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Musicians With Disabilities Return to Sing Simon and Garfunkel Track in Israel’s ‘Rising Star’ Competition
by Shiryn Ghermezian
The Shalva Band following their performance of ‘Sound of Silence’ on the Israeli TV show ‘Rising Star,’ Jan. 16, 2019. Photo: Screenshot.
An Israeli band made up of musicians with disabilities touched the hearts of the judges, and made one of them cry, when they performed Tuesday night in the second round of Israel’s singing competition “Rising Star,” known in Hebrew as “HaKokhav HaBa.”
The Shalva Band sang a rendition of “The Sound of Silence” by the famous American duo Simon & Garfunkel. The eight singers are competing on behalf of the Shalva National Children’s Center, a Jerusalem-based organization that provides free care, education and support to people with disabilities and their families.
The winner of “Rising Star” will represent Israel in the next Eurovision contest, which will be held in Tel Aviv in May.
One of the judges, Israeli singer Itay Levy, was visibly moved to tears by the band’s performance and spoke about his own experiences singing to his mother.
“As a child of a mother with disabilities, every time that she’s sad, I call her and sing to her, and then she sings with me, and she forgets the sad day or something that happened to her,” Levy told the band. “And it’s just amazing. I saw you and I was taken away. How much power singing has, how much power music has. And [when] you sang a song, ‘The Sound of Silence,’ you moved me. I think you’re great and wonderful and moving, and I hope you go as high as possible.”
The Shalva Band impressed the judges in the first round of competition with a rendition of the Beatles song “Here Comes The Sun.”
Watch the band perform “The Sound of Silence” below:
