Noa Kirel (Facebook)
It was an up and down week last week for followers of Israeli entertainment. At the same time that the country’s biggest pop star, the young Noa Kirel, released her new hit single called “Unicorn” which will be her entry at this year’s Eurovision contest, Israel also lost its most famous native born celebrity Chaim Topol.
No Kirel hopes to join 4 previous Israeli Eurovision winners, the most recent of which was Netta, who won the contest in 2018 with the song “Toy.” Both Toy and Unicorn are songs with English lyrics. Once upon a time Israel’s performers sand Hebrew songs at the Eurovision contest. But Hebrew songs are not as likely to be an international success as English ones.
No, Noa Kirel’s song is not about high-tech startups worth more than $1 billion. It’s more of an anthem, like Katy Perry’s “Roar.”
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The lyrics go: “I’m gonna stand here like a unicorn. Out here on my own. I got the power of a unicorn. Don’t you ever learn? That I won’t look back, I won’t look down, I’m going up. You better turn around. The power of a unicorn.”
It is not clear, however, what exactly is the power of a unicorn.
The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will be held in Liverpool, England, in the Liverpool Arena next to the River Mersey on Saturday 13 May with Semi-Finals on Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11 May.
Chaim Topol is best remembered for portraying Tevya the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof. He played the role first in the musical’s London production and became a star for the 1971 movie. And for the next 50 years Topol continued to perform Fiddler in productions all over the world. He even played a Bond villain (or ally) in the 1983 movie “For Your Eyes Only.”
Chaim Topol had been ill for several years, suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
