All songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 have been selected. During the weeks between the national final season and the actual Eurovision Song Contest, we will introduce all 43 entries in random order. We are half way through and part forty-two of the series is dedicated to the Israeli entry.

Basic information

The song

Ding dong is a dance pop song. The lyrics tell the listeners to listen to their soul because it's love that brings us to better times:

The performer and songwriter

Dana International, who was born as Yaron Cohen, released her eponymous debut album in 1993. In 1994, her second album Umpatampa followed. It was a huge success in Israel and brought the singer the award for best female artist in Israel. To date, she has released eight studio albums, the most recent one in 2007. Dana International is considered a role model and one of the most famous and influental transsexuals in the world.

In 1995, she competed in the Israeli national final for the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time but only placed second behind Liora with her song Layla tov, Eropa. Two years later, she was chosen internally to represent her country in Birmingham with the song Diva. It narrowly won the contest by six points and later became the commercially most successful winning song of the 1990s. In 2008, Dana International returned to the contest, this time as a composer. The fire in your eyes was performed by Boaz Mauda in Belgrade and it finished fifth in the first semi final and ninth in the final. In 2011, she took part in the K'dam as a performer again. She won the ticket to Düsseldorf with her own composition Ding dong.

The national selection

Israel returned to the selection format used before 2007. Ten acts competed and the winner was chosen by a jury and televoting.

Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 and had a successful debut finishing fourth. The country did not have to wait very long for its first victory either, as that came in 1978. A second victory followed the year after on homeground and another time in 1998. Despite some low placings in the 2000s, Israel did well in 2005 and 2008 finishing fourth and ninth respectively.

Statistics

This will be Israel's 34th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. For the eleventh time in total and for the first time since 2005, Israel is represented by a female solo performer. Israel remains one of the countries that had all of its entries at least partly performed in a national language. Ding dong is also the eleventh of the 13 entries since the abolishment of the language rule in 1999 to include lyrics in Hebrew and English. Dana International is the second Israeli winner to return to the contest: In 1985, Izhar Cohen took part in Gothenburg seven years after his victory in Paris.

Ding dong is the 12th song to be performed in the second semi final. It is preceeded by the up-tempo pop rock song from FYR Macedonia and it is followed by the Slovene ballad. A clear advantage might be the fact that the song is performed in the middle of two songs that are entirely different.

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Videos

National final performance/preview video:

The official video clip:

1995 national final performance:

Performance in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8r3WlTrsLg

Loveboy, another song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-1BUmbdC9A

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Polish entry.

Previous parts of the series:

1. Estonia
2. Italy
3. Croatia
4. Slovakia
5. Lithuania
6. Finland
7. Switzerland
   
8. Ukraine
9. Norway
10. Moldova
11. Belgium
12. Azerbaijan
13. Ireland
14. Portugal
    
15. Austria
16. Latvia
17. France
18. Bosnia & Herzegovina
19. Romania
20. Sweden
21. Bulgaria
22. Armenia
23. Denmark
24. Cyprus
25. Spain
    
26. Belarus
27. San Marino
28. Malta
    
29. Germany
    
30. Georgia
31. Greece
32. Iceland
    
33. Serbia
34. Turkey
35. Netherlands
36. Hungary
37. Albania
38. Slovenia
39. Russia
40. United Kingdom
41. FYR Macedonia