When the Israeli Dana International, 27, won the Eurovision Song Contest last year, it actually made many of her compatriots proud - some also felt insulted in any case. The singer, born as the son of a Yemenite immigrant, had a sex-change operation at 20. This weekend her new videoclip will be shown at the Eurovision, outside the competition - and will continue to stir up anger.

- Your song 'Freedom for all sons and daughters' ['Derori yikra'] is also sung in synagogues. Orthodox Jews blame you for profaning the 'holy' text.
"Why? I love the song. I sung it in the Synagogue on Shabbat as a child."

- Must you be provoking to have success?
"Why me? The orthodox have been provoking. They have insulted me calling me a witch - a commotion creating very useful PR for me. I have won, as my song has class."

- Do you feel you are taken seriously as an artist?
"Not as long as the same question is always posed: Operation? Man or woman? Damn, look at me. What do you see?"

- A woman, no doubt.
"Right. But in Germany, people are more tolerant anyway."

- Is this your experience?
"Before my first visit to Germany I was very afraid of this 'anti-semite and racist' country. What happened? Nothing at all. In Hamburg I wore my Star of David and met no one who hated Jews. A transsexual was waitressing at McDonald's - normal. In our orthodox quarters, she would have been stoned. And when I outed myself while flirting, your men said 'Nobody is perfect'."

- You are preparing a new album?
"Yes, but in the long run I will get active in another area: In five years I will be a politician. You will hear from me."

 

Her last video was censored, she promises a more hysterical new album than ever, she takes the position for Bill Clinton in 'Mr. President' treating Monica as a whore. A new whiff of scandal or a simple provocation, we wanted to know more about the one who was the first to grace the cover of our magazine in October '98. Here in Brussels she's promoting her record. She invites us to her suite and we stay there for more than 2 hours. Action!

- One year after your victory in Eurovision, are you still threatened by the orthodox or has the tension gone down?
"Fuck the orthodox! (She gets up and screams fuck them!) I fuck them and you can't imagine how! I don't meet them, they're not part of my world. Israel is a free liberal country which I'm part of, no matter if you're Arab or Jew or catholic or Martian. In my daily life, I don't see religious people. I live in the cosmopolitan town of Tel Aviv: Some people make a difference between the depraved Tel Aviv and the pious Jerusalem. I'm only part of the first one. I live in a modern town, modern life, with my generation and as a westerner: I eat in McDonald's, I drink Coca Cola, I go out in clubs. Well, I am living, I'm alive and not living in the middle ages, in the past as they do."

- Israel was in heat after your Eurovision election, and now for the new miss Israel who's Arab. Orthodox have difficulties keeping their power!
"I don't know if miss Palestine was elected miss Israel because of her beauty or because she was Arab. Did the contest president choose her to show Israel is a tolerant and liberal free country??! [She's a bad girl to say that as people thought last year she was elected just to show another face of Israel... Special note by Emma Psyché]. That is the question people should better ask themselves. For me, I'm not taking part in it. I can't judge in a beauty contest. Beauty is special to everyone. Of course, Israel is a free country and tolerant, I'm the living proof of it!"

- Why did you wait almost one year before the new single? Wasn't anything ready after 'Diva'?
"First, I had to recover after the Eurovision Song Contest and I can swear I won't do that ever again in my whole life. I was selected to represent my country and to win, and I did. Now leave me alone. After this victory, I went all over Europe to promote 'Diva'. Now I try to break this image as Europeans can't understand that 'Diva' was tailor made especially for the Eurovision. This is not my image, this is not me. You still don't know who the real Dana international is! I'll surprise you. You'll be very astonished and you'll soon know who I truly am with this new album in English. The trouble is that my last label in Israel sold my old material without my authorisation, remaking some of the dance tracks without telling me. I can't begin to tell you how surprised I was when I came back to Israel and Tel Aviv and I received thousands of phone calls asking me to promote Cinquemilla. This is a bootleg, this is robbery as we'll see in the trial. For me this album, the single and that, that's the past, when we were young. This is not the image I want to give to Europeans. This is only the back catalogue, no news."

- Today your carrier has taken a world wide direction: Which one of the remixers would you like to work with, and from whom would you like to get a track?
"I try to construct Dana international step by step. First I became famous in Israel and the Middle East singing in Arab and Hebrew. Bootleg tapes sell by the millions in Egypt where I'm forbidden and the social minister thinks I'm a danger for the youth. Second step: I'm trying to break Europe. Singing in English and trying to get new tracks to be listened to by the whole European community. This implies compromises. You have to make the right choices without erasing your past as an ethno-dance diva. Next step is USA, but I'm not in a hurry. I have to work for it. I'd love to get remixed by Victor Calderone, I love his deep big sound. I love Club 69 [Cher's last album and 'Believe' were made by the group, Calderone is famous for mixes of Madonna's 'Ray of light' and 'Frozen' singles. E.P.], Junior Vasquez or Todd Terry. I want to work with American DJs as they have a different sound from the one we hear in Europe. I love differences to show themselves, and opposites attract. A shock impact between American music and ethno-dance."

- What is the style of this album?
"I'm preparing some surprises for you. I'm going to sing more crazy songs than ever, more than all you have ever heard by me. Crazier than 'Cinquemilla', but with lyrics more accessible for everyone. Or three hysterical songs with messages, you see 'Qu'est-ce que c'est?' - well, this is nothing compared to what I'm preparing. Mind you : 'Je veux la sucette' (I want a lollipop), this is soft compared to what I am able to and going to do. My one and only obstacle until now is that you don't understand the words. This time they are in English. In one of my last Hebrew songs I talked about a woman who wanted to finger herself (masturbate) and put fingers inside, she does it and enjoys it. If I sing it in English now you'll understand it!"

