| advertisement |
|
|
| advertisement |
|
|
|
| Jewish youth in Germany preparing for Eurovision song contest
|
|
 |
Photo: Machane Germany
|
|
|
| Page tools |
 |
|
|
|
The federation of Jewish youth centres in Germany, Machane, has already chosen the winners of the 2006 edition of its Jeweurovision contest - two months ahead of the 51st edition of the Eurovision, the European song contest from which it is modelled.
Some 700 spectators crowded into the assembly hall of Berlin’s Jewish community centre on 6 March to hear 11 youth organizations compete for the top prize.
It is the fifth year in a row that Jewish youth organizations from around Germany have come together for the friendly song contest.
A jury of 12 adult musicians were responsible for choosing a winner -and hey modelled their appraisals in much the same way as in the Eurovision contest.
Capitalising on Israel
Eurovision is the song contest in which European nations battle it out to win the prize of European song-of-the-year.
Israel is undisputedly “the most successful” Eurovision country, according to the contest organizers. It won the competition 3 times - coming in second 4 times and third once. It is also the only non-European nation to participate in the event, which is held each year in the country of the previous year’s winner.
This year’s competition will take place in Athens on May 20.
Germany based Jewish groups have tried to capitalise on Israel’s musical strength. Despite the fun and effort put into the Machane contest, the local groups do not expect to be discovered for the originality of their songs. Whereas the Eurovision songs must be original premiers, the Machane student groups perform well known oldies.
The Frankfurt group, for example, performed to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.
Unique atmosphere
Wolfgang Hammershcmidt, a jury member told the weekly Juedische Allgemeine Zeitung (JAZ) that the atmosphere of the Machane event was “indeed unique”. Nevertheless he hoped to see more talent in the future as well a few songs specially composed for the event.
Another jury member, Ori Osbere, told JAZ that it is “difficult to decide which student groups to include and which not to”. He was also concerned about how professional the event needs to be.
This year’s trophy went for a second time to Emuna, the Dortmund based youth centre. “Their dancers were simply grand,” said Igor Ginzburg, who heads Berlin’s Olam youth group.
Olam-Berlin, which won last year’s contest, came in second place this year.
Ginzburg, whose youth centre organized this year’s event, told JAZ that he was “satisfied with the programme overall ” – despite occasional, technical difficulties that befell the sound and light systems.
Israel’s winning songs are still popular in Europe: Izhar Cohen & The Alpha-Beta with “A-ba-ni-bi” in 1978. Gali Atari and Milk & Honey with “Hallelujah” one year later, in 1979. 1998 saw the prize go to the transvestite singer Dana International for her song “Diva“.
|
|
 |
|