Sarit Hadad - Let's Light a Candle
Tallin, Estonia
Eurovision position: -- with -- points

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Sarit Hadad's Internal Selection 2 0 0 2
Pos.	Title	Pnt.	DL
1	Let's Light a Candle	150
2	Mr. DJ Superman	144
3	Malcat HaDisco (Disco Queen)	90
4	Yasu Yasu	90

18 - 4 - 02 Interview with Sarit Hadad

Read an exclusive interview with Sarit Hadad that was made especially for the "Kdam Eurovision" site.
Click here

26 - 2 - 02 "Let's Light a Candle" premiere

The Israeli entry to the 2002 ESC "Let's Light a Candle" will be performed for the first time on March 4th on Channel One's Meny Pe'er show (the same one which held the 1999 ESC draw). Sarit Hadad will sing live, accompanied on stage with 15 musicians. The song's verses are in Hebrew and the refrain is in English.
I will post the song here right after the premiere, so be tuned!

24 - 12 - 01 Let's Light a Candle

The song "Let's Light a Candle" was selected today to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest. The song was selected out of four songs that were submitted by Sarit Hadad, as decided last month.
The song was composed by Tzvika Pik and was written by Yoav Ginai - The winner team from 1998 who wrote and composed "Diva" for Dana International.
The song got 150 points in the IBA's committee meeting.The song in the second place, with 144 points was the highly up-beat "Mr.DJ Superman", also writen by Pick and Ginay. The other two songs were "Malkat HaDisco" (Disco Queen), writen by Zvika Pick and Ehud Manor, lyricist of "Abanibi", and "Yassu Yassu" by David Zigmann. Each song got 90 points.
In Yediot Achronot paper Sarit said about the choise: "The song is appropriate to these times and situation and it has a meesage of hope. I'll sing it from the bottom of my heart.It gives me a chance to express my voice and feelings" In Maariv newspaper she sounds a bit differently - The runner up was her favourite song, but she accepts the choise, "I'll do my best to win. The song's writers have already proven themselves with Diva". In an intervirew on Israeli radio she said she is sad that the runner didnt qualify. According to the writers, the song will be sung half in English (the choruses).
Ginay said in an IBA interview that "Sarit has good English and accent... we don't allways have to win. The important thing is to participate". Zvika Pick Said to Maariv: "I can't tell if this is the suitable song if we want to win. I personally believed in 'Mr. DJ Superman' but I trust the committee's choise." The song is supposed to be an uptempo soul ballad expressing the world's situation these days, and has a wink of mediterranean style, like most of Sarit's songs.

Here are some of the lyrics that were published today:

Lif'amim nidme she'ein tikva
(Sometimes it seems like there's no hope)
Vehakol nir'e kol kach afel velo yadu'a
(And everything looks so dark and unknown)
Haprachim od lo parchu bagan ubasade
(The flowers had yet to blossom in the field and in the garden)
Uba'erev rak maka haru'ach
(And in the evening there's just wind)
Az Bo'u venadlik beyachad ner
(So let's light a candle together)

Light a candle
Let’s light a candle baby
A thousand candles in the dark
Will open our hearts

26 - 11 - 01 Sarit Hadad will represent Israel in 2002

Sarit Hadad, Currently Israel's most successful singer, was chosen today to represent Israel in the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Estonia on the 25th of May.
Hadad, who was chosen by a special committee that was assembled by the entertainment department of the IBA and included musicians, press reporters and some IBA employees is now asked to present four different songs in three weeks, which one of them will be chosen to represent Israel. Nevertheless, the committee holds the right to connect Hadad to writers it will choose, if the songs presented will not be satisfying.
In the case that Hadad won't be able to compete in the contest, The committee had chosen the Group 'Gaya' as a second option and the singer Zehava Ben as a third one.

The committe was assembled out of 14 people, among them: Aviva Avidan, Yigal Hared, Izhar Cohen, Haim Uliel, Amos Oren, Nava Achiron, Tal Gordon and Avihu Medina.

It was also decided that at least half of the chosen song will be sung in Hebrew, and that channel's 1 entertainment manager, Yitzhak Zonenshtain, will be responsible for the production of the song for the contest.
To the question, why was Sarit Hadad chosen, answered Zonenshtain: "the members of the committee brought many reasons. One of the main reasons is that Sarit is a singer that can be trust to represent israel with great honor from the musical aspect, the performance itself and as a representative that will need to talk and answer to questions from the press".