- You'll do like Madonna has done?
"No, what can you do after her? She is as crazy as I am. (She laughs.) My tracks are more "I'm hot and alone", and on this album there will be a remix of 'Diva', the first single 'Woman in love' and the new one, 'Free'. I'm going to sing this song for the closing of the Eurovision Song Contest next 29th [29 May 1999] in Jerusalem. I want everyone to feel this song and see himself in it. This is a strong and engaging song, realistic with a message of tolerance and peace. Stevie Wonder wrote it 20 years ago and it has kept its strength. This is the time for me to fight racism as I didn't know it was still so powerful in our civilisation. I thought this time was over. I was surprised to see that some discos, restaurants and bars still don't allow some colours. I hate that! (She strikes the table with her fist.) I love freedom, I want freedom, to be free. My songs are not only for gays but for everyone - all colours, all religions and all sexualities. You must accept difference without fearing the unknown. This is my message."

- Can you talk about the song 'Mr. President'?
It talks about the Lewinsky affair. This was such a scandal that I wanted to make a song out of it. Am I for Clinton? She is a whore, she is disgusting to me! She had no right to have sex with a married man, and as for Clinton - everyone knows flesh is weak! She destroyed his marriage and his community with the American people. This is a song for him to fight Monica. Who cares who he slept with last night? Because he's the American president, it's a state affair? If I sleep with one of my bodyguards, who cares?"

- We talked before about a duet with Boy George. What about it?
"I'd love to do it. I suggested to do one with him, but he wanted to produce and make the whole album. I wanted to keep a certain freedom and said no as I was scared. We can still do a duet. Boy George is so big, so powerful to me... I'm impressed and I have so much to learn on my own. I don't have the ambition to be as big as he is. I'm nothing. Many people want a duet with someone famous, but I don't care - I'm not like that!"

- Will you sing in French to seduce the French people?
"I'd love to, but I can't. I only understand some Latin words. But not to worry, when I'm facing a man, I know how to be understood." She sings in French "je suis une femme amoureuse" (I am a woman in love).

- How were you contacted by Bee Gees for the tribute album?
"Polydor UK asked me to record it. First I wanted to sing 'Chain reaction', but someone took it - then I chose 'Woman in Love'. It still talks about love. I didn't want to do a cover, but it was for a good cause. It was for a humanitarian cause. 20 francs go to Live Challenge '99. Then I decided to make this track my own changing everything. It's a new production, very different. I wanted it to be more popular and dance, whole audience. Once more, I tell you I won't make any money from this.

- The video is a cause of scandal and has been censored in some countries.
"I hope you saw the C&N mix version?! This one is more catchy! The kiss is even deeper, and long. Seriously, he could have been troubled to kiss a transsexual [Why oh why??? She's a girl now and that's that! E.P.] he said yes right away. I didn't hesitate for a single minute."

- Who wanted this kiss in the video?
"This guy is great isn't he? A dreamboy. You have to kiss him. He's too cute. It's like kissing an angel. The french kiss idea comes from my manager. We shot the video in London and I had to be stopped from kissing that angel!"

Then she ends saying she'd love to sing in France and will surely be promoting her new single all summer long so she may not be attending the Gay Pride in Paris...

 

Jerusalem, May 29: The Eurovision Song Contest. 23 countries take part, this year. Guest of honour is Dana International. In this interview she talks about last year, which was extremely busy. "But definitely worth it." By Door Jaap Bartelds.

"Did I expect to win? No, of course not. I rather expected the Song Contest audience not to be ready for Dana International." With Diva, Dana scored 174 points last year, enough to win. She was dressed in black during her first performance, but for her reprise, she will dress up in a highly flammable frock made of flashy birds' feathers. A striking appearance, miss Dana, but will she be long for this world?

Criticism
The day after the contest, criticism breaks loose. The song is ridiculous, the lyrics are just plain stupid, there's no melody in it and Dana can't sing. The song didn't rocket up the charts, and the masses soon forgot all about Dana. She was, however, an enormous success during frantic gay parades and during the Gay Games in Amsterdam. Night after night, gays freak out and imitate Dana fervently. Dana can appreciate this.

During the opening ceremony of the Gay Games she strikes up the song with vigour, and the Amsterdam Arena goes wild. "This was a very special moment," she says, "to be surrounded by thousands of gays. The best audience anyone could wish for."

Gays were fond of Dana as soon as they saw her. In her native country, Israel, the has more troubles to obtain a foothold. Orthodox Jews loathe her. Dana is a transsexual, and this makes her the pariah in conservative circles. Entering the Song Contest was a subject for discussion from the moment it was announced. Her victory resulted in appreciation and respect on one side, but on the other hand, the orthodox condemn this abhorrent matter.

Threats
"Things didn't become any easier after the Song Contest," Dana sighs. "Those conservatives are not at all happy about me coming to the fore. Entering the Contest was shameful in their eyes, but being proud of it even worse. They'd rather have me crawling back into my shell. They see me as a threat, but for what? Israel? International relations? The more famous I become, the more problems I'll attract. Or, at least they think so. They are not interested at all in my career or my success."

"Luckily, the number of fans only increased after the Song Contest. Compared to them, the orthodox are far in the minority. My fans are just happy for me, and they are proud of my victory." She laughs away the criticism about how she won because she is a transsexual. "My song was very good. The public can judge for themselves, believe me."

