Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987
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Eurovision Song Contest 1987 | ||||
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Country | Israel | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Kdam Eurovision 1987 | |||
Selection date(s) | 1 April 1987 | |||
Selected entrant | Datner and Kushnir | |||
Selected song | "Shir Habatlanim" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) | Zohar Laskov | |||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 8th, 73 points | |||
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Israel was present at the
Before Eurovision
Kdam Eurovision 1987
The 1987 edition of the
Among the competitors was
The voting was close, with few points separating the top four songs. However, to great surprise, it was Datner and Kushnir's novelty song "Shir Habatlanim", an ode to the virtues of an easygoing life sung by the duo in Blues Brothers-inspired outfits, that took the lead by thirteen points over frequent national finalist Ilana Avital and earned the right to fly the Israeli flag in Brussels. As one of many apocryphal stories regarding Israel's Eurovision history goes, the Minister of Culture (later clarified to be Yitzhak Navon) threatened to resign if the duo remained the Israeli representatives. They did, and he did not.[3]
Draw | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points | Place |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Arik Sinai and Brur-Chail Group | "Lahzor ha'bayta" (לחזור הביתה) | Yoram Zadok | 29 | 8 |
2 | Ilana Avital | "Dai li dai" (די לי די) | Kobi Oshrat | 66 | 2 |
3 | Dudu Fisher | "Kinor" (כינור) | Ronny Weiss | 35 | 7 |
4 | Lahakat Shir | "Shir" (שיר) | David Krivoshei | 55 | 6 |
5 | Yaron Chadad | "Ulay halayla" (אולי הלילה) | Eldad Shrem | 1 | 16 |
6 | Vardina and Izhar Cohen | "Musica hi neshika la'netzach" (מוזיקה היא נשיקה לנצח) | Ronny Weiss | 59 | 5 |
7 | Haim Moshe | "Eretz ahuva" (ארץ אהובה) | Nansi Brandes | 13 | 12 |
8 | Orna and Moshe Datz | "Cupidon" (קופידון) | Ilan Gilboa | 63 | 4 |
9 | Dorit and Friends | "Yerushalem" (ירושלם) | Nansi Brandes | 16 | 9 |
10 | Etti Ankri | "Nostalgia" (נוסטלגיה) | David Krivoshei | 3 | 14 |
11 | Daliah Cohen and the Guys from Afikim | "Hey hopa" (היי הופה) | David Krivoshei | 3 | 14 |
12 | Svika Pick | "Domino" (דומינו) | David Krivoshei | 14 | 10 |
13 | Gitit Shoval | "Ha'klik" (הקליק) | David Krivoshei | 14 | 10 |
14 | Miki Kam | "Kazino olami" (קזינו עולמי) | Kobi Oshrat | 65 | 3 |
15 | Israela Krovoshey | "Airobica" (אירוביקה) | David Krivoshei | 7 | 13 |
16 | Natan Datner and Avi Kushnir | "Shir Habatlanim" (שיר הבטלנים) | Kobi Oshrat | 79 | 1 |
Detailed Votes | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Draw | Song | ||||||||||
1 | "Lahzor ha'bayta" | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 29 | ||
2 | "Dai li dai" | 8 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 66 |
3 | "Kinor" | 3 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 35 | ||
4 | "Shir" | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 55 |
5 | "Ulay halayla" | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
6 | "Musica hi neshika la'netzach" | 6 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 59 |
7 | "Eretz ahuva" | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | ||||
8 | "Cupidon" | 7 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 63 |
9 | "Yerushalem" | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 16 | |||
10 | "Nostalgia" | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
11 | "Hey hopa" | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
12 | "Domino" | 2 | 12 | 14 | |||||||
13 | "Ha'klik" | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 14 | |||||
14 | "Kazino olami" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 65 | ||
15 | "Airobica" | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | ||||||
16 | "Shir habatlanim" | 10 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 79 |
At Eurovision
"Shir Habatlanim" was written and composed by theatre and film production manager Zohar Laskov. He was not, to say the least, an experienced songwriter, and called on his friend, the aforementioned Kobi Oshrat, to help him polish up the song for the Kdam. Oshrat was stupefied with the initial demo and informed both him and Datner and Kushnir's manager that he would be unable to work on it. The duo themselves implored him to stay, and eventually he found his moment of inspiration watching the 1980 film The Blues Brothers on television. He decided to restructure the song around the tempo of the Blues Brothers' signature song, "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (originally by Solomon Burke), and moreover told Datner and Kushnir's director, Micha Levinson, to base their look and dance moves on those of the Blues Brothers. These canny decisions made the duo stand out in Brussels, where they drew crowds looking to imitate their signature finger-twirling dance move.[4] The Blues Brothers comparison was also made by British commentator Terry Wogan, who dubbed "Shir Habatlanim", perhaps flippantly, "a simple song of love" following their performance. Oshrat, who led the orchestra, made a show of putting on a pair of sunglasses (like those worn by the Bums) before counting the musicians in.
Israel performed second on the night of the contest, following
Voting
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References
- ^ "Israeli National Final 1987". Eurovision National Finals. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ Tukker, Bas. "Kobi Oshrat". Andtheconductoris.eu. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
- ^ Laskov, Zohar. "Shir Habatlanim - Hoopa Hoole - A video clip in English - Lyrics & Music by Zohar Laskov". YouTube. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ "Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
- ^ a b "Results of the Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.