KAN has announced that Shalva Band will be performing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 as the interval act in the second semi-final.
Following their withdrawal from the Israeli national selection for Eurovision 2019, Shalva Band have now been announced as an interval act in Tel Aviv. The group was forced to withdraw from the Israeli selection after the group stated they would not be able to rehearse during Shabbat. Their refusal to rehearse during Shabbat on the grounds of religion, meant that they would not have been able to represent Israel at Eurovision had they won the selection next week.
KAN released a statement reading;
The slogan of the Eurovision Song Contest is ‘dare to dream’, and Shalva Band indeed dared to dream, and KAN is happy to help them realize their dream.
The decision was taken today by KAN and the Production team for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 and was signed off by the European Broadcasting Union.
Shalva Band was created as part of a non-profit organization for children with special needs of the same name. The group has eight members including: Shai, the band’s director, Tal and Yair, percussionists who have Down Syndrome, Yosef, a drum player and singer who is has Williams syndrome, Guy, a keyboard player who is blind, as well as the singers Anal and Dina.
Tomorrow an interview will be aired with the band that explains that they knew the rules of HaKokhav HaBa L’Eurovizion when they chose to participate in the competition, but did not believe they would reach such an advanced stage and therefore did not address the issue of having to rehearse during Shabbat at Eurovision.
Source: Ynet