International
Dana goes international now. Many competitors made it worldwide in the past. Take the Dutch band Teach In, for instance. Their intelligent song Dinge-Dong made it to number one in the pop charts all over the world in 1975. Of course it was not Teach In's fault that their success stopped shortly after. This is why Dana will have a go at it too. In 1998, Dana releases five singles that nobody even noticed. But she didn't have any time to promote them, really. Recording a new album for international release comes first.

That album is finished now. "I can tell you: It's just getting started now", an enthusiastic Dana tells us. "I have just released a single, it's a cover of Barbra Streisand's song 'Woman in Love'." 1998 was a euphoric year (gigs, the Gay Games, and especially the Eurovision Song Contest). 1999 will be a repeat performance, even though she found 1998 a 'difficult' year. She hardly had the time to deal with all of last year's impressions.

Tip for the charts
Still, Dana seems to enjoy all the attention and fame. Who knows, maybe the new album will blow several hits up the American pop charts. "I don't really care much about that,"says Dana. "I have no idea about my future. I don't plan ahead. Only God knows what will happen to me. I believe in myself and I believe in God. I have confidence in that, and for the rest I'd rather let life surprise me."

In the meantime, Dana is sure to perform during the Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem. She hopes to surpass her victory of 1998 with a spectacular act of more than seven minutes. Will Dana have her revenge on all the criticism? We'll have to wait until May 29th.

 

5. DANA INTERNATIONAL Many things tend to expose the rift between secular and ultra-religious Israelis, and a lissome transsexual chanteuse was, not surprisingly, one. Fans danced in the streets when the former Yaron Cohen won the Eurovision Song Contest. Detractors - including a deputy mayor of Jerusalem, which may host next year's contest - blasted the victory as an embarrassment. The sultry Dana handled the hubbub with the skill of a diplomat, announcing with a smile that, "My victory was a present to all of Israel."

 

Since the beginning of her career, Dana has faced the criticism of Israel's religious, but she continues to receive the support of the media and her listeners. The hysteria Dana has provoked has produced an article in the Egyptian press accusing her of being part of a Mossad conspiration to corrupt youth. How far will they go? One day, Dana decided to become a girl and takes on... A really nice story. By Silvy Dufeu (a great thank you to Thierry and Tatie).

- Your participation in the Eurovision seems to show that Israel has become a tolerant country. Do you think this view corresponds with reality?
"80% of the population are not religious fundamentalists. When you hear of problems, this does not come from the great masses of Israelis, but from racist orthodox. You know, Israel is generally a nice country and very liberal concerning gays, I'm the living proof. If it were such a difficult country, how would I have been able to represent Israel at the Eurovision? In our country, terrorism and political problems are not part of everything. Like in France, where the growth of the National Front in the latest elections does not mean that all French are fanatics."

- In a country like Israel, do you thing that a transsexual singer, making music with Jewish, Arab and European influences mixed with disco and techno sounds, is accepted by the authorities and the public?
"Actually, they adore it as it's new. In Israel, we love Arab music in general and particularly Egyptian music. We also love pop music and all the rest. We do not only listen to religious chants, you know."

- What is your opinion on Shlomo Ben-Izri of the Sephardi religious political party [Shas] who has stated that "to change sex is worse than sodomy"?
"If these days he is trying to pass as a model of virtue in the eyes of the orthodox, you should know that in his youth he did it all, then he decided to become an orthodox. I did the same, one fine day I decided I was a girl. What goes for him goes for me. He changed his life, I changed mine. Who is he to criticise me? I am succesful in Israel, and there is not a thing he can do about it. As orthodox, Shlomo Ben-Izri thinks women should not be allowed to thing and that they should only be maids doing housework (...)."

- Your feat at the Eurovision, is it due to your music or your image?
"I don't know. But if I had done the Eurovision singing "da da da da", do you think I would have been number 1? Before the competition, some people came to see me to tell me 'you will never win because you are transsexual'. I actually think people love my songs and buy my records because they like them and not because of the image I put forward. No one buys records because of image only. If, for example, Bibi Netanyahu would make a record, no one would buy it!"

- You have rapidly become a great star, how have you experiences this big change in your life?
"I don't feel so much of a change as I continue to live like before. I do not seek to be an icon, I make music and if that helps anyone for any reason, that's wonderful. I would like everyone to understand the message 'being gay or lesbian is normal, it's not a disease'. What counts is that you're nice and honest, homosexual or heterosexual."

 

Angel or demon? Natural or exaggerated? Star system or business woman? Feet on the ground or lost in a Eurovision dream? Those were the questions that persisted in my mind on my way to the hotel where Dana was staying for a few hours of promotion. She is there, with a cellular phone, and she welcomes us with special warmth. Quickly we get into a special private salon of the luxurious hotel and we discover a diva who's both delicious and great. By Thierry Calmont and Patrick Courty.

- Can you tell me why you chose Dana international as a stage name?
"Why I chose it? You see when you're 6 or 7 and that you begin to learn how to write and read, at school there's a book with a nice girl called Dana. This is a nice and popular name. It sounds also very young... Guess how it seems when an old woman older than 60 says she's called Dana... The word International came later, it was our second single title 'Dana International' and as all Israeli medias loved this name, they called me so."

- Do you think your success in the Eurovision competition is an award for your music or for your image?
"Well, I don't know. I can only say that if I had done the Eurovision singing Da Da Da do you think I'd have reached number 1? Before the Eurovision, people said "You are not going to win because you are transsexual". After the competition, people came to me saying "You won because you are transsexual". So I don't think it influenced the results. I think people like my songs and that's why they buy them and not because of my image. No one buys a single only for the image of the artist. If Bibi Netanyahu made a record, no one would buy it. You vote for a song, you buy a record, only if you like it. You'll always find someone to criticize you - this is part of human nature!"

