Alphabeta were a group of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i singers who won the
Eurovision Song Contest in 1978 with
Izhar Cohen
Izhar Cohen ( he, יזהר כהן; born March 13, 1951) is an Israeli singer who won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest.
Biography
Izhar Cohen was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised in Givatayim, to a family of singers of Yemenite-Jewish desc ...
.
The singers were Reuven Erez, Lisa Gold-Rubin, Nehama Shutan, Esther Tzuberi, and Itzhak Okev. The winning song was ''
A-Ba-Ni-Bi
"A-Ba-Ni-Bi" ( he, label=Hebrew script, א-ב-ני-בי; bet-language language game for the word ''aní'', meaning "I" in Hebrew) was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, performed for by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta.
Descripti ...
''. Israel received five consecutive maximum 12 points during the voting, a Eurovision Song Contest record. The total score for the song was 157 points.
When it became clear that Israel was going to win the contest, Jordan stopped its live broadcast on the pretext of technical difficulties. The viewing public was shown a picture of daffodils. A day later, Jordan presented the song from Belgium, which came in second, as the winning song. This victory entitled Israel to host the contest in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in 1979.
The head of the Israeli delegation,
Rivka Michaeli
Rivka Michaeli ( he, רבקה מיכאלי; born 14 April 1938) is an Israeli actress, comedian, television hostess, and entertainer.
Early life
Michaeli was born in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel). Her father's family is of ...
, said that Cohen's song was sent to the contest because the other entries in the Israeli national competition were so bad. Nevertheless, Izhar Cohen was said to be confident that he would win.
Forty years of Israel at Eurovision
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See also
*Music of Israel
The music of Israel is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. For almost 150 years, musicians have sought original stylistic elements ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alphabeta
Eurovision Song Contest winners
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Israel
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1978
Israeli pop music groups