Runner-up: Israel 1983

Once upon a time you could feel pretty sure that if you were watching the Eurovision Song Contest and encountered a happy song with a positive message, performed by a group of people singing together while doing a simple but perfectly synchronised choreography, it had to be Israel.

It was a successful formula that would hit home many times before feeling worn out.

After finishing in second place in Harrogate, Avi Toledano decided to have another go at writing one of those songs and asked Ofra Haza to sing it.

A few years later, Ofra Haza would go on to conquer the world with the remixed version of "Im nin'alu" and gain an international following, becoming one of the best-known and most appreciated performers ever to come out of Israel.

In Munich, her song was seen as a strong patriotic message, especially poignant when performed in Germany, less than forty years after the end of the second world war. What could have been a provocative entry was instead a catchy, likeable pop song and Israel greeting the world with a huge smile.

After a very tight voting, Israel secured its second place in the very last round of voting, leaving Sweden's Carola third.

A deserved 2nd place?
Yes. A quality song, well performed and with its grand intro borrowed straight from Jesus Christ Superstar. In retrospect, I'm glad Ofra got the second place as Carola would have more chances while Ofra would never return to the Eurovision stage.



Ofra Haza - Hi (Israel 1983)