- You know that many gays and lesbians in France voted for you and not for France or Israel, and I think it's the same for other European countries.
"Thanks France. Your comment is true, but I wasn't voted for only by gays. For example in UK where gays are numerous, I only had 5 poor points."

- Yes, but it was a phone vote.
"Yeah, but I hope that even gays have a phones in European countries! Like in Holland, where there are many gays, I only got 6 points. Where are the 12 ones? In Germany, where there are a lot of gay communities, I only received 4 points. Where are the 12 points? It's not like that. If I had only gays to support me, I'd never had the 12 points. I don't care if my audience is gay or not."

- Unknown in Europe few months ago, you're now an icon with no rival. How was that change in your life?
"I don't feel a lot of change because I still live like I used to. I am what I am, and if someone says I am an icon, I don't care. I don't try to be one, I just do what I have in mind. I do my music and if that helps someone, it's wonderful! What would be great is that people see that "being gay is normal". This is no disease. I'm interested in people's personality and not in what they do in bed. What's important, is that people think through who they are. What counts is that you're nice and honest and not whether you're straight or gay."

- Can you explain why your career was a ghost in Europe before Eurovision?
"You see Europe is very big for us. There are thousand of artists. I am very far from Europe and Israel is a small country. First my success there was enough. You can't make it in Europe just like that. It is too big. For me, Israel was a laboratory where I learnt things. Even if it wasn't really easy to make people's minds change. First we had a lot of troubles. I lived this experience in Israel as a test. As it was hard, once it was through I could go to Europe. "

- Your participation in the Eurovision shows that Israel is now a tolerant country, a moving, changing country. Do you believe this is false?
"I don't think so. 80% of the population is not orthodox. When you hear of troubles it never comes from the common people but of the orthodox racist people. All you see on TV: Terrorism, Hebron, Gaza, you never see people from every day life in Tel Aviv, because TV shows only scandal and troubles. Israel is a free and liberal country for gays. I'm the living truth. If it was such a hard one, would I have such a success and represent Israel in the Eurovision? Most people don't care what you are. There is a big gay community in Israel, you can do whatever you want, go to discos, bars, demonstrations... In Israel as in France, a little reality must not hide the trees of things. Terrorism and political troubles don't enter into real life. Like in France, high votes for the extreme right doesn't mean that all French are fanatics."

- In a conservative country like Israel, do you think that a transsexual girl singer mixing Jewish, Arab and European music to disco and techno is accepted by the authorities and audience?
"They adore what's new. In Israel we tend to love Arab songs, and Egyptian ones in particular. We love also pop music. I'm a fan of Ofra Haza, we love many kind of music. We have no trouble with ethno dance. We are open to many types of music. We know France Gall, Marie Myriam, Mylène Farmer, Dalida, Mike Brant, Yves Montand all French singers. We don't listen to orthodox Jewish singers."

- What do you think of Shlomo Ben-Izri saying sex change is worse than sodomy?
"If today he tries to be a religious model for people, in his youth he used to make a lot of fun - then one day he decided he'd be religious. I had fun like he did, and I said one day : I'm going to be a girl. This is for him and that is for me! He changed his life, like I changed mine. Who is he to criticize? He says whatever he wants, I don't care. I have success in Israel and he can't do a thing about that. He doesn't allow women to think, they 're only good enough to clean the house. This is old fashioned, we're in 1998! I only want him not to interfere in my life."

- After 'Diva', what will you do?
"I'm still on a promotional tour in Europe. This song was made only for the Eurovision. This is not what I usually do. After this single, there will be another and then an international album."

- What will the next single be?
"We still don't know. The French market is not the same as the British or German one. We have got to study it carefully to adapt our singles to the whole of Europe."

- Are you working on a new album? What is the musical style?
"A big part of the album will be ethno dance, then a part of hard dance and some hysterical things. We got a lot of stuff, but we want some new things. We learn what is trendy in discos and clubs in Europe."

- Will you do another french hit like 'Qu'est-ce que c'est'?
"Oh, you know that song?! No, French is such a hard language, it was a song for Israeli clubs."

- Will you make a tour in France?
"I don't know when I'll be invited to. If people want me to, I'll do it, but I won't choose venues with a lot of people and say no if it's a small one."

- You are very glamorous in your videos. Who made them?
"His name's Guy "gay" Sagie and he's gay. He made the glamour. Many gays are in show business and they're so talented. Image on stage or in videos is a small part of your life. Once the spotlights are off, I like to be at ease: T-shirts, comfortable jeans. I'm a human being and I can't be Dana International 24 hours a day."

- Who are your favourite singers? Who do you listen to?
"All kind of music, never mind. If I like the melodies, the voice and the words, I don't care. I can hear a slow song and then the dance remix. What counts is the melody. I can't like one type of music : only dance or rock..."

- Do you have a special artist?
"I like Arab ones. Dalida especially."

- Who would you like to do a duet with?
"Cyndi Lauper, I adore her."

- Who are your favourite fashion designers?
"Jean Paul Gaultier of course, and Thierry Mugler in France. Vivienne Westwood is hysterical, John Galliano, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana. I like feminine clothes for women. Like Thierry Mugler did. I love glamorous clothes of the 40s and 60s like Garbo or Monroe. We are a big family."

 

Eurovision diva Dana International tells us which feisty females rock her world...

GOLDA MEIR: "She was the first and only female Israeli Prime Minister. Although at the time I was too young to remember her, I've read many books about her and I really respect her. She was strong and intelligent, and proved to herself and everyone that she was as good, if not better, than her male predecessors."

