Israel’s selection process for Eurovision 2019 continues and today we’ll take a look at the qualifiers from episodes 9 and 10. Only 5 candidates were able to pass to the next stage, so we’ll review these two shows in one post.
Today’s new phenomenon is Eliya Gabay, a candidate who forgot the lyrics of his song yet easily passed to the next stage. That’s called talent.
Eliya Gabay
The audience’s favourite – who also happens to be our favourite – is Eliya Gabay, 26, from Tel Aviv. He sang a Hebrew song called “That Kind of Love”, originally performed by Idan Raichel. He started his audition with a ma’wal which was VERY convincing and we were very close to pressing the “wow” button. Then he forgot the words and lost his confidence. But despite this “accident”, he achieved 93% of the votes which, under the circumstances, is an amazing result. This is probably because he acted as if nothing happened and improvised like a professional so that no one could have noticed his confusion (unless they knew the lyrics). Shiri, who also voted for him, “warned” him and said: “I remember myself in Eurovision, just before you go on stage there are like 15 seconds between you and the previous artist and you say to yourself: that’s it, once I start singing there will be no second chance”.
Eliya’s audition
Niv Yanko
Although we’re team Eliya, Niv’s audition attracted our attention as well. He is 23, and although he does not look like a “star” like Harel said (and we agree), when he started to sing it looked as he belongs to the stage. Niv sang a song in Hebrew called “Ha’Ahava Shelanu” (which translates as “This is our Love”, originally performed by Ivri Lider) and achieved 91%. It will be interesting to see whether he will proceed to the next stage because as he is not a typical candidate and more of an underdog.
Niv’s audition
Other qualifiers in these episodes ranking from highest to lowest:
| Name of qualifier | Entry and performing artist | Result | Our impressions |
| Eden Vered Mary | Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes | 78% | Good singer, bad audition |
| Alik Manshirov | Ein Po Makom (“There is No Place Here”) – Idan Haviv | 75% | Emotional and restrained |
| Frida Uziel | Viduy (“Confession”) – Yehudit Ravitz | 60%: SAVED | Solid but messy |
Eden’s audition here
Alik’s audition
Frida’s audition
What do you think about episodes 9-10 and the qualifiers? Do you think that Eliya deserved to pass? Let us know below.
Reminder that least year the Israeli audience wanted that local to win instead of Netta…
“That local”? Netta isn’t local?
I understand why only 5 qualified for the next round. I am not particulary excited with any of them. I am already waiting for the next stage.
What’s gonna be the next stage after the auditions? They’ve let like 50 different singers through to the next round so will they hold battles like in the voice, or will they just cut half of the artists that they’ve let through?
If i remember well, last year they performed in private for the judges again, and they were cut to 20.
after about 739485 auditions they will have way too many singers that have passed through for no good reason. And then the judges will hear them privately during 2-3 episodes and kick out like 90% of them. The first half of the season never really makes sense.