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Awad. Focusing on music
Photo: Tzvika Tishler
With Noa at the 2009 Eurovision Contest
Photo: AP
Blair. Awarded for peace efforts
Photo: AFP

Mira Awad to perform before Clinton, Blair

Israeli Arab singer invited to sing in special ceremony next week in which former British premier will be awarded medal for his efforts for peace in Northern Ireland

Israeli Arab singer Mira Awad has been invited to sing before former US President Bill Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Florida on Monday as part of a special ceremony in which Blair will be awarded the Liberty Medal for his efforts to promote peace in Northern Ireland.

 

Awad's musical partner Noa, with whom she performed in 2009's Eurovision Song Contest, was also invited to perform but will not be able to attend.

 

Among Liberty Medal recipients in past years are former UN chief Kofi Annan, President Shimon Peres, King Hussein of Jordan, former South African President Nelson Mandela, U2 lead singer Bono, American director Steven Spielberg, former Polish President Lech Walesa and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.

 

"It's really cool being invited to an event of this scale," Awad says. "I come with the hope that we achieve progress in peace in our own region, as Tony Blair achieved with the Irish. I feel that we are at the same point as Ireland. There are acts for peace and I wish they would succeed. Too much optimism is not a sickness, but a blessing," she says.

 

Focusing on music

The singer is currently busy writing and recording her next album, produced by Sony. Awad says most of the songs will be sung in English and others in Arabic and Spanish.

 

Will you continue performing with Noa?

 

"Absolutely. We both enjoy it immensly. We are two entirely different artists, with separate careers, but on the other hand there is a very deep connection. In many ways we have turned into one being."

 

What about your acting career?

 

"I want to keep pursuing it, but it's not easy. I'm going to shoot a new Israeli film soon but I'm putting all my time into music, and that's why doing theater work is not easy for me."

 

You're hardly recognized as just an Arab artist these days.

 

"If that's really true, it brings me great joy. That's all an artist really wants – not to have people mess with all the outside stuff, but in them as artists with a message."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.08.10, 14:15
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