PRINCESS DIANA: "She was so brave, kind and beautiful - it's tragic she died so young. I'm sure it must have been really hard for her to be accepted by the royal family, but no matter what happened to her, she always got back on her feet and stood for what she believed in. She taught me to be good and to care for others."

MARILYN MONROE: "She was an inspiration and fascination to so many, from the Kennedy family to ordinary people. She was so glamorous and brave, 'cause she must have known that no matter how much she loved a Kennedy, she'd never be accepted into their family."

MADONNA: "She's my living hero. She came from a working-class background and look where she is now. She's also managed to keep successful and not die out like many other artists over the past ten years or so. She's never pretended to be something that she's not - she had a dream in the beginning and went out and succeeded at it."

MY MUM: "I am who I am because of my mum. She has a very loving and kind heart, but never lets anyone walk over her. She's intelligent and has taught me so much about life. In fact, she is my best friend."

Is there anyone at this point who has not heard of Dana International? At least, nobody who is the least bit informed. By the time that Israeli television chose her to represent her country in the last Eurovision Festival, the communications media rallied to the cry of this new star of song. Even then, she spoke about her transsexuality, of her success in Israel and in Egypt and above all, of the great storm that her election provoked among the ultra-orthodox sectors of her country. But, moreover, she went and won Eurovision. It was the first time that the vote was made by telephone and it would not be very bold to say that a good part of the reason for her success was due to the gay vote. The Festival had become ostracized for some years but still has many followers among gay people, many of them wishing to see how a transsexual singer would win. By Victor Peña.

But, how has this new star evolved? One could say that Dana was born twice. The first time 29 years ago in Tel Aviv; the second, at 24 years of age in London, where she submitted herself to a sex-change operation. She gave up being Yaron in order to become Sharon Cohen and adopt the artistic name of Dana International, in honour of the Irish singer who won the Eurovision in 1970. After returning to Israel, after a period of singing and acting in transvestite shows in the local bars in the Tel Aviv scene, imitating artists such as Donna Summer and Ofra Haza, Ofer Nisim, a disc jockey with whom she was sentimentally engaged and the true manufacturer of her success, got her an opportunity to sing on the radio. Fame followed soon after. She recorded three records, making huge sales and achieved one gold and two platinum records. Her success can be measured by the antagonism which she provokes among the orthodox Jews, for whom homosexuality is a crime which is punishable by death by stoning. From the earliest moment, they have conducted a campaign of discrediting: they cover over her posters, they defame her and spit, they cut the electricity at one of her concerts and the rabbis have even prohibited the faithful to disguise themselves as her (just as in the case of Yasir Arafat) in the Jewish Carnival [Purim] of 1995. Worse still, Egypt, for example, has prohibited her entrance, considering her an Israeli spy, and in the souk of Cairo, the sale of her records is prohibited, something which has not prevented the sale of 5 million of her records in this country.

Winning Eurovision was precisely what she needed to increase by a hundred-fold the anger of her adversaries and gain the admiration of her every day more numerous followers in the whole world. Shortly afterward, Dana signed with the subsidiary Dancepool of the powerful record company Sony Music UK, London. Local success has become, all of a sudden, world success, and in all of the discotheques around the globe, people begin to dance unstoppably to "Diva". And a new gay icon is born, clinging to whom are a good number of gays and above all, transsexuals, hoping that her success will give a fresh impulse to our social normalisation.

She won the Eurovision, supported by half of Europe, and scandalising the other half. It is the first time that a transsexual, Dana International, who is moreover, Israeli, comes out of the gay circuit and rises to fame through the most international of festivals. By Miguel Bañón - photos: E.P.V. Rubaudonadeu.

Zero: Since you won the Eurovision Festival, your song has been danced to throughout Spain continuously. In it, you speak of very important women like Aphrodite or Cleopatra. But what do they have to do with all of this?
Dana: They are classical woman and obviously, I never knew them, but if there is some connection with them it is that I have a strong personality and I am very stubborn.

Zero: You began your career in show business when you were still a boy. You participated in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Do you like musicals?
Dana: I love big musical productions, although this might be considered typical among homosexuals. Perhaps it is because gay people love to celebrate, have a good time. And musicals are full of singing, dancing. They are the greatest kind of show.

Zero: And now that you are famous, what musical would you like to do?
Dana: "Grease". I would love to be Sandy, but in a different way than in the movie. I would prefer a strumpet version of the character.

Zero: Do you consider yourself to be a singer, or an artist who sings but can do many other things too?
Dana: I don't want to classify myself. I am a artist who can sing as well as make movies, television. I think that the best way not to bore oneself in this profession is to cover the greatest number of possible areas.

Zero: Since you first appeared in the front page of all of the newspapers, it seems that interest in transsexuals has grown enormously. Do you have something to do with all of this?
Dana: I would love to be able to help everyone, not only one group, but all types of people: gays, heterosexuals. I have worked for a numbers of years with anti-AIDS groups, and I have realised that to help people is one of the things which gives me the most satisfaction. But I need my public to help me, to work like a team, so that the world can be much better. It is difficult, but I try to change the image of transsexuals, because until now, it has been shit.

Zero: Have you never had a model, someone who you could follow?
Dana: I agree, but I don't want to convert myself into an icon for my image or for my songs, but rather for the way in which I act or what I think. I wish that transsexuals and gays alike would begin to think that there are many things to change before achieving equality, to achieve this, I need your help and that we are all united. The gay community is at present very divided and this is very detrimental.

