Izhar Cohen

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Izhar Cohen , also Yizhar Cohen ( Hebrew יזהר כהן; * March 13, 1951 in Giw'atajim ) is an Israeli singer .

First participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

Izhar Cohen and his background group The Alphabeta (consisting of Reuven Erez, Lisa Gold-Rubin, Nehama Shutan, Ester Tzuberi and Itzhak Okev, also written The Alpha-Beta) took part in the Israeli preliminary round of the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest . With the song A-ba-ni-bi , composed by Nurit Hirsh and texted by Ehud Manor , he landed tied for first place with the candidates Chedva Amrani & Pilpel Lavan, but was awarded by the voting juries to represent Israel at the competition in Paris . At the Eurovision Song Contest in Paris he was no less successful, with 157 points he took first place ahead of the representatives from Belgium and France . The English version of the song was released as a single across Europe and reached fourth place in the single charts in Switzerland and ninth in Sweden.

Cohen was the first Israeli winner in the competition, making Israel the first non-European country to emerge victorious. When he returned to Tel Aviv , he was received by thousands of people who celebrated him like a hero.

Second participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

1982 Cohen tried to represent Israel again in the competition, but ended up in the preliminary round only in seventh place with the title El ha'or . In 1985 he took part again in the Israeli qualification and this time won the ticket to Gothenburg with the song Olé, olé (composed by Kobi Oshrat, text written by Hamutal Ben Zeev) . At the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden he reached fifth place with 93 points out of 19 participants. Although the title was recorded in English and French and published in many countries, it was not able to place in the charts internationally.

Cohen competed two more times in the Israeli preliminary round: in 1987 he came fifth in a duet with Vardina and the song Musica hi neshika la'netzach . Almost ten years later he tried again with a duet, but Alpa'im with Alon Jan also failed in the 1996 preliminary decision in tenth place.

Cohen continues to perform with his Eurovision songs and has in the meantime built up a second mainstay as a jewelry designer. He not only sells his creations online, but also in his own shop in Tel Aviv.

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
A-ba-ni-bi (Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta)
  DE 22nd 06/05/1978 (6 weeks)
  AT 21st 06/15/1978 (4 weeks)
  CH 4th 05/13/1978 (7 weeks)
  UK 20th 05/13/1978 (7 weeks)
  SE 9 06/02/1978 (3 weeks)

Discography (singles / selection)

  • A-ba-ni-bi (with The Alphabeta)
  • Alpa'im (with The Alphabeta)
  • Illusions (with The Alphabeta)
  • Make a little love (with The Alphabeta)
  • El ha 'or
  • Olé, olé

literature

  • John Kenney O'Connor: Eurovision Song Contest - The official book on 50 years of European pop history. Gondrome 2005.
  • Jan Feddersen: A song can be a bridge. Hoffmann and Campe, 2002.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ diggiloo.net
  2. ↑ Israel "A-ba-ni-bi" - Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta ( Memento from April 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ hitparade.ch
  4. ↑ archive.org ( Memento from February 23, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ diggiloo.net
  6. ↑ http://natfinals.50webs.com/70s_80s/Israel1987.html
  7. ↑ http://natfinals.50webs.com/90s_00s/Israel1996.html
  8. ↑ http://www.izharcohen-jewelry.com/en/about-izhar-cohen/
  9. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts SE
personal data
SURNAME Cohen, Izhar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cohen, Yizhar; יזהר כהן (Hebrew)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli singer
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Giw'atajim