Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

I have been wondering where a fine Israeli singer and songwriter Ivri Lider has gone and finally decided to check on him. He has become The Young Professional! He and Jonathan Goldstein form this electro duo that is set to become the next big thing, signed in France and already scoring hits. And they even have remixed the new Mylène Farmer track Á l'ombre ! So, one can only say things are going fine with them.... All this reminds me a bit of Pet Shop Boys remixing Madonna in the late 1980's. Even their photo shoots are clearly inspired by PSB but I have always loved and adored PSB's sense of style and image so I totally forgive TYP! And to tell the truth PSB have grown a bit tired and uninspired the last decade, maybe TYP will fill that hole? Or are they a bit too similar? Here's their new single and video Be with you tonight which is excellent, and here are TYP D.I.S.C.O and  20 seconds , 

IBA's plans for a national final with several singers each with two songs has been cancelled and there will be an internal selection instead. How about Idan Raichel who is currently working on his new album or Ivri Lider ? Here are some goodies from Raichel: Mima'amakin , Rov ha'shaot , Hakol over and If you go . Ivri Lider covered Rita 's fantastic Bo for the movie Yossi and Jagger (a great touching movie btw, highly recommended) and Jesse has been a big hit in gay circuits and he has also done fun covers of I kissed a girl and The man I love . IBA pick up the phone and call these guys up, they have even collaborated in the past so get them both!

European Music Awards by MTV will take place in Madrid tonight. But looking at the list once again one can only ask: What's so European in this awards? Out of nominations only 13 are for European artists! That's 19%  folks. If it wasn't for the Best European act we might end up having zero European winners. Why don't we have all European nominees instead and have the Best Non-European act instead with nominees from various continents like we have now for various regions of Europe? These about 80% American acts already have their own awards, and considering 11 out of these 13 European acts come from UK, we have astounishing 2 acts from non-English speaking regions nominated, that's less than 3%. European music award my ass! Anyways, running for the Best European act are amongst others Dima Bilan (Russia), Enrique Iglesias (Spain, Ivri Lider (Israel), Sakis Rouvas (Greece) and Marco Mengoni (Italy). If Iglesias wins this even this one goes to America in my books....

Ivri Lider has turned this Kate Perry's bubble gum pop into pure melancholy and it's fantastic in some weird way. It's not the first time he makes covers, just check out The man I love and Boys just wanna have fun below. He also covered Rita's Bo for the touching Yossi & Jagger movie. Ivri would be a great choice for Israel next yearin Oslo... All Youtubes here: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=skAMmX-D41Q , http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uHPr8_53_I , http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0YSwET61E , http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLCREXKxRPY , http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BtK9cSjAiY