Zero: With regard to your music, what can we expect in the album?
Dana: The record is crazy, you're going to love it. But there is nothing sad about it. I think that there already are enough tragedies for me to be singing great dramas. I try to transmit happiness through my songs so that people will dance and smile and have fun. I want to make the world happy through my songs. For crying, there are other kinds of artists.

Zero: Speaking of problems: The State of Israel has been surrounded by problems since its foundation. As a member of a minority in your country, how do you think it deals with the issue of civil rights?
Dana: Israel does not get very good press, but I advise you not to believe what you see on television because they always show the worst of the country: in this case the problems with the Palestinians. But, for example, gay people from all over the world would be amazed if they came to Tel Aviv and saw the treatment that they would receive in my country. For example, one boy can marry another. A transsexual can get a birth certificate as if she had been born female. Homosexuals and transsexuals are 99.9% equal to heterosexuals, and I don't think that anybody suffers sexual discrimination in Israel. But if you speak of the Palestinians, it's a completely different thing.

Zero: Would you like to become a kind of ambassador of Israeli reality?
Dana: Exactly, because the world does not know this reality. I am a transsexual, and with a lot of work, I have become the most important Israeli singer in the last years. How can that be? The population of Israel is 5 million, and there are not 5 million gay people. My public includes children, the parents, the grandparents. I am the proof that my country is very liberal, and although we have problems, our life is not what appears constantly in the media: Gaza, Hebron.

Zero: Would you dare to say that your country recognises homosexual rights in a more advanced way than countries like the United States?
Dana: I am sure of it. The United States isn't only New York or San Francisco. The cities of the Midwest are much more dangerous for homosexuals than any village in Israel.

Zero: Your presence on the stage is identified with a strong image of, as your song says, a "diva". Is your name a kind of armour to protect your privacy?
Dana: Of course. The stage is the stage. When I am up there I want people to enjoy my songs and my show. But when the lights go out, I don't wear make-up or Versace clothes. I love to be at home with my jeans, my hair tied back and act like a nice girl. The real Dana is not a star. If you come to know me, we wouldn't speak about concerts or music... We would speak about you and me. I want to separate my career from my private life. I don't like limousines, nor body guards. It's not my style.

Zero: With whom would you like to do a duet?
Dana: With Ricky Martin or with Cindy Lauper. She is the only person who I have followed my whole life.

Zero: Enough people hate you. Do you hate anyone?
Dana: No. Hatred is one of the great defects of humanity. There are things which I can't stand, but I don't let my feelings allow me to hate, because I would suffer. Hatred is an uncomfortable feeling.

Zero: Your life has become complicated. It must be difficult to face so many people.
Dana: Sometimes I feel that silence is better than gold.

No more wailing wall around the transsexual singer: In Tel Aviv, the Eurovision star is now a national celebrity. By Arnaud Bizot.

For her, the Eurovision changed everything. Before Dana International’s success, the Israeli fundamentalists cried ‘sacrilege’ and the singer sometimes had problems being seen as something else than a curiosity of nature. Her victory 9 May in the great European competition finally gave her artistic legitimacy.

‘Diva’, the Eurovision single, has sold 40 000 copies in three weeks. During her third business trip to Paris, where she arrived this weekend, Dana (26) was too busy to be able to attend the soirée at the club ‘Queen’ hosted by Galia, another ‘extravagante’. She had to get up to early the next morning.

- Does it really change anything to win the Eurovision?
“I know very well that for the French, the competition has turned into something almost passé! You’re probably not able to tell me who was the last French singer to win.”

- Eh...
“But in Israel and the Middle East, the impact has been enormous. In Tel Aviv, after the TV broadcast, thousands went out in the streets. They played my songs from buildings, they were booming everywhere. I was stuck in Britain. Two days later, when I returned to Israel, hundreds of people waited in front of my apartment building. The apartment was covered with flowers. Policemen appointed to take care of the throngs of people rang my door to ask if they could take my picture!”

- Quite a retaliation!
“That’s the least you could say... MKs from the Sephardi ultra-orthodox party Shas turned the world upside down to bar me from singing in Britain. They said on television that I was a deviation, a hybrid. My ‘case’ was brought up in the Knesset. ‘To have a sex-change is worse than sodomy,’ MK Gabi Butbul declared.”

- Don’t you owe your success to your change? As if you were a curiosity, and that only?
“Maybe still in Europe. But it seems to me that in Israel, my audience have passed that stage - they only see me as a singer, a strange one of course, but a singer.”

- How are your relations with the Israel government?
“The Eurovision changed everything. I have been received by the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Education, who embraced me. Israeli TV showed it in slow motion three times. I have received the keys to the city of Tel Aviv and nominated as an ambassador of song. Bibi [Netanyahu] has promised that the next Eurovision will take place in Jerusalem. As for the Orthodox, they have calmed down a bit, but nothing fundamental has changed. To them, I’m now an agent out to corrupt the youth.”

- Have you broken any new contracts?
“I would have liked to go on holiday for a while, but I have signed a contract with Sony for four albums which will be released in Britain, Spain and the United States. This happened three days after my return from Birmingham. Sony had faith in me before the Eurovision. For the rest of Europe, like France, I have signed a contract with the record company Arcade [CNR], also for four albums.

- Have you been contacted by prospective managers?
“I could have been, but no. I have signed these two contracts in agreement with my friend and songwriter ‘Ofer Nisim and Shai Kerem, my artistic advisor. He [‘Ofer Nisim] stays with me, we had our debut together, we have struggled together, and we continue to work together.”

