News - Arab singer in Kdam causes commotion | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2008 Belgrade, Serbia 

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Credits

Written by

Itamar Barak

Published

25/Feb 2005 at 12:16

Source(s)

Tel-Aviv Magazine, IBA

News

Israel

Kdam LIVE on the net

Arab singer in Kdam causes commotion

Mira Anuar-Awad, who is one of two arab singers performing in Wednesday's Kdam-Eurovision in Israel, gave an interview to Tel-Aviv magazine and made a few statements which caused a small commotion.
Mira Anuar-Awad was born in an arab village in the northern part of Israel and has a full Israeli citizenship. She will sing Zman (Time) in the Kdam-Eurovision, combining Hebrew and Arabic. "There will probably be some people thinking I am not eligible to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest because I am not jewish, and I do feel, to some extent, that this country does not represent my true being" says Anuar-Awad. "When the Israeli national anthem is played I am usualy sad and embarrassed cause it doesn't stand for anyone of my national symbols" Mira adds. These statements by the star of the musical My Fair Lady have caused quite a commotion in Israel, just 5 days before the contest. Another singer who had her fair share of headlines this week is Rinat Gabay (who will perform with Jerusalem). To her misfortune, burglars broke into her house several nights ago and stole her outfits for the Kdam, which were specially imported from France. Tzvika Pick also tried to have his go on the scandals scene, when he fired his leading male backing vocalist, Regev (a very popular singer in his own right). Earlier this week we reported that the Kdam-Eurovision will have a webcast, just after it finishes on IBA's Channel 1. To the joy of fans outside of Israel, IBA has now decided to broadcast the Kdam LIVE on its official Eurovision website. The internet broadcast will commence on 20:30 (local time), with an exclusive report from the 'red carpet' and the green room. A press conference with the Kdam's winner together with Ruslana, The 2004 Eurovision winner, will also be broadcast on the official website, on Thursday at 11:00 am (local time).

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Denis Koren [22240]
Tue 1 Mar 2005 11:58:42

Ooo.. Israel should feel ashamed because it is a jewish country?? Why should we please everyone who is not a jew? There are a lot of russians here in israel, but i dont see them trying to change the Tikva or something else.


Ran R [23045]
Mon 28 Feb 2005 13:07:01

Don't forget- The Israeli Kdam in 02/03/05 !!!

vote please- [b] url=http://www.superseker.co.il/seker.asp?sid=269459]http://www.superseker.co.il/seker.asp?sid=269459/url]


Lavinya . [18249]
Sun 27 Feb 2005 22:04:58

Ahmet Sen you are great! I don't know who is Riza or what he said(as far as i see some messages deleted!) i just wanted to say that,i never go to israel in my life time,i have no ties with israel,and i am proud to be friend of israel. As Ahmet said not all muslims ahte israel,you have loyal friends among muslims.Realize that please.

For the songs;i liked "Hello Hello" and "The Silence That Was Left" from Shiri.


blue alibi [23783]
Sun 27 Feb 2005 20:39:09

welcome NAJI and wlcome LEBANON from MALTA


Naji Shams [22621]
Sun 27 Feb 2005 12:56:27

SAMARAAAAAAAA.. lik kifik, ana kamen libneini..
it is something very funny.. but lebanese people in this room are getting bigger and bigger so .. AM HAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYY YYYy
as for the Kdam well let me see.. i loved the really traditional hebrew songs which were 11 and 6 but Pik has the voice, his daughters have the CATCHY thing...
anyway bye


Naji Shams [22621]
Sun 27 Feb 2005 12:39:49

oh my god..
i can not believe that People are still talking about the lebanese entry..
GUYS just get over it... i mean am lebanese... i could really appreciate it if you make me feel better and welcome me..
really it is such a shame... and sorry ... although i respect all the countries.. but i think if some people had the chance to disqualify us from the Eurovision.. they will do it.. so plzz.. GROW Up..
as for Mira... well she is right in one way, Ha Tikva does not represent any israelis, it represent Jewish Israelis...
email=diva42me@hotmail.com]diva42me@hotmail.com/email].. MEEEEEEEe
bye you guys..
plzzzzzzz forget about my country lebanon just for a bit...


ismail can [23516]
Sun 27 Feb 2005 03:39:51

Hey again Ran,

You know what, I listened to these songs once again and in my opinion, israel will rank well if they choose 6th song or 11th song.

7 and 8 are very nice too, however, people may find them boring.

Anyway, good luck.


Brian Torobin [20533]
Sun 27 Feb 2005 03:24:38

The awkwardness felt by non-Jews singing "Hatikva", the Israeli national anthem, is no different than what many minorities feel singing any national anthem. Jews in Canada have a hard time singing the French words to "O Canada" because it says "il sait porter la croix - he knows how to carry the cross". I bet you if you read the words of many national anthems you will find reference to Christianity or Islam, which makes others feel uncomfortable and unrepresented too. I won't even bother going into the predominance of crosses and crescents on all the flags of those countries.

I'm proud of Israel for her Jewish and multicultural society as represented by the variety of songs in the Kdam. I wish Mira Awad and Samir Shukry (another Israeli Arab) all the best of luck, but I give my Douze Points to Rinat Bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shir nifla!

Brian
Toronto, Canada




blue alibi [23783]
Sat 26 Feb 2005 19:16:33

STOP THE CRAP SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE EUROVISION............