Avi Gueta, Sarit's personal manager had responded after the announcement: "We are very happy and it's a big big honor for us". Gueta added: "Two of the songs for the committe were composed by Tzvika Pik, who wrote Diva that won the Eurovision. We are now looking for writers".

Sarit Hadad, 23, had begun her musical career in the age 15 when she was discovered by her manager, Avi Gueta. Her first album, "Nitzotz Hachaim" (Sparkle of life) was out in 1995 and was sold in 50,000 copies. Her third album, "Sarit Hadad BeAravit" (Sarit hadad in arabic) was a great success in Jordan, and led to a tour of Hadad in the Jordanian kingdom. In 1997 she recorded the song "Lama Halacht Mimeno" (Why did you went from him) with the band 'Teapacks' that became a huge hit. Her most successful album by now is "Kmo Sinderella" (Like Sinderella) that was sold in more than 180,000 copies (triple platinum in israel). Sarit was also selected as the woman of the year and singer of the year for 2001. Her song "Yalla Lech Habaita Moti" (Go home Moti!) was chosen as the song of the year in 2001.
Sarit already tried to represent Israel in the contest in 1999, when her song "Welcome Ya Salam" was third in the inner selection.

15 - 10 - 01 A song will be selected by the end of December

IBA's executive manager is supposed this week to confirm Channel One's manager proposal on the method for the pre-selection in 2002.
This method was agreed upon two months ago by a special committee that decided not to hold a Kdam-Eurovision this year and to chose the performers internaly and then hand them the task of selecting the apropriate song (same method used in 1990 with Rita).
Yizhak Zonenshein, manager of Channel One, says: "I wish to select our final entry by the end of December this year". According to the new system the chosen singer will present 3 to 6 songs to an IBA committee and they will select the song for Tallinn.
Among the names mentioned informaly: Sarit Hadad, selected recently as female singer of the year. Her managers already expressed their interest in the Eurovision in the past. Teapacks, band of the year, Eyal Golan, a very popular singer in Israel. A surprising name is Aviv Gefen, who for many years was the "bad boy" of Israeli music. In previous years his acts were revolutionary and the topics of his creations were taboo's of the Israeli society. His managers do not reject the idea of representing Israel in Tallinn if the IBA will present an official request but there is one condition: Gefen's artistic freedom should not be limited.

24 - 07 - 01 No Kdam for 2002

The IBA will probably decide soon not to organize the pre-selection contest for Eurovision Song Contest 2002, the Kdam-Eurovision, but to prefer a different method of selection, based on the choise of musicians and experts.
This move against the Kdam is not a result of Israel's failure with Tal Sondak's "Ein Davar" in Copenhagen, but a consequence of the IBA's plans to avoid the costly production of the Kdam and to hold the "Israeli song festival" again, next May, in order to make a clear distinction between the festival and the Eurovision.
At this point it seems that a singer or a band will be chosen first and will be asked to select a song to represent Israel in Tallinn next May. The previous system, in which "Diva", "Happy Birthday" and "Sameach" were chosen is not rulled out, but it's unlikely to be used again. The proposal for the selection method will be brought for the approval of the IBA's board in the next few days.

19 - 07 - 01 Israel will participate!

A very happy news for Israeli and portuguese Eurovision fans as it was officially announced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU):
"On 19 July, the EBU Television Comittee has approved the proposition of the Reference Group that two additional countries should take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, bringing the number of participants to 24. The two first countries on the waiting list in the order of the results obtained at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 are Israel and Portugal.

19 - 06 - 01 Israeli entry for Tallinn?

Despite the failue of "Ein Davar" in the last Eurovision in Copenhagen last month, There is a possibility Israel will participate in the next contest in Tallinn.
In a meeting of the Eurovision Song Contest committee of the EBU held yesterday in Estonia, IBA's delegate, Amnon Barkay (Eurovision 99 executive producer) tried to convince the other delegates to include Israel in the list of active participants for the 2002 contest. This is contrary to an earlier decision to only allow the first 15 countries from Eurovision 2001 to participate in Tallinn. Barkay argued that having only 22 entries will be a regrettable precedent. The committee agreed and decided that in addition to Israel, Portugal which finished at 17th in Copenhagen will also be invited to participate in 2002 as the 24th entry. The final decision about these steps will be taken in the next Eurovision committee to be held on the 19th of July.