Since 2015, Israel has used The Next Star For Eurovision (Hakochav Haba Le’Eirovizion) to select the country’s representative in Eurovision. The Next Star has been a successful format, but according to Israeli media, the current edition could be the last.
Ynet reports that from 2021, the Israeli broadcast KAN will select the nation’s artists by itself. This is because The Next Star has been produced by Keshet (channel 12), which is not a member of the EBU.
This unusual method of selection resulted from the former Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) being unable to fund the pre-selection and to manage its financial resources until it was replaced by KAN. Keshet stepped in with The Next Star, serving as a popular talent show as well as Israel’s Eurovision artist selection.
Since KAN was founded in 2017, they have gone from strength to strength, including their successful hosting of Eurovision 2019. As such, KAN now feels that they want to be solely in charge of Israel’s national finals.
Ynet also reports that KAN will call for proposals from production companies for a new Eurovision selection show format.
Will Israel return to the Kdam for its Eurovision national final?
One option KAN is considering is to relaunch the Kdam Eurovision, the old Israeli national selection. The Kdam was first introduced in 1981 and ran until 2013 (with some breaks in between).
During the 1980s the Kdam was one of the most popular TV shows in Israel and it contributed many successful songs, in particular, “Hora” (1982, runner up), “Hi” (1983, runner up), “Ole Ole” (1985, fifth place) and “Kan” (1991, third place). However, in the ’90s the Kdam lost its charm and became dated.
During the 2000s and 2010s, there have been some attempts to bring the Kdam back to life and it was held five times overall – in 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2013.
The Eurovision results of Kdam acts were mixed, with Shiri Maymon reaching fourth position in 2005, compared to low results in 2001 and 2009 (16th position in both) and non-qualification in 2011 and 2013.
Back then, many fans and Israel commentators suggested that the Kdam did not fit to the new era of Eurovision anymore. When The Next Star was introduced in 2015, it ended Israel’s four-year non-qualification streak. The show resulted in four semi-final qualifications and Netta’s 2018 Eurovision victory.
According to Ynet, KAN’s decision to abandon The Next Star is a controversial choice. As well as selecting successful acts for Eurovision, the show is also credited with building interest in Eurovision among the Israeli public.
Since the news of the possible end of The Next Star was published, many fans and media commentators in the media have expressed their concerns, asking KAN to reconsider their decision or at least to revamp the Kdam.
What do you think about KAN’s decision? How should Israel select their Eurovision entries? Do you want to see the Kdam making a comeback? Tell us your thoughts below!
What’s the difference between Kdam and the National Finals that other countries have?
As a huge fan of Israeli music, I really like Kochav HaBa… it’s taught me some great songs.
Kdam is an obsolete term. If it’s ever going to be revamped, KAN will have to reinvent it in a way that is both multi-phased, up to date and interactive. Somehow I don’t believe they’ll be able to pull off something like that without commercial partners. If they scrap HaKochav Haba altogether, they’ll probably join forces with ‘The Voice’ or another reality music show we don’t know of yet. 2021 seems so far right now that I wouldn’t be surprised if KAN changes its tune depending on this year’s results: If it ends like 2019 again, a shake up will… Read more »
But what is Kdam, versus Kochav HaBa? I’m guessing it’s not a reality TV show?
It means ‘Pre’ (Kdam) as in Pre-Eurovision. It was usually a live one night selection with 10-16 songs shortlisted for the televised Kdam. The last Kdam was held in 2013 with an ambitious 30 song selection process to mark 40 years since Israel’s first participation in 1973. There were 5 phases during a period of almost 2 weeks. Most of the songs didn’t meet high standards, there were allegations of collusion among the judges and eventually the winner, Moran Mazor, failed to qualify in Malmo (even though she did a great job, but perhaps her song was a bit old-fashioned).… Read more »
I am actually glad about this as I’ve always felt that Kochav HaBa has limited more established and current artists from representing Israel. I’m sure KAN would make a good choice if it were an internal selection and a revamped Kdam could be good too. I’m sure there are many great Israeli artists who would love to compete to try to represent Israel at ESC given Netta’s recent victory.
I’m not a fan of The Next Star, but it appears as if there was a concerted effort in selecting more high profile and seasoned singers-songwriters this time, but whether it translates into a success or not is another story. The separation of the singer selection from the song selection usually has a detrimental effect on the final outcome. It’s unclear what KAN has in store but sources suggest that the broadcaster is looking for a lengthy selection process and not just a one off event. If KAN wants to lure big names, it needs to put aside funds for… Read more »
Yes! And please don’t do it like our NDR in Germany – most of the singers for the national selection are participants of the casting show Voice of Germany 🙁
That’s why in my opinion last year Lilly among Clouds was the real thing – the only real musician before and after the national final.
100% agree with you, but I suspect that KAN is after a different version of the same thing with just a better oversight of the process. It’s very unfortunate that some TV critics and even prominent songwriters tend to praise THE NEXT STAR as the best ‘entertainment’ show on TV without realizing how they become accomplices to setting a very low bar for the future. If that’s really the overwhelming sentiment among media and music industry ‘experts’, I’m not sure KAN will want to rock the boat too much. In the meantime, we can’t ignore the fact that the current… Read more »
I was watching some of the old kdams and they are all lip syncing right? It doesn’t look like any of these acts are singing live.
Why would they do that? Wouldn’t you want to see the full live performance before judging who is going to Eurovision?
In the Kdams from the eighties the performances were prerecorded and lip synced (except for 1987 which was live). The Kdams from the seventies were live, and also the ones from the 90’s and onward (except for 1992 which was prerecorded and lip synced).
