Primetime.co.il informed that the editors of Israeli Radio 88 FM made their choice regarding a singer who should represent Israel in Eurovision 2015 in Vienna. Israeli public broadcaster IBA expressed their will to participate in Eurovision, and if everything goes well until the 10th of October, the new Israeli entry will be chosen by the editors of Radio 88 FM.
The editors of Radio 88 FM have already made internal rankings of possible candidates and here are the results:
The first place in their rankings is Marina Maximilian Blumin, a singer and an actress who finished 2nd in “Kokhav nolad 5”. Primetime mentioned that singer was supposed to represent Israel before, but former board of IBA rejected this idea because Marina did not serve in the Israeli Defence Forces. In 2008 Marina released song “Mi Haya Ma’amin” with Boaz Mauda (who represented Israel in Eurovision 2008), and a couple of months later her first solo single “Sof Sof” has been published as well.
The runner-up in the editor’s ranking is Ester Rada, a 29-years old singer from West Bank. She is yet to release her debut album, but she is already well known due to her performance at Glastonbury Festival, and as the Opening Act before Alicia Keys’ concert in Israel. In 2013 Ester released an EP with four songs.
Asaf Avidan came third, and he was the leader of Asaf Avidan & the Mojos, a folk rock band established in 2006. Asaf stared his solo career in 2012 with an acoustic live album “Avidan in the Box”. He performed at Sanremo Festival in Italy the following year, with a piano vocal version of his hit “Reckoning Song”. His album “Different Pulses” charted in many European countries, highest in France, Italy and Belgium.
It is not confirmed yet if IBA and Radio 88 FM will negotiate only with those three and we don’t know candidates opinion about Eurovision yet, but Primetime claims all of them are proof that IBA wants to open for new and more alternative names regarding Eurovision after four failures in Eurovision 2011-2014 when Izabo, Dana International, Moran Mazor and Mei Feingold failed to qualify for the final.
Primetime informed as well that is still not decided if Israel will participate in Eurovision Song Contest. According to their sources IBA is still negotiating with EBU about a reduced fee for participation, due to complicated and uncertain financial situation of the broadcaster. In 2014, the Israeli cabinet approved reforms that will see the IBA closed and a new public broadcasting body taking IBA’s place.
