Israel Has a New Idol

September 10, 2006 - 11:21 PM by Allison

After seemingly endless days and weeks of hype, Israel’s version of American Idol, known as “A Star Is Born” final crowned its king.

The winner was no surprise to those who had followed the performances over the course of the
season. Jacko Eisenberg, the guy from Netanya with the ponytail and the funny nickname, was the only performer to consistently send chills up the spine of the audience. And he brought it home in the final, as Michal of One Jerusalem observed:

With two outstanding performances, Jaco proved to all the viewers that he has what it takes to win. The first song he sang was called “I’m losing you” by Sa’ar Badishi. The second song was an original song written by him, which he preformed as a duet with Ninet Tieb (the winner of the first season of the show). He took a big risk choosing two almost unknown songs. A risk that paid off. In second place arrived Maya Rotman, and in third place arrived Rafael Merilya (left to right in the picture).

It’s important to point out that the judges did a great job, picking talented and diverse contestants, which led to an extremely thrilling and interesting season. It’s hard to comprehend what the participants of the show have to deal with. There is the pressure of learning a new song every week and performing in front of a live audience. Moreover, they start off as anonymous people and during the process of the five months they become famous and well-known throughout the country.

I think that what distinguished Jaco from the other contestants was his balanced and mature appearance. He sang accurately and confidently. As for Maya (who was my personal favorite) and Rafael – you could feel the tension they were in and their performance was a bit shaky. But overall, this trio was the finest ever to arrive to the finals. I’m sure we shall keep on hearing about them moving forward in the music industry.

It’s interesting that the Israeli contest echoed the same season of “American Idol” in the U.S., where the audience also picked an older male performer in his late 20′s over the teenyboppers. An interesting addition to the panel of judges this year was openly gay journalist and screenwriter Gal Auchovsky, who was cast in the role of Simon Cowell, as the most bluntly critical judge. There was a lot of friendly ribbing regarding his sexuality — he’d comment on a female contestant looking particularly attractive and other judges would say, “Gal, we didn’t think you noticed that kind of thing!” One wonders if that would fly in the States.

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