Israel makes its first appearance on the Eurovision Top 100 countdown, as “Hi” by Ofra Haza finds its way to the main stage. Israel will appear on the list three times.
Just a few articles ago, we noted that the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest was a sub-par one in terms of hosting, but a great one for music. Four songs from that year are on the list. “I’m Never Giving Up” by the United Kingdom was a few spots below this one from Israel. There are two songs we rated higher that year – we will leave you to guess what they are, because it will be a while before we get that far up the list.
Israel was at the top of its Eurovision game in the late 1970s and early 1980s. “Hi” was Israel’s tenth Eurovision entry. Including this one, up to this point, they finished in the top five of the contest five times, including two wins and two silver medals. The bad news for Israel is that they wouldn’t finish in the top three again until 1991, and would have to wait until 1998 for another win with Dana International.
Vital Information: “Hi” by Ofra Haza
| Song | Hi (some transliterate as Chai) |
| English Translation | Alive |
| Performed By | Ofra Haza |
| Written By | Avi Toledano & Ehud Manor |
| Country | Israel |
| Year | 1983 |
| Language(s) Performed In | Hebrew |
| How It Fared | 2nd Place (136 Points) |
| Was It Fair? | Yes |
What I Liked
This song was fun, no two ways about it. They did not need crazy dance moves to show off the energy of the performance, which was evident from the beat and context of the song.
Let’s be clear, too: Ofra Haza sang this very well. Her voice was quite pretty, but she also had the ability to go up and get those bigger notes and pull them off.
The lyrics were also inspiring, about a song being “passed from generation to generation.” It is always important at Eurovision to read the translation of the lyrics if this is not in your native language, because you might like what you hear on stage, but to understand what you just heard can add a lot of depth to the experience.
Other Facts
- Songwriter Avi Toledano represented Israel the year before, 1982, with his song “Hora.” We quite liked that one as well, though it just missed the top 100 at number 107 on the list as of 2024.
- Lyricist Ehud Manor wrote Israel’s winning song from 1978, A-Ba-Ni-Bi. (source: Eurovision World)
- She performed 16th out of 20 spots at the 1983 grand final.
- Despite finishing in second place at the contest, Israel got just two douze points: Austria and the Netherlands. However, it got six 10 points and only lost by six to Luxembourg. Turkey and Cyprus were the only countries not to give it points.
Let’s Watch “Hi” by Ofra Haza
This is the YouTube link to the 1983 live performance.