- You visited Paris during your European tour. Was it like you thought it would be?
“In all the cities I visited in June to promote ‘Diva’ I have only seen airports, taxis, hotel rooms and journalists. I’m not disappointed. This is what I always wanted to become: Rich and famous, but only for a while. After, I dream of a house in an exotic country, a beach, sunshine and a boyfriend. I only had an hour to myself, and that’s not very much to admire the architecture of the most beautiful city in the world.”

- How did you spend that hour?
“I took a walk on Champs-Elysées and bought Spice Girls shoes for Elia, my 4 year old niece.”

- You were supposed to sing with the Spice Girls...
“Their manager proposed that I’d audition for them. I never met them, I never talked to them, I don’t know them. I refused the offer. I want to be independent, be myself. I would not have been able to take someone telling me what to wear, what to tell my audience, what to eat, what to do. And I will never have my face put on a pair of shoes... If necessary, only on a condom!”

- You asked an old friend to accompany you to Europe. Why?
“Yael is 24. She has lived just across from me in Tel Aviv for the last five years. She is a painter and follows courses at the Jerusalem Arts Academy. She is someone I have total confidence in. She is a link to my close past. In the evenings, we talk and play cards. You should never forget where you’re coming from. I would have liked to live the life I had before with my friends, go to each others’ houses like eternal teenagers.”

- No star whims?
“No! Only normal people can stay happy. The moment I throw a tantrum because the coffee is too hot, the hotel room to small, the limo late - that’s a moment I can’t really picture.”

- How do your friends react to your success?
“They are proud of me. The people I meet for professional reasons see me in a new way. They see the success, not Dana. I have difficulty adjusting to that. I keep thinking it could all end tomorrow.”

- Have you met any celebrities you liked?
“Yes, fortunately. I’m thinking of Thierry Mugler who I met when he visited Israel. Then it’s Jean-Paul Gaultier who saw my photo in the portfolio of two male models. I got a fax at home: ‘Jean-Paul Gaultier would like to dress you.’ He did it for fun. He is someone who gives someone marvellously.”

- Do you have a special someone in your life?
“For the time being, I’m taking care of my career. I am unable to concentrate on both at the same time. So I don’t think about that. We’ll see the day it happens.”

 

The penultimate queen of scandal drapes her charms over the sofa with calculated languor. Her improvised throne is mounted on a platform which is raised no less than a meter from the floor, and the thing reeks of affectation. This is an audience. Then the queen, released from two visitors, beats the sofa with the palm of her hand in what one must interpret as an invitation to share the throne. But who would want to: at two palm lengths from her face, this divine error repaired by human hands loses mystery. By Rafa Rodriguez and Sara Saez. Photos by Lisa Sarfati.

One must scrutinize the cheeks because the make-up artist (two hours of work) has informed us of a certain recalcitrant shadow of a beard, and also, it is impossible not to notice the significant burn which flows over her right shoulder, the memory of a frying pan brimming over with boiling oil which, she tells, she spilled when trying to make herself an omelette while completely drunk. So, sitting down, it is difficult to perceive her tall stature. For whatever else, this Dana International is a woman from top to--pardon--tail, although to be so (physically speaking) she has had to resort to hormones and the scalpel of an English clinic.

It is clear that when in 1993 Yaron Cohen (Tel Aviv, 1972) became Sharon Cohen, her official name for filling forms and signing papers, Dana already existed. She was the main figure in a show of drag queens, a chrysalis going the hard way from night-club to night-club where she demonstrated an artistic talent which her mother and her sister always encouraged her to exploit and at 14 years of age brought her to participate in a musical comedy. Later, it also served her to liberate herself from the inevitable Israeli military and record the single with which she would captivate the youth of her country, ‘Sa'ida’. Three albums cloaked in platinum further on, Dana International is one of the greatest Israeli pop stars and, to top it all, from a Near Eastern convulsion that encourages her with the same impetus with which the political-religious authorities censure her (5 million pirate cassettes answer for her in Jordan and Egypt, where her music is strictly prohibited, sold covertly in the markets for the price of gold).

The triumph last May in the Eurovision Festival is her first occidental hit, which at the moment has brought her a million-dollar contract with the multinational Sony for 4 albums (the first of which should appear in September) and overexposure in the media, proof against the ultra-orthodox Jews, who are the arch-villains in the movie of her recent life, along with the homophobes who suggested that her Eurovision victory was due to the pressure of the homosexual lobby. "What a disgusting lie. If it had been like that, it would mean that in Europe, there are hundreds of millions of homosexuals, and obviously there aren't. Furthermore, countries like Great Britain, Holland or Germany, where there are well organized gay communities, only gave me five points," claims the diva, who at these heights cannot avoid the fact that her speech sounds like a broken record.

- Why do you allow that they continue to present you as a transsexual?
“It doesn't matter to me if people present me as a transsexual, as a woman or as a chicken, as long as they let me live as I want. Everyone can look at me and judge for themselves.”

- But they are making you a freak.
“Only the people who like scandal, the big headlines "The transsexual who challenges human nature". It's all the same to me. I am proud to be a transsexual.”

- Do you consider yourself as a transgressor?
“Yes, of course. All the time.”

- Its just that one sees you as very conformist.
“And that is bad? I love life, I love this world.”

- And the revolution that one supposes is going to begin with you?
“I am the revolution and my triumph is revolutionary. And now, everyone can tell the story as he likes.”

- Did God make a mistake with you?
“No. God never makes mistakes. God is perfect and I love Him.”

- Come on. You are going to say that you were never angry with him?
“No! Even if I were blind. My life is marvellous and I am only grateful to him.”

