Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Israel had its final tonight. First there were two duels of cover songs and the winners went on. The judges chose out of the losers one for the final round with their eventual Eurovision entries. Only App voting was used and one could see the % on screen during the song. Ella Daniel – Somebody Out There 67% Hovi Star – Made of Stars 75% Gil Hadash – Follow the Sun 48% Nofar Salman – Made of Stars 76% The jury picked Ella for the superfinal Hovi Star – Made of Stars  68% Ella Daniel – Somebody Out There  58% Nofar Salman – Made of Stars 67%

Israel has been running its Rising star for months and four stars have risen this high. Tonight they will sing for the first time their eventual entries, too. There are four artists in the running but only three songs as Hovi and Nofar will fight over the same song, and I prefer Nofar's oriental take on it. Ella seems to the favorite and this blogger can't but think of Italian Noemi with that voice! The voting is only by App. Hovi Star - Made of stars  (Doron Medalie) Nofar Salman - Made of stars  (Doron Medalie) Ella Daniel - Somebody out there  (David Maman, Phillip Hayun) Gil Ha dash - Follow the sun  (Stav Beger, Tom Gefen)

Israel's selection has been goin on for months and about half the population has been in the auditions and we have had young ones and old ones, drag queens and soldiers and everything in between. Now finally they are only four left. And curiously only three songs! Israel, once the Eurovision superpower has been struggling in the past years but last year's success has filled them with new pride and boosted the spirits and this year they are aiming for another final and topping last year's 9th place with Golden boy . The final takes place this Thursday and we have Ella Daniel (born in Azerbaijan but living in Israel since she was 2), 20-year old soldier Gil Hadash who claims she has never watched Eurovision - boy is she in for a surprise should she win! Hovi Star is already a bit known. He sings the same song that 17-year-old Nofar Salman does. The gossip is Hovi wanted to sing his own song but that wasn't ok with the contest's committee and had to pick up anot...