English: Flag of Israel . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yes Kadam Eurovision 2013 can be nicknamed Israeli Melodifestivalen 2013

Israel is putting on a 5 show selection process in the search for their 4th win at Eurovision. IBA (The Israeli Broadcaster) has announced that they are seeking 30 acts to compete in 3 Heats. The Top 3 acts from each Heat will automatically go through to the live final. However 2 further acts from each Heat will then get to compete in a Second Chance show where they will be matched off against another act in a duel format. The winner of each of the 3 Duels will then compete for the last spot in the Grand Final. Thus making it a ten song final.

As you can see it is all very Melodifestivalen – which if the songs are good is great for the viewer. If they are not then it is 5 weeks of earache. However Israel tend to give Eurovision a strong entry so I will say “Tak IBA”

How do I enter?

As of next week IBA will be inviting artists and composers to submit their entries directly to the station. So make room in your calendar and put in these dates

February 26 – Kdam Eurovision Heat 1
February 27– Kdam Eurovision Heat 2
Febraury 28– Kdam Eurovision Heat 3
March 3– Kdam Eurovision Second Chance Show
March 7– Kdam Eurovision Final

The interesting thing is the at Israel selects their song by a 30/70 split voting. So the Jury gets 30% of the vote and the Public gets the majority/remaining 70% of the vote. Ireland did a similiar split voting in 2011 but that was because Amazon in error posted a 30 second clip of Jedward‘s “Lipstick” for their pre sales advert – which broke the rules of RTE‘s selection process. Hence the voting was changed to a 66.6% Jury Vote and a 33.3% Public Vote to try and even out the contestants. Jedward won by 2 points over Nikki Kavanagh – However I digress. But just think – might this 30/70 split vote be the way forward at Eurovision? Would it bring Turkey back to the contest? Time will tell.

So make a date for Kadam Eurovision 2013 – well 5 dates actually. You can follow the live action here. In celebration of the news that Israel will be at Eurovision 2013 and taking a leaf out of Sweden’s book – let’s look at a classic from Israel. The third time a country won back to back Eurovision’s and the only time that the winning country was not represented the following year at the contest – I give you the wonderful Gali Atari and Milk & Honey from 1979, who won on the last country voting in a thriller of a contest

(YouTube Video Courtesy of escbelgium2)

And if you cannot remember the song – here it is in its full glory – “Hallelujah”
http://youtu.be/5cb0h2uZCpM

(YouTube Video Courtesy of escbelgium2)

It has been a few years since we saw Israel in a Eurovision Final. Hopefully this year.

Author/Website Creator and Chief Editor Garrett Mulhall

(Source IBA)