Toy: Israel admits the authorship of Jack White in his Eurovision winning song | TV
When there are a hundred days left for the celebration of Eurovision festival in Tel Aviv, a legal pact signed by the authors of the song Toy, winner in the 2018 edition in Lisbon with the interpretation of the Israeli Netta Barzilai, has dispelled the threats of suspension of the contest due to an accusation of plagiarism. Composers Doron Medalie and Stav Beger have agreed to include the signature of the American musician Jack White, who in 2003 published Seven Nation Army, a melody that has similarities with Toy. The information of the Israeli public channel KAN, released this Thursday by the Hebrew press, does not specify if White, leader of the White Stripes group between 1997 and 2011, will also collect royalties after the reserved agreement.
The rules of European Broadcasting Union (EBU), organizer of the contest, demand that the songs presented be original. Had the accusations of plagiarism been confirmed, Netta would have been disqualified and the contest could not take place in Israel. The daily Haartez points out that the American musician will share from now the income generated by the authorship of the winning song.
Last July, Universal Music informed the Israeli composers Medalie and Beger that they could have violated the Intellectual Property Rights of Jack White, whom the company's lawyers represent after Sony had distributed Toy In U.S.A. Universal, one of the largest international music conglomerates, counts among its artists with Lady Gaga and Eminem.
The Israeli singer Netta Barzilai denied last summer that it had seemed between Toy Y Seven Nation Army during a visit to Madrid. "Many things sound the same in music, but that is not the case," he said at the time. "When I first heard it, written for me by two wonderful creators, it did not sound like anything I had heard in my life. Mediterranean, "he said. A video posted on YouTube superimposes both songs to reflect the apparent similarities of rhythm and harmony.
It is not the first time that doubts are raised about the original authorship of an Israeli song. The famous Jerusalem of gold, composed in 1967 by Naomi Shemer and considered the unofficial hymn of the Holy City, it is clearly based on the popular Basque-Navarre nana Pello Joxepe, popularized by the cantautaor Paco Ibáñez, who had played her in Israel during a performance in 1962. Little before dying, Shemer revealed to a friend in 2004 that had been inspired by the melody of Pello Joxepe to write the music with which he went to the history of Israel.
