Under the current wave of violence in Israel, Mira Awad, who represented Israel in Eurovision Song Contest 2009, sings in hope for peace. “If we stop having fun with music, things will be much worse”, she says.

Mira Awad is a christian-arab Israeli who brought the Arabic language to the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time ever when she sang There must be another way along with Noa in 2009. Previously, she tried to represent Israel in 2005, taking part in the Kdam Eurovision with Zman.

The title track of her first album, Bahlawan (Acrobat), represents the balancing act Mira does between the Jewish and Arab world, as in between the Christian and Muslim communities. It is one of the most important songs in her repertoire.

“Not all my songs address the current issues, of peace and the need to live in peace. I touch on social issues and that sort of thing, but I have lots of regular songs, about love and disappointment, and about interpersonal things. The show in Jerusalem is not about the current tensions. I have been singing pop and rock songs for a long time now.”, says Mira.

Nowadays, she is a guest in a series of concerts held in the Museum of Islamic Art in Jerusalem featuring female vocalists, writing a TV series of the local Channel 1 and producing her third album.

“With all the violence and the problems we have now, the music has to be fun. If we stop having fun with music things will be much worse. That’s important too. Let’s not forget that.”

The fun continues also when MBC has been using Bahlawan for the promo of The Voice: Ahla Sawt which finds talents from the Middle East and North Africa, without permission. Watch Mira’s reaction (subtitles available):