Push the Button

Happy Purim! Today is that wonderful holiday celebrating the hyperactive properties of sugar. Schools are closed, and the streets are clogged with little munchkins in costumes. Israel, a big chocolate consumer at normal times, goes manic with a massive intake of sweets that makes Elite, Osem, and all local dentists very happy. I decide to pass on the splitting headache and give the megillah reading a miss this year.

Rockin' with Kobi: The Israeli band Tea Packs has been around for a long time. Their leader, the diminutive Kobi Oz, is quirky, smart, and very funny. The band has a sound that draws heavily on their Mizrachi (eastern) roots, with a big dollop of polka thrown in for good measure. The lyrics are usually satirical. Only Kobi Oz could write a hauntingly beautiful ballad mourning the loss of the disgusting old central bus station in Tel Aviv.

Everyone loves Kobi. Even people who don't like the music of Tea Packs like Kobi. So why is he suddenly in the middle of a media storm of controversy?

The answer is: Eurovision.

Eurovision, the huge, glitzy European pop song contest, sometimes referred to as Purim for Gays, is a phenomenon mostly unknown to Americans. We've won three times: 1978, 1979, and most recently in 1998 with the ever-so-fab transsexual diva herself, Dana International. (And if you don't think that caused a media storm here with the religious crowd, think again.) Each country is responsible for picking their own representative. So this year, we want to send Tea Packs with their song, "Push the Button," which is a satirical look at Iran's nuclear program. It is very funny, very edgy, and, of course, very controversial. The lyrics are in English, French, and Hebrew, so you can at least pick up a bit and judge for yourself. (Thanks to Northern LS for the link.) ("I don't want to die," sings Kobi. "I want to see the flowers bloom, don't wanna go kaput kaboom.") Personally, I think that it is great and I hope that we aren't barred from competing by EU judges getting their knickers in a twist over a non-PC song. In the past, other Eurovision entries have thumbed their noses at the pop formula and done satirical songs, and sometimes they have ended up pretty high on the scoreboard.