One of the nations whose Eurovision plans appeared up in the air was Israel.  The return of 1998 ESC champion Dana International last year resulted in disappointment (and a number of unfortunate jokes about the state of her “Ding Dong“.)  After originally hemming and hawing over their participation in the contest (as the date of the Final coincides with the festival of Shavuot), national broadcaster IBA confirmed that the nation would, in fact, be competing in Baku.  There had been rumors of a public National Final (or Kdam), but due to logistical issues, that plan was scrapped.  What is a network to do?

Rather than hold a traditional Kdam, an internal jury weighed a number of options from a handful of artists who had submitted songs to the network.  The perpetually-mentioned Maya Buskila was mentioned as a possibility, alongside Vladi Blayberg (who is now rumored to be trying for a spot in the Ukranian National Selection), and Chen Aharoni (who sang “Or” in last year’s Kdam), among others.  But it was the Indie-Rock band Izabo who has recieved IBA’s blessing, and the ticket to Baku. Their song will be called “Time”, and it has been reported that it will be bilingual (in Hebrew and English), with an Eastern-influenced electropop sound.  Izabo are not newcomers on the scene; this band from Petah Tikvah (near Tel Aviv) has been performing since 1989, even though their first EP was released as recently as 2003.  In 2006, their collaboration with the band The Fools of Prophecy, “Hu”, was named Single of the Year by Music 24, an Israeli TV channel.

Their 2010 single “On My Way” wouldn’t sound out of place on many Indie playlists:

There has been no indication of when “Time” will be released, but as soon as it is, I’ll be sure to post it on this site (or, at the very least, share it with you via Twitter!)