and a committee of the Israeli broadcaster internally selected the song "Toy" for her.

Israel originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The Israeli broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation collaborated with the commercial broadcaster Keshet and Tedy Productions, which organisied the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion. The competition was won by Eden Alene, with a separate national final, HaShir HaBa L'Eurovizion, held to select her entry "Feker Libi". However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. 33 years ago today - Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta seal Israel's maiden win
  2. "Eurovision's top ten worst scandals". Archived from the original on 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  3. "Eurovision's top ten worst scandals". Archived from the original on 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  4. 33 years ago today - Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta seal Israel's maiden win
  5. Forty years of Israel at Eurovision [ permanent dead link ]
  6. Forty years of Israel at Eurovision [ permanent dead link ]
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
(with Izhar Cohen)
1978
Succeeded by
Preceded by Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
(with Izhar Cohen)
1978
Succeeded by