Israel will be represented by the band Teapacks this year and I for one am happy it's a change from the usual sugary peace and harmony stuff from recent years.Teapacks give their 12 points to Trinidad & Tobago, compare peace with a salami and Push Buttons the Sugababes never even heard of. I'm sure the new Israeli entry Push The Button will cause some disturbance amongst the people of Israel and the Eurovision army. Teapacks MySpace
UPDATE: Well controversy indeed, the calls for disqualifying Teapacks because of the political content of the song are already heard and it seems Eurovision has a hard time keeping up with the modern era (except commercially). Here's some news from the BBC and ESCtoday.
To the covers:
Unfortunately I can't present any Eurovision cover by Teapacks, so here's some other Israel songs that have had a makeover in a less conventional style. To be played at full volume but not for the faint hearted.
First up there's a version of the Ping Pong Song Same'ach. Ping Pong opened the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest with this memorable song, jumping around, not hitting a single note and doing some serious political flag-waving. The song was later voted the most embarrasing Israel entry and I'm not sure if the Ping Pong people are allowed back in temple yet.Beer-7 (Beer-Sheva) took the song a made a ska-punk version which is on their 2003 album 'Skandal'. at Beer-7 MySpace you can download all tracks from the Scandal album for free.
YIDcore must be the winners of the Eurovision Songs In A Punk Style Contest. The noisy bunch make the Israeli party classics bearable by giving them a punk rock makeover.Of course the classic Hallelujah couldn't be spared but even better is their version of Olé Olé, the lesser known Izhar Cohen song that was wasn't half as brilliant as A-Ba-Ni-Bi. Also here is their party mix of Hora (1982), Hi (1983) and Hava naguila. It's been released in several versions, one of them on the Adam Slander EP which includes a song about one of my pet hates Adam Sandler: 'Why Won't Adam Sandler Let us Do His Song?'
To top it all, YIDcore are from Australia. YIDcore home page
If you need a downer after all the jumping around I recommend A Ba Ni Bi by K.O.B. It's a bit emo-lite and certainly way too long, but it'll get you back in your depression guaranteed.
Their new album is called A Glorious Ending At A Push Of A Button, coincidence?
K.O.B. have their own MySpace and are not to be confused with the French band of the same name.
Same'ach - Beer-7 - CD Scandal (2003 RA records)
Hallelujah - YIDcore - CD YIDcore (2001 Swell Records)
Hora/Hi medley - YIDcore - CD The Great Chicken Soup Caper EP (2002 Swell records)
Olé Olé - YIDcore - CD Scrambles (2003 independent release)
A Ba Ni Bi - K.O.B. - CD Time is sweating (2003)
related post: For a groovy Thai movie version of A Ba Ni Bi check out this Eurocovers post. and this one for some more.
