Israel Song Festival To Be Revived

Maya Buskila performing at the Festigal children?s show in 2009.

By Uri Zer Aviv January 9, 2012

Crossposted from Haaretz

After a more than 30-year hiatus, the Israel Song Festival will be revived this year, according to a senior Israel Broadcasting Authority source.

Maya Buskila performing at the Festigal children?s show in 2009.

The festival, held almost every year from 1960 to 1980, initially offered winners a cash reward. But in 1978, the top finisher was designated as Israel’s representative in the Eurovision song contest, a competition sponsored by the European Broadcasting Union. The Eurovision song contest pits member countries — including Israel — against one another for the title of top song.

According to Israel Song Festival rules, the winning song was to be judged by the extent to which it “advanced an original Hebrew song” and the way in which it reflected “the accomplishments of Israeli society and the culture of the Jewish people.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO