Israel is allowed to partly sing in English at next week's Eurovision Song Contest semifinal. Supervisor Svante Stockselius informed that to esctoday.com. As a result Israeli representative Shiri Maimon will be presenting a mix of Hasheket shenish�ar and its English version Time to say goodbye
Shiri Maimon and the production team of the Israeli delegation wished Hasheket shenish�ar would be performed half in Hebrew and half in English at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Israeli broadcaster IBA asked EBU and NTU to approve their request.
Eurovision Song Contest Svante Stockselius exclusively informed esctoday.com about EBU's decision: Israel is allowed to partly sing in English! “In the rules we have some deadlines to make sure that all the material reaches us in time, so we can prepare light, camerawork, graphics, etc… But if a delegation wants to make changes that do not take too much time and effort to implement (like a slightly new arrangement or singing partly in another language) we usually make an exception. At the end, it will improve the overall quality of the show if performers feel more confident.”
The recordings for the English version took place last week in Tel Aviv. The original song was also written in English but translated to Hebrew for the Israeli national final. In Thursday's semifinal Shiri Maimon will be starting in Hebrew and from the middle of the song she will be performing in English.
The English version of Hasheket shenish�ar, entitled Time to say goodbye, can be heard on IBA's Eurovision Song Contest website Eurovil.
