Eden Alene, Gali Atari to perform in Eurovision special
In spite of the disappointing cancellation, Alene, a charismatic new star who is the first Israeli Eurovision contestant of Ethiopian descent, has remained upbeat.
By HANNAH BROWNEden Alene(photo credit: EUROVISION)
Eden Alene, Israel’s official contestant for the 2020 Eurovision song competition, will appear in a 30-second clip in the Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light special that will be broadcast on KAN 11 at 10 p.m. on Saturday, May 16.The two-hour online show will feature clips of all 41 songs that would have been performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam if the show had not been postponed for a year due to the pandemic, as well as musical performances by guests from around the world.Alene will also join the rest of 2020’s artists, from their locations across Europe, Asia and Australia, in a performance of the 1997 Eurovision winning song, “Love Shine A Light,” by Katrina And The Waves.In spite of the disappointing cancellation, Alene, a charismatic new star who is the first Israeli Eurovision contestant of Ethiopian descent, has remained upbeat. She has performed on her balcony, as well as in special shows for soldiers and at nursing homes, and has appeared in commercials, including one for Bamba promoting social distancing.Alene won’t be the only Israeli on the program. Gali Atari, who won the 1979 Eurovision contest with the song “Hallelujah,” which she performed with the group Milk & Honey, will also be featured on the broadcast. Atari will perform with a choir featuring past participants from the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.The 2020 Eurovision online host, Nikkie de Jager (NikkieTutorials), chatted with Alene in English in a recently released video clip. Alene said she had been doing great recently and had performed as often as she could under the circumstances.The inspiration for her Eurovision song, “Feker Libi,” which is in four languages – Hebrew, Arabic, English and Amharic – came from performing in a children’s choir with people from different backgrounds, she explained. “Because the song combines so many cultures and so many languages, I think it’s kind of me, because I speak all those languages, not fluently, but, really, I feel like the song is me,” she said, tripping a little on the word “fluently.”“It was written about my boyfriend, and, kind of the love that we share, that we’re not ashamed of it, because I’m black and he’s white, but behind the scenes... it’s about loving each other.”Asked how her boyfriend responded to her win in the Israel Eurovision contest, she said he was “very supportive and he’s cute and he’s nice and he’s got a nice butt.” She also said that her mother liked the song very much, especially the Ethiopian dance moves that are part of Alene’s performance.When she competes in Eurovision in 2021, she said, “I want to do something fun but I also want a diva moment... I want to hit some high, high, high notes and then party, yea, yea!”
Asked to name her favorite song among those competing against her, she said she couldn’t choose between the songs from Malta and Sweden.Eurovision devotees who are being deprived of the big event this year can console themselves with this special, and the fact that they are likely to see much more of Alene throughout the coming year.Just before the special, at 9:15 p.m. on KAN 11, they can also watch the third part of a documentary, Dare to Dream, about the 2019 Eurovision competition in Israel. The first two episodes can be seen on the KAN website.
