Mira Awad: Noa and I not a gimmick

Mira Awad would be happy to have a few more hours a day. Early Sunday, the Israeli Arab singer will hop on a flight to Moscow on her way to the Eurovision Song Contest, where she will represent Israel along with internationally-acclaimed performer Noa.

The remaining days before the competition, which will begin May 12 with the first semi-final, will be used by Awad and Noa for rehearsals, tours of the Russian capital, press conferences and cocktails.

"In the past few days I barely have time to breathe," Awad reports. "I run around from the early morning hours and can't find a second to rest. Rehearsals, dress fittings, international interviews. Our participation is making a lot of noise and drawing attention, and this makes us happy and excites us."

Your cooperation also raised a lot of criticism, particularly during Operation Cast Lead.

"I think a lot has been said about it, and I don’t feel like elaborating. Today I would rather reveal the support we're getting, which the media apparently doesn't report of as much, because it's less photogenic. They always emphasize the anger and hatred. They emphasized the criticism against us rather than the support, and at the end of the day there is a lot of support from both sides."

And do you have a chance of winning?

"I won't even try to guess. It's related to parameters which I know nothing about. I also don't address the chances, but would rather address the song's quality."

'2 good friends conveying a message'

In addition to the European competition, Awad is about to release her debut album, which she has been working on for nine years, mainly due to budgetary problems.

The new album will include 10 songs in Arabic and in English, most of which were written and by Awad (music and lyrics). One of the album's two bonus tracks will be the Eurovision song, "There Must Be Another Way." Noa takes part in another song included in the album, which sang in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

Does the album include texts with a political orientation?

"The texts are personal. Those dealing with the reality surrounding me also come from people's perspective. I was not interested in politics or war. I want everyone to connect to the words, not just Jews and Arabs. If I talk about relations between two people, I usually write about relations between two human beings."

Noa and Mira Awad. 'Simply good friends' (Photo: Ronen Ackerman)

Apart from the debut album, her acting career (at the moment she is taking part in the Cameri Theater's show "The Return to Haifa") and the Eurovision, next month the global Universal company will be releasing an international duet album featuring songs by Awad and Noa. The cooperation between the two singers began eight years ago and includes concerts in Israel and abroad.