1960 Israel Song Festival

The idea for the competition came from Kol Yisrael producer Israel Daliyot after seeing people celebrating Domenico Modugno's victory in the 1959 Sanremo Music Festival while on vacation in Rome.[1] Daliyot approached the Israel Broadcasting Service, and with involvement of the Prime Minister's Office, the first festival was held as part of the 1960 Independence Day celebrations, using budget allocated for the celebrations, rather than Kol Yisrael budget.

A committee headed by Minister of Health Yisrael Barzilai selected the nine participating songs out of hundreds of songs submitted. The winning song was allocated a prize of 1,500 pounds, while second and third prizes were 1,000 pounds and 500 pounds. Each prize was split by the writer and composer of the song. The prize was awarded to the winners by Minister of Education & Culture, Abba Eban.

Each song was allocated a male and female singer which performed the song one after the other. Following the performance an interval show was performed by Maîtrise de Radio France while the crowd present in the venue cast its votes. Following the interval, the third, second and first prizes were announced, with each song performed by the two performers (as a duet) after each announcement.

The song "Leil HaChag" was originally written by Iraqi Jew Shlomo Sha'ashu'a in Arabic and was translated to Hebrew by poet Yosef Lichtenboim. On the night, in each performance of the song, the first verse of the song was sung in Arabic.

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