Transcript: The rising stars of Eurovision who pulled out of the final

This is a full transcript of The rising stars of Eurovision who pulled out of the final as first broadcast on 16 May 2019. Presented by Emma Tracey with Beth Rose and The Shalva Band.

BAND - Hello London, Israel calling.

EMMA - Hello, this is the Ouch podcast with me Emma Tracey, the lovely Beth Rose. Hello.

BETH - Hello.

EMMA - And the disabled Israeli band who were so close to competing in the Eurovision song contest that they could actually taste it. It's the Shalva Band. Hi guys. They're down the line.

BAND - Hello.

EMMA - It's so nice to have you here. We're going to talk a little bit more about why you chose to pull out of the competition at a really late stage very soon. But let's find out a little more about you first. So, who have we got in Israel?

SARA - My name's Sara, I'm the Shalva Band's guitarist.

ANAEL - My name is Anael and I am singer in the Shalva Band.

DINA - Hi, my name is Dina and I'm a singer in the Shalva Band.

GABY - And I am Gaby, and I am the chief development officer at Shalva.

EMMA - Shalva is where the Shalva Band came from, so what's Shalva in the first place?

GABY - Shalva was founded some 30 years ago by a couple called Kalman and Malki Samuels after they achieved a breakthrough with their son, Yossi, who was deaf and blind, and learnt to communicate using sign language on the palm of his hand at the age of eight years old. As a result of that the family established Shalva, which is now Israel's national association for persons with disabilities.

EMMA - What is the Shalva Band? What are you guys? Where did you come from?

GABY - The Shalva Band is one of Shalva's key inclusion projects. The band was founded some 15 years ago. Today the Shalva Band really are national if not global celebrities comprising of eight adults with disabilities, and now we're about to represent people with disabilities on a global stage, which is super exciting.

EMMA - Very exciting. Anael and Dina would rather speak in Hebrew, so I think Gaby you are going to translate.

GABY - I'm Gaby and I'll translate for Dina and Sara will translate for Anael.

BETH - How did you all go from this music group in an inclusive centre to becoming celebrities? You're known in England now and I'm sure you're known around a lot of the world. Dina?

DINA - It became with us taking part in Israel's equivalent of Britain's Got Talent, which is called The Rising Star for the Eurovision. We joined it this year, not just for ourselves but as a platform for all people with disabilities. And from there we progressed through and are now at the point where we are actually representing ourselves at the Eurovision Song Contest.

EMMA - You're not competing; why is that?

DINA - We will not be taking part in the actual competition as competitors because of the issue that we have with the dress rehearsal taking place on a Friday night, which is for us as observant Jews the holy Sabbath, and it was very important for us to maintain our observance of that and to maintain this holy day.

EMMA - Did you guys try and get round the problem? Did you talk to the organisers so that you could be involved in the contest itself? Anael?

ANAEL - We did try everything but they do have their very strict rules, understandably so; they're a very big thing. And we tried but it's okay.

EMMA - It's actually really okay because as it happens you're going to be performing on TV on Thursday night as part of the second semi-final.

ANAEL - Yeah, I think we learned from that that when you stick to what's important to you it doesn't matter; whatever that is you actually win anyway.

EMMA - Was there no way around it from your religious perspective in your own mind to be able to perform on the Sabbath?

GABY - Whilst the band are not all Sabbath observant, and some of them would openly say that they don't and actually identify as atheists, what was most important to the band was that they respect one another and either they all performed or they didn't.

The band is comprised of eight adults, who are all professional musicians which means that they are paid when they perform. So, for them actually working on a Friday night, which is the start of the Sabbath, fundamentally goes against their beliefs which is that he Sabbath is purely a day of rest.

Of course it was not a simple decision to come to and they asked many people, and one of the key things they tried to do was to see if it could be made earlier, and they looked at different solutions, they spoke to rabbis and they took advice and looked at what they could do. But was more important to them was that they maintained their identity and the respect that they had for one another's beliefs, and their opportunity to stay together as a band was the priority from them actually taking this opportunity.

BETH - Who's the band that's representing Israel instead of you? And who do you think might win the big competition on Saturday?

ANAEL - Kobi Marimi he's representing Israel, and he have our fingers crossed. We're very excited and hoping for him that he'll win. Vote for Kobi. [Laughter]

BETH - Have you heard the United Kingdom song and do you think it's any good?

DINA - Yes I have. It's fabulous.

BETH - Ah, I don't think we'll win but that's kind of you to say.

Your song I've listened to it and it is a great anthemic song. I feel like a lot of people in the stadium will be singing along. What's the song about?

GABY - We have a very special song that's going around.

EMMA - It's called The Door Will Open I think?

GABY - The Door Will Open. This is a campaign that the Shalva Band has been privileged to be part of. It's a social change project that's running here across Israel and has actually become viral. This is a campaign that's been put together by Israel's largest bank, Bank Hapoalim, together with the organisation that organises after-school activities. Last year there was a survey carried out that showed that nine out of ten parents would prefer that their child didn't participate in an after-school activity together with kids with disabilities. And Bank Hapoalim, together with the Shalva Band and the other organisations, have come together to try and change society and make sure that people understand the implication.

HaDelet is the song that they have now produced; it translates as open the door, and the idea is that the door should be open to everybody. This amazing campaign was put together with YouTube and Google. What happened was when people went in to listen to the song nine out of ten people when they clicked on the link got a recording explaining that nine out of ten parents didn't want their kids to participate, and nine out of ten people were not able to listen to the track until they signed the petition to vote for a more inclusive society. The petition is now gathering momentum and we're aiming to get a million people signing that petition over the coming few days.

BETH - That statistic is really shocking, and yet obviously you guys as a band have been really well received. How does that work when people obviously really love your music, love what you're doing, yet still don't want their children to play with everyone else?

GABY - I think the most amazing thing that we've seen with the band is when the band have been performing some of the biggest events here in Israel, rather than people keeping their distance people have been actually doing everything they can to get close to the band. They can't walk in the street and get into an elevator, as I just experienced on our way to the studio, without people coming over to them and wanting to be close to them. It's never really been before that you've seen hordes of young girls battling to get near to a young man who has Down's Syndrome to be able to take a selfie with them. This is filtering through Israeli society. And we hear this as well from parents and children with disabilities who are telling us that they've seen really in the last few weeks a dramatic shift in the way their children are received.

BETH - Can we expect an album anytime soon? What's the plan for the band now you've got a massive stage?

DINA - We do plan to continue now after the Eurovision and work hard and continue to do what we love, which is music. And there will be surprises.

BETH - I look forward to those surprises.

EMMA - So excited to see disabled people performing on our Eurovision Song Contest telly on Thursday night. I'll be tuning in for sure. Thank you so much to all of you for joining us, we really appreciate it.

GABY - Thank you for having us.

[Song plays]

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