KAN has revealed this evening that “Home” is the title of the song that Kobi Marimi will perform at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Kobi Marimi will be performing “Home” for Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The song was selected from around 200 submissions that were received by the Israeli national broadcaster. “Home” was written and composed by Ohad Shargai and Inbar Weitzman.
The song which will be revealed on March 10 is ‘A touching ballad’. Kobi commented:
From first hearing the song really moved me and I connected to it immediately, I thank the committee for picking a song that fits me perfectly, and in a few days everyone will be able to share my emotions.
The song was selected by a jury formed of representatives of KAN and Teddy Productions. On the jury were; Aviad Zingboym (chairman), Yuval Ganor, Naama Hadassi and Michal Asulin, Yoav Tzafir and Tamira Yardeni. The jury met for the first time on Monday before selecting the song today.
How Israel Selected Their Participant
In the first round of the final this evening the finalists will be split in to two duels. From each duel one singer will be selected to go through to the second round, and one singer saved by the public to compete in the second round.
Kobi Marimi was selected as the Israeli participant following two rounds of performances. The results of the first round were:
- Ketreyah (69%) v Shefita (63%) (public vote qualifier)
- Maya Buskila (55%) v Kobi Marimi (79%)
In the second round of the competition, all three singers will return to the stage again. During each performance the public can vote at home, will the juries will score each of the artists. Last year alongside the judges there were four groups of juries who also voted. Each judge and group jury awarded 8, 10 and 12 points.
The results of the second round were (jury + public voting):
- Shefita – 250 (90 + 160) 3rd
- Kobi Merimi – 317 (102 + 215) 1st
- Ketreyah – 243 (78 + 165) 2nd
Source: KAN
Israel debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973, and were represented by Ilanit who finished in 4th place with the song “Ey Sham”. Their first victory came in 1978 with Izar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Israel won again the following year with Gali Atari & Milk and Honey. Israel’s third victory came in 1998 when Dana International performed “Diva” in Birmingham, beating Malta to victory in a tense voting sequence. Israel struggled in the contest during the early-2010s, failing to qualify for the final from 2011-2014. However since the HaKokhav HaBa selection process was introduced in 2015 Israel has seen its fortunes turned around. In 2018 Netta won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Toy”, the song has gone on to be the most viewed Eurovision entry of all time on YouTube.
