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In the spotlight: Eden Alene

20 April 2020 at 10:15 CEST
In the spotlight: Eden Alene Ran Yehezkel
With her song, 'Feker Libi', Eden was chosen to represent Israel in 2020. In light of the unfortunate cancellation of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, we wish to highlight the impressive acts that were set to appear. This is 'In the spotlight', our feature honouring the artists that would have made up this year's edition of the world's largest live music event.

While Eden Alene was chosen to represent Isreal in The Next Star, the country's national selection show, her song was chosen through The Next Song For Eurovision, the country's entry selection show. During The Next Song For Eurovision, Eden performed 4 potential entries, and Feker Libi came out on top with a combined 282 online public and expert jury points over her other entries: Roots (205 points), Rakata (139 points) and Saviour in the Sound (94 points).

Who is Eden?

The 20-year-old Jerusalem-born Eden Alene, of Ethiopian descent, studied ballet for 11 years before starting vocal training lessons which prompted her to pursue a career in music.

Eden originally gravitated towards soul and pop artists like Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and Chris Brown - but that didn't stop her from taking inspiration from other styles and genres of music, such as Arabic folk music, Gospel and Opera. As a teenager in Jerusalem, Eden performed in a choir of local adults from all backgrounds and religions to show music's ability to bring people together.

Israel's Eurovision 2021 representative Eden Alene Ran Yehezkel

Winning Israel’s national selection wasn’t the first time Eden tasted success, having won X Factor Israel back in 2018. Today, Eden serves in the military as a singer in a band while managing her time between performing in the army, in Israel and abroad.

Eden Alene, Israel's Eurovision 2020 participant Ran Yehezkel

Her eclectic taste in music is represented in her colourful pop song Feker Libi - meaning ‘my love’ in Amharic - which brings together the unusual combination of African dance beats and middle eastern sounds. The song's lyrics include 4 languages: English, Hebrew, Amharic and Arabic; again representative of Eden’s multicultural background and her choir days as a teenager.

READ MORE: Eden's participant profile

Eden's own Instagram page has nearly 90 thousand followers. He most recent Eurovision-related post is bursting with nearly 500 comments, including a one from a fan saying: "So proud of you... you're a truly wonderful, beautiful person with an amazing voice," and we have to agree!

You can follow Eden on the following social media platforms:

LISTEN: Stream Feker Libi and other Eurovision 2020 songs on Spotify

Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel burst onto the Eurovision Song Contest scene in 1973 as the first non-European country granted permission to participate in the event. As one of the most successful countries, Israel has qualified for every Grand Final since 2015.

Israel's first and second victories were won back-to-back in 1978 and 1979. The latter saw Spain give 10 points to Israel in the final vote, effectively nudging themselves out of the top spot and handing it over to Israel.

The countries' 1998 representative, Dana International, became the first transgender singer to win the Eurovision Song Contest, taking the competition back again to Jerusalem in 1999.

The countries’ 4th and most recent win was in 2018 with Netta, who performed the song Toy.

READ MORE: Israel's country page

In 2019, Kobi Marimi placed 23rd in the Grand Final on home ground with his aptly-named song, Home.

Leave some love for Eden in the comments!