“The Next Star For Eurovision 2016”, the singing reality show that will choose Israel’s representative for Eurovision, continued auditions this week. The latest episodes brought us even more original and off-kilter acts including “Spy Borg” — a group fronted by a hooded diva in all black singing some sort of rock requiem, accompanied by a drummer in a tuxedo. It was dark, over-the-top and it didn’t qualify. But hey — she made us put down our dinner. Scroll down to find out who did make the cut. And if you missed any of the previous episodes, you can catch up here.
MEET THIS WEEK’S QUALIFIERS
Roni Silver
Roni is only 23 years old, but she’s been around for some time: she’s already released a few singles and she even participated in Kdam Eurovision 2013 (The Israeli national selection), but failed to qualify for the final with her song “Belibi” (“In My Heart”). Two years ago she even appeared in Dana International’s TV series “Yeshnan Banot” (the search for THE new Israeli girl band).
She was fat in high school, so decided to make a change and managed to lose 30kg and today she’s a part of a group named “Moments”. In her audition she surprised everyone with her cover of “Caruso” and was thrilled to find out that she qualified for the next phase of the show.
Almog Hillel
Almog, 17, loves technology and singing. He made the bold move of singing “Elayich Shar” (“Singing To You”) — a song that judge Keren Peles wrote and that fellow judge Harel Skaat sang. Mission accomplished, as Harel and Keren gave him nothing but compliments.
Mor Terry
Mor, 21, comes from a very musical family — her dad and sisters have been singing since a young age and so has she. She wants to make her dad proud and getting to Eurovision is a sure fire way to do that. She sang “Shilchi oto” (“Send Him Away”), leading the judges to say she’s as beautiful as her voice. High praise indeed!
Ofir Haim
Ofir, a 20-year-old soldier, says his parents’ constant criticism drove him from home. Now he’s standing on his own and drawing praise as he does it. He showed us his unique groove with the song “Yah” (one of the names of the jewish God) and made all the judges smile.
Mika Tzur
Mika, 17, is a high school student — and the daughter of a famous actor. Among her other connections is judge Keren Peles, who she met eight years ago at a kids festival. But she didn’t need any of that history to succeed: Mika slayed with the song “At Telchi Ba’Sade / Haomnam?” (“You Will Walk In The Field” / “Is That So?”).
Matan Elkayam
Matan, 22 , first auditioned as a part of a trio with his brother and sister, but the trio failed to make the cut. (Maybe he picked the wrong siblings — there are 12 in his family!). Thankfully judge Mooki offered Matan the chance to sing as a solo singer. Matan sang “Ani Chozer” (“I’m Coming Back”) and barely scraped through to the final. Let’s see if Mooki regrets his offer…
YOU CAN WATCH THIS WEEK’S EPISODES HERE: EPISODE 11, EPISODE 12
More auditions are coming up in the next few weeks, followed by phase 2, where the judges will choose the finalists. The finalists will be eliminated on each show until the winner emerges.
Which artists do you like the most so far? Who do you think could do well for Israel at Eurovision?
What makes you think Nadav is ‘Non-European’? I bet his ancestry can be traced back to Spain and Portugal from where many went into exile following the Spanish Inquisition of 1492. Secondly, the definition of ‘Non-European’ applies to everyone who is born in Israel, but Nadav was actually born in France, so he’s a French-Israeli or whatever he chooses to call himself…as far as boys looking more mature than their biological age ,it’s impossible to make generalizations like the one you’re making just because you saw 2 or 3 people on a particular program and decided they have Non-European ancestry.
Why all the non-European Israeli people look quite older than their actual ages?
It all started with Nadav but seems pretty same with the others.