You’re right about that, but in the 80’s it was a common practice, and since most of the participants were established artists they could be trusted to be good performers, with the exception of 1989 who was unknown at the time of winning the Kdam, and indeed his live performance was pretty bad.
In 2005, it’s not hard to tell the difference – the acts are pretty clearly performing live, but special guest Ruslana is obviously lip-syncing (just as she would at that year’s ESC final).
It must have been much cheaper to avoid bringing all the equipment to create a good sounding live sound. Especially 30 years ago when such equipment must have been pretty expensive.
First of all, reports (or rumours, not sure) have claimed that the host of that new format will be non other than the 2019 Eurovision host – Lucy Ayoub! And, as an Israeli who’ve been watching this show for so many years (including the first season which wasn’t yet related to Eurovision) I can say I’m happy about this decision As I feel it, this show became nothing but too much reality-kind with judges who don’t quite understand Eurovision (let alone the audience there) with way too many commercials and too many tragic stories The only good thing there is… Read more »
If it’s Lucy and Assi teamed up again, I’ll be happy as a clam.
Well, Assi works with Keshet and Lucy with KAN so I don’t think it’s gonna happen
But they were really great together 🙂
Rising Star as a live-based reality format did not do well outside of Israel. KAN can still continue the show but not as a national selection like they’ve used to before.
The Rising Star is a show produced by a commercial broadcaster. KAN has nothing to do with it beside taking the winner to Eurovision.
I meant to say Keshet, not Kan. My bad. 🙂
Not an inherently bad idea if they put their resources into making it a quality selection show. I think a lot of the more successful artists who’ve found their way on to Next Star are a little bemused that they have to jump through the usual reality show hoops. If Kan invites talented people with good songs, and stays current, a revamped Kdam isn’t a bad idea at all.
I was actually just rewatching some old editions of Kdam (specifically 2005 and 2006). Firstly, I don’t know how it was even a question that Shiri Maimon would take it in ’05, that song still holds up and she killed it in Kiev. Secondly, my goodness were a lot of the other songs mediocre. If Kdam focuses on courting contemporary songwriters and performers, it’ll be great, and will probably see a return to songs at least partially in Hebrew. But man, they have a low bar.
I mean, ’80s and ’90s Kdam is good stuff. Lots of jams, and mostly great winners.
I wonder why KAN felt it necessary to make the announcement now when this current NEXT STAR season has nearly begun. The way I see it, KESHET became too complacent for its own good by practicing cronyism and cutting corners. In both 2017 and 2019 Israel finished 23rd mainly because the team of lyricists and composers never wrote for Eurovision or for any other foreign competition in their lives. Doron Medalie was selected in 2015, 2016 and 2018 because he was an in-home talent and the only guy who actually lived and breathed Eurovision by building a reputation for himself… Read more »
Keshet are masters of creating hype. Before the Next Star nobody cared about Eurovision in Israel for many years. They created the hype over it and they were the ones to convince Netta to participate (yes, they were running after her several years). But now after the win and the hosting, KAN probably want to take things under their full control. Nobody in KAN wants to win in the next 10 years at least. They have a huge loan to pay over the next 15 years and another hosting without government funding will literally kill them. So I guess they… Read more »
No it’s ridiculous for you to say that they are purposefully going to want to lose. Then why not just withdraw or give it to another network?
No other network is a member of the EBU in Israel. From Wikipedia “EBU Members are Public Service Media (PSM) broadcasters whose output is made, financed and controlled by the public, for the public.” So only KAN can actually deal with ESC in Israel. Withdrawing is a too dramatic step that will generate all sorts of negative outcomes. The broadcaster do have money to participate, it just doesn’t want another hosting because they know that the Israeli government loves the idea of hosting Eurovision but not the idea of spending money on it. Who guarantees that if they win in… Read more »
But why did KAN go above and beyond in 2018 when it was still treading on shaky ground? I’m surprised it didn’t anticipate the government would stab it in the back financially given all the bad blood between them. If it weren’t for the combination of Israel’s 70th anniversary, the overwhelming response to Netta’s potential and the opportunity to get on that gravy train, it would have never amounted to anything close to a victory. KAN was ready to pull out all the stops when the momentum was on its side in 2018: https://www.kan.org.il/item/?itemid=31050 (Google Translate into English. “Here” =… Read more »
Rising Star, although interesting, doesn’t actually put the interest in the songs so it’s a skip for me. If there’s going to be a new format, then so be it.
haba haba l’eurovision is one of the least exciting selections so i won’t be mad at it getting scrapped, but i believe israel can come up with a cute nf like eesti laul or supernova rather than internal selections
Isn’t it supposed to be Hakokhav Haba L’hujaza Kibaba?
Israel definitely has the expertise and talent to do a small scale melodifestivalen. Kdam its dated i think
By the way – have you seen this on Netta’s youtube channel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx35KQbpW6Y
“Hi everybody! Welcome, this is my actual room and my actual studio. I did a short freestyle for you all!
I really wanted to connect with my fans and this one is for you.”
What obstacles can there be other than financial or a case of mismanagement? I think so many resources went to that ‘Bassa Sababa’ video clip that it must have slowed things down for Netta, but it’s so good to see her in her element with this free jam session.
She’s had three videos since then. one on her own and two with others who are big names. Two of the three are hits (Nana Banana – written with Nathan Goshen, who also did the backing vocals; We’ve Got The Power – with Omer Adam, Rotem Cohen, Moshe Peretz, etc. One is imho not great because of the autotune (Big – with Omer Adam), but it’s already on the top trending videos on Youtube Israel.