Israel: Noa & Mira open today's rehearsals

Noa & Mira were both dressed in black today, and have made quite many changes to the choreography and presentation of the song compared with the Israeli national selection.Both were vocally strong although had some minor technical issues with microphones and length of dresses becoming an obstacle. For the third performance Noa changed the dress in favour of trousers and all seemed to run smoothly.

They are supported on stage by a drummer playing a tin drum, a guitarist and a man playing tambourine and cymbals. Noa and Mira are stood on opposite sides of the stage when the song opens, and sing the first lines acapella. Noa first emerges towards the stage front and Mira then joins. They sing to each other and to the audience simultaneously during the performance as they try to convey their message. Towards the end of the song, the musicians join Noa & Mira and form a round, after which Noa & Mira leave to play drums together. The performance ends with Noa & Mira holding hands.

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The Israeli delegation arrived late to the press conference, therefore cutting very short the available time for questions. Noa confirmed that the collaboration was her idea, "It was around eight years ago we first started working together, we have recorded songs together, we are old friends and it's a great opportunity to continue our collaboration.".

When asked about the languages used in the song Mira said "The idea of the song being in three languages was ours, the first time ever that the Israeli entry has Arabic in it and we insisted upon this as a condition". Noa said she would like to pass to the finals as the main objective, although she is under no illusion that they are going to win the competition, the competition element does not particularly appeal to her. The main idea was to use the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest as a platform for furthering their exposure to a worldwide audience.

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Known in Israel by her full name Achinoam Nini, Noa is Israel's leading international concert and recording artist. Born in Tel Aviv in 1969, Noa lived in NYC from age 2 until her return to Israel alone at the age of 17. Over the span of her 17-year-career, Noa has written and produced 10 albums and various compilations. She has sold over a million and a half copies of her current catalogue. Mira Awad was born in 1975 to a Palestinian father and a Bulgarian mother. She is not only known as a singer, but also as a songwriter and an actress in numerous plays in Israel. Noa and Mira performed 4 songs in the Israeli national final and a mixture of jury and televote chose There Must Be Another Way as the country's entry for Moscow.