Ran R [23045]
Sat 26 Feb 2005 11:39:22

Ismail, noooo !! it's bad song !!!

vote please- [url/][b] url=http://www.superseker.co.il/seker.asp?sid=268814]http://www.superseker.co.il/seker.asp?sid=268814/url] [/url][b]




blue alibi [23783]
Sat 26 Feb 2005 11:11:16

wot politics has to to with the eurovision???? let her sing and enjoy. good luck to all from malta


ismail can [23516]
Sat 26 Feb 2005 00:13:03

televoters in israel, please vote for 11th song, it's the best!


fatix civelek [20124]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 23:50:53

This year, in my opinion, we have good finals;
my first place is the final in Romania
2nd --> israel
3rd --> greece

Good luck Israel; And give a positive message to Europe and the world.
in 1999 in de ICC (International Convention Center) in Jerusalem, you celebrated "happy birtday" for whole of Europe; That was the best message in whole 50 years of Eurovision.

& I remember Germany who came 3rd with "Journey to Jerusalem" and that was represented by 6 nice Turkish persons Who gave this message too. As A Turkish born in BelgiuM and living in Brussels --> I was proud of that.
It doesnt matter if the song is sang in ARabic, Hebrew, English, Turkish, GReek or invented: THE MESSAGE IS CHRISTAL CLEAR: UNITE EUROPE WITH IS MOZAIK.
ISRAEL, PALESTINE, HEBREWS AND ARABS TOO
"""""" IIII LOOOVVVEEE YOUUU"""""


ismail can [23516]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 22:42:57

I listened all these songs. Thanks for giving the address.

I liked number 11 more than the others.

First song is also good. But I did not like the english and spanish mixing at all.

Last year Lehamin could rank better if it was hebrew only.

Good Luck!


Jonathan Eyal [20395]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 22:15:45

most of us really have no problem with the arabs and don't care if an arab represents us. but as said before, she goes under the israeli flag, the jewish states, and she objects and rejects what we represent and stand for. a lot of israeli arabs consider themselves israeli, but i think it's a disgrace for us to let someone go to the kdam who rejects everything israeli. if she weren't so provokative, maybe we all would have had a better view of her. it would have been just like amina representing france, but amina didn't say she hates everything french when she went with the french flag. this type of behavior i cannot tolerate. (not to sound like a snobbish bastard, but whoever said that jews and arabs are brothers is mistaken, there is a difference between religion (judaism) and ethnic groups (arabs).


Ran R [23045]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 21:50:10

Ahmet we love u !

[b]vote please- url=http://www.superseker.co.il/seker.asp?sid=268814[b]]http://www.superseker.co.il/seker.asp?sid=268814[b]/url]


Ahmet Sen [10384]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 21:34:01


M. r. [10347]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 21:15:18

Is the broadcast delayed or what? I can't watch it online, I get a trailer all the time. :(


tzachee grupper [10731]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 21:09:42

before i start saying what i want 2 say, i insist that i don't take this whole disscution back to the political issue and i really think that the question of religion has nothing to do with whom to represent israel. the only issue is if he or she can sing well, that's about all.

never the less i find here a big paradox that i'm really trying to understand and i keep on failing to. this singer is competing in the kdam 4 1 purpose, which is to win it and go to kiev, like every other singer there. still she opposes everything that is jewish in connection to the country called israel (which is a jewish name) and most of the song is being sang in hebrew. if she wins, she goes under the israeli flag which she objects so much. am i the only 1 who sees this contradiction here?

by the way i think that she chose to say these things in order to get some publicity for mediocre song to say the least. after all she works in the israeli media for a long time and she could have said these things a long time ago. it's nothing but a cheap shot.


Dida Dragan [18988]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 20:01:39

Eizik D

It is good that you made this comment. You are so right.
It is very sad that there is so much aggressive nationalism and racism from certain individuals on this site. They do not remember the real reason for our favoutite international event of 50 years. Long may it last.

Bless You


Roy Yechezkel [10422]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 19:46:48

hi ismail,
go to url=www.iba.org.il/eurovil]www.iba.org.il/eurovil/url]


ismail can [23516]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 19:15:06

Does anybody know where I can listen to these songs? Thanks.


Jeroen Balm [11296]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 19:08:29

What is the problem? Jews are in fact Arabs, long time ago they also livend in Mesopotamia ;) So they are all brothers there..


Andonis . [22445]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 18:23:21

hey to all! i've listen to the songs yesterday for the Israeli final and i have to say there are great songs! the best is song nr 2! its incredible! congratulations Israel ! xxx good luck


eizik d [9870]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 18:05:14

its so sad people forget the rael reason
for us being here which is love to music
so i hope no matter what that music will win
(if it sounds "kitshy" than its your problem)

yalla shiri!!!!!!love u :)


Pablo Callus [23728]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 15:27:21

well samara..... i have many friends in beirut . but never been to ras il hamra hehe. just been to paris and even there i have lebanese friends studying at the university. well long live the phoenicians


SaMaRa Samo [17534]
Fri 25 Feb 2005 15:21:42

indeed roy would be fab if for a change someone can drive to esc rathen than fly ;-) as my grandmother used to say, enshalla !!!!
Noel sure, i would love having a drink with you. i am lebanese and am so proud to say it, but as i said before, my grand father and as part of his work moved to france and here we are, i live in Paris. i have been to malta to valetta, gozo, i have a dear friend who i bet all of you know as malta 2003 ;-) yes lynn , i have been to her wedding even.
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