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The Contest
Last year's contest drew 230 applicants
from around the world, ages 16-26,
all of whom submitted video audi-
tions over YouTube, says Yair Gafni, the
contest's director. This year, singers are
invited to submit auditions through
YouTube, but Gafni also is planning sev-
eral live contests around the world.
Kleinberg is helping produce the June
3 contest in Mexico and will perform at
the contest as well. Another contest in
New York City also is in the works.
The Hallelujah website,
www.hallelujah.org.il , which updates
automatically, boasted 133 submissions
at press time. Singers, this time between
ages 18-30, have until April 30 to apply.
In their video auditions, contestants
can sing in any language, but when
it comes down to performing for the
judges, singers receive a list of Hebrew
songs to choose from.
"It's all about spreading the Israeli
music... around the world because we
believe that through the music [Jews]
will get closer to Israel, to their heritage,
to their people, and that's what hap-
pened," says Gathi. "Bringing the people
together to Israel from different coun-
tries, they discover that the meeting
point is very easy for them:'
From the submissions, the judges
narrow the contestants down to 30 who
are then invited to Israel for about a
month of rehearsal and travel in prepa-
ration for the televised performances.
The first-place winner of the Mexico
contest, and any other global contest,
is included among this group of 30.
Judges then choose 12 for solo televi-
sion performances while the others
perform as a group.
Gafni said Hallelujah is "not a com-
mercial project:' but rather, a "national
Zionist project?' The 2012 competition
is sponsored by Birthright, and like
last year, is supported by the Foreign
Ministry, the Jewish Agency, Masa Israel
Journey and others.
Gafni and the Hallelujah team are
still working out this year's logistics,
such as performance space. While the
list of judges is not final, it is slated to
include Israeli singers like Dudu Fisher
and Tzahi Halevi, music producers, and
directors from the Rimon School and
Meitar Association, which brings dias-
pora and Israeli Jews together through
song.
Hallelujah first launched in 1992 and
boasted three seasons but was canceled
due to funding constraints. The contest
came back last year, Gafni says, because
the pervasiveness of social media
reduced marketing costs. From 1992-
1994, the Israeli government covered
the contest's costs.
"Everything had to go through TV
and broadcasting, and it's only because
of the budget we stopped it, and now
we're back with a bigger possibility to
do it with less [of a] budget:' he says.
While aliyah is not the goal of
Hallelujah, Gafni names four contes-
tants from last year who have made
or soon will make aliyah, all of whom
intend to study music, pursue music
production or launch their own singing
careers.
Among those taking the plunge
is Kleinberg, whose move to Israel
will come this month. He plans to
study at the Rimon School of Jazz
and Contemporary Music in Ramat
Hasharon, near Tel Aviv.
"I want to get to Israel and start mak-
ing Israeli music:' he says. "I don't know
if the contest is going to help me, but at
least they gave me a really big chance to
know some Israeli producers and some
Israeli musicians:'
With or without the intent of making
aliyah, the Hallelujah contest's singers
developed deep bonds with Israel. The
"best meeting point" for these young
Jews is music, Gafni says, rather than
examining the Jewish state from politi-
cal or religious angles.
"We bring them together around the
music, which is their favorite subject in
their life;' Gafni says. "It's much easier
for them to connect to Israel and to
each other [through music]." ❑
For more information on Hallelujah,
go to www.hallelujah.com.il .
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April 5 • 2012
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