Cancelled. Narkis
צילום: שאול גולן
Golan, Narkis Paris concert cancelled
Two of Israel's most famous singers forced to cancel concert in Paris after failing to sell enough tickets
PARIS - Singers Eyal Golan and Lior Narkis were scheduled to perform in the 3,723-seat hall at the Congress Palace, near the Champs Elysees Avenue on Sunday.
However, organizer TFJ (French Jewish Television) was forced to reschedule the concert for October after it was unable to drum up enough interest in it.
Golan and Narkis are oriental-style musicians who have become popular among young French Jews, many of whom are from Sephardic descent (Spain, North Africa).
One love song by Narkis entitled ‘Everyone has,’ from his 2000 album Only With You, was as big a hit in the French Jewish community as it was in Israel where it was chosen as song of the year.
Narkis represented Israel in the 2003 Eurovision song contest with the song ‘Words for love’ which ended up 19th over 26 Eurovision finalists. Aged 26, he has already released eight albums.
Although Narkis and Golan’s performance in France is viewed as a rare event, the organizer failed to fill the Congress Hall.
Money saver
The television channel chose to save publicity money and failed to finance a wide commercial campaign in community media. The Narkis-Golan concert didn’t get any publicity on three of the four Jewish radio stations.
About a month earlier, TFJ had to cancel a previous major concert it organized for the Israeli Independence Day, Yom Haatzmaut, in the Zenith Hall.
A second reason for the low turnout for the Golan-Narkis concert is the period chosen for the show: In the middle of school exams and as other concerts are planned.
Popular French singer Enrico Macias is scheduled to perform on Sunday June 11, the same night that Narkis and Golan were to perform, and he too is failing to get enough spectators.
Reprinted with permission of European Jewish Press
