Ilanit
Ilanit (* September 17, 1947 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is a female Israeli singer who represented her country twice in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1973 she first took part in Luxembourg where she reached the fourth position with the song "Ey Sham" ("Somewhere"). This was also the first ever participation of Israel in the Song Contest. The song was composed by Nurit Hirsch, who also conducted the orchestra in Luxembourg on that occasion. It was only the second time that the orchestra was conducted by a woman; the first time was on that very evening.
The second participation by Ilanit was in London in 1977 with a song entitled "Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim" ("Love is a song for two"). With this song she came eleventh. Ilanit almost took part for a third time in 1984: she was appointed by IBA to sing the song "Balalaika". The organising Luxembourg network, however, decided to organise the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest on an Israeli memorial day. The IBA subsequently withdrew their entry. At that time Ilanit was already one of Israel's most popular singers and the song "Balalaika" became an instant hit, despite not taking part.
Ilanit was named Israel's top female singer every year from 1971 to 1977, something no other singer has achieved.
In 1974 Ilanit represented Israel at the World Popular Song Festival In Tokyo '74 with the song "Shiru Shir Lashemesh" ("Sing A Song To The Sun"). The final was held on 17 November and she came ninth.
Ilanit continued to experience major successes in her home country, with songs from the famous late composer/song-writer Ehud Manor and others. Together with other established Israeli artists she took part in a tour through North America in 2005. However, she has not released any new records since 1999; her last full album is "Brazilian Dream" (1996).
Eurovision Song Contest 1973 - Luxembourg
Entry for Israel
Performer: Ilanit
Song title: Ey-sham
Song writer(s): Ehud Manor
Song composer(s): Nurit Hirsh
Sang in Position: 17
Final Position: 4
Total Points: 97
For the third time in the 18-year-old history of the Eurovision Song Contest, Luxembourg had the honour of hosting the event with 17 nations being present. After ending up in last position two years in a row, Malta decided to withdraw from the contest. Austria decided not to participate either. Instead, a new country joined the song contest, Israel. It was the first non-European country to enter the contest. Israel was allowed to do so because the country was already a member of the European Broadcasting Union. With the Israelis participating, the security control was unusually tight and there were special security measures for the Israeli delegation.
Another important rule change for the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest was that the participants could choose the language in which they wanted to sing their songs. This rule remained valid till 1976, and has been put in effect from 1999 onwards again.
The event was marked by a scandal: the Spanish entry Eres Tu by Mocedades was accused of plagiarism. It was suggested by critics that the song was merely a copy of the Yugoslav entry of 1966, Brez Besed performed by Berta Ambroz. The Spanish entry was not sanctioned though and became a huge hit internationally - it even outsold the winner Tu Te Reconnaitras by Anne-Marie David which marked the fourth victory for the Grand Duchy and the second one in a row after Vicky Leandros won the preceding year. Anne-Marie David tried her luck again in 1979 when she competed for France and came third. She is one of the few artists who ended up in the top-3 with all appearances in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Cliff Richard sang for the United Kingdom for the second time and came in third, one place worse than in 1968 and his last try ever on the Eurovision Song Contest stage; Sweden's Monique Dominique became the first woman to conduct the orchestra. Nurit Hirsch, the female conductor for Israel, followed her a few minutes later.
Eurovision Song Contest 1977 - London
Entry for Israel
Performer: Ilanit
Song title: Ah-haa-vah Hee Shir Lish-naa-yim
Song writer(s): Edna Peleg
Song composer(s): Eldad Shrim
Sang in Position: 11
Final Position: 11
Total Points: 49
This year's Eurovision Song Contest took place at the Wembley Conference Centre in London. The event was postponed for five weeks because of the fact that the cameramen and technicians were on strike. The song contest was supposed to take place on the 2nd of April, but it did not take place before the 7th of May. 18 countries took part this year. Sweden returned, and Yugoslavia withdrew from the contest. Tunisia was supposed to take part as well, performing in 4th position, but the country withdrew its entry.
The rule of performing in one's national language was brought back to the song contest as since 1973, countries could sing in a language they wanted. However, Germany and Belgium were allowed to perform in English because their entries had already been chosen before the rule was brought back.
The German group Silver Convention had been hugely popular all over the world in the mid 70s with songs like Fly Robin Fly and Get Up And Boogie. Even if there were high hopes that their 1977 entry Telegram would mark the first victory for Germany, the song only ended up in 8th position. Anita Skorgan sang her first entry Casanova for Norway this year. She would return in 1979 and also try several more times to represent her home country, but always lost out in the Norwegian national heats.
Austria gave a innovative performance as Boom Boom Boomerang by the group Schmetterlinge was performed with the artists wearing masks on the back of their heads.
France won its fifth victory - and last to date - with the song L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant performed by Marie Myriam. France's victory was a record in Eurovision Song Contest history. The record was equalled by Luxembourg in 1983, and beaten by Ireland in 1994. The United Kingdom entry Rock Bottom by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran came second. It was the 11th consecutive time that a British entry came top 4.
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