- To whom you should be grateful are the ultra-orthodox.
“It's true, they have converted me into a star. They are stupid. What upsets them is that I have 80 percent of the Israelis and 80 percent of the Arabs in my favour.”

- Are you a political phenomenon?
“And what can I do? The Arabs prohibit me because I am Jewish. They have even said that I was an agent of Mossad. Isn't it ridiculous? In the end, I have suffered so much pressure that I think that now I want to be European.”

- Which is worse for you, that they criticize you for your music or for your person?
“I don't care, they don't hurt me. To criticize is part of human nature. If they want to hate me, then hate me. It is their problem, they are the ones who suffer.”

- You have to recognize that the path you have chosen is not the best to obtain credibility as an artist.
“I don't care about credibility. What interests me is success. I prefer to sell 100 million records although they say I am rubbish to sell 100 with fantastic reviews. I am here, I have arrived and I am not going to let the opportunity go.”

The single "Diva" (Sony) is already on sale.

 

Dana International (26) used to be Yaron Cohen. That was before he became a she six years ago. The Israeli never made a secret out of it that she tinkered with her body. Orthodox Jews in Israel are trying to disturb Dana's singing career, and in Egypt her music was even banned. But after she won the Eurovision song contest with "Diva", the world has to deal with her. By Lenny Vermeulen. Photo: © Martijn van de Griendt.

• Motto: Live and let live
• Addicted to: Love
• Favorite movie: That one with Rita Hayworth "Put the blame on me"
• Biggest television hero: Wonderwoman
• Favorite CD: Cindy Lauper's first album
• Favorite city: Hamburg, Paris and Amsterdam
• Man: Brad Pitt
• Woman: Bette Midler
• Favorite food: Chinese
• Dislikes: Liars and twofaced people

- How's life?
"Great and heavy. At this time I haven't got even one hour of it. I still have to learn to combine my career with my personal life."

- What do you expect from your life with your new body?
"Lots of sex, because with this new body I can have better sex with men. Life is still the same, it just goes on. With my clothes on, no one sees the difference."

- How much money do you have on you at this moment?
"A thousand dollars."

- If you didn't become a singer, you would be...
"A lawyer, I always liked that profession. I like to defend people and I love to talk."

- What is the best invention since sliced bread?
"Condoms."

- What is the most embarrassing moment in your life?
"I smoked weed once, just before a performance, for the first time in my life. Halfway down the show I was waving with my arms and the microphone flew out of my hands, on the heads of a few women in the audience. When I tried to find it, I fell. It was a complete mess."

- Do you remember your first kiss?
"Yes of course, it was the first man of my life. I was sixteen and I saw a boy in the park; Gabi. He liked me too, and a little later we were kissing, for hours and hours."

- Describe yourself in five words.
"Funny, nice, noisy, impulsive and likeable."

- Did you ever hit someone?
"On different occasions. The last time was years ago. I only hit people if they hit me first."

- What is your most precious possession?
"A ring I got from my big love. It's like an engagement ring, we're separated now, but we are still very good friends. I hope I meet someone who I can feel the same for sometime."

- Did you ever get put off?
"Of course, every woman has experienced that."

- What is you best feature?
"My eyes, they're expressive."

- When was the last time you threw up?
"A few moths ago, I hardly drink any alcohol. But were going out in Tel Aviv and I wanted to enjoy myself, so I drank too much. At home I could no longer hold it in me."

- What is the stupidest thing you've read about yourself?
"An Egyptian magazine wrote my father raped me when I was a kid."

- Where are you going after this interview?
"England, for a whole day of interviews. Again."

 The website editor would like to thank Martijn van de Griendt for kind permission to reproduce the picture used to illustrate the article. He holds the copyright for the picture. Geir Skogseth.

“We’re the same - both in gender and age!” Eurovision winner Dana International appreciated meeting super-fan Connie from Hurum. Both women actually grew up as boys! By Svend Aage Madsen.

Flirts with Norwegian men! “Is it correct that Norwegian men are as handsome, blond and strong as my sister has told me?” Connie Vang, 26, from Hurum confirms the claim and offers Dana, 26, a cigarette. The contact between the two girls is close and spontaneous. It’s as if they share an invisible bond and a common destiny.

Helge became Connie
“We have both had gender reassignment surgery,” Connie tells us. She grew up as Helge, a boy from Kirkenes, while Dana used to be the young boy Yaron. Dana escaped to London in 1992 to have a gender change, while Connie had hers in 1994.

“Dana is worse off than me. Success in the local variety show in Hurum doesn’t quite merit death threats,” Connie says seriously. The security around this year’s winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is tight. Her stay in Oslo was kept as secret as possible, and noone was let in to the Israeli star singer without showing ID:

Dana has received death threats from religious people who feel it’s a disgrace that a sex change artist represents Israel abroad. “The threats have never frightened me. God is the only one I fear,” Dana says.

Celebrated Dana
Connie celebrated Dana from Israel when she won this year’s Eurovision with ‘Diva’. “I was mad with joy. This victory means something to all who have had a sex change. The Spice Girls are no match for Dana when it comes to ‘girl power’,” Connie says. She is very proud of the single ‘Diva’ where Dana wrote a special greeting.
“It was fun to win, but I’m also proud that Israel will arrange the Eurovision next year,” Dana says and gives admiring looks to the folk costume Connie is wearing for the meeting. “I thought I’d be a tad national meeting someone as international as you,” Connie jokes.

TV-star
Dana has never been to Scandinavia before, and she really wants to see more of Norway. This time she only had time for a few interviews and an appearance on ‘Fredagsbørsen’ with Hallvard Flatland. “My sister has told me how beautiful a country Norway is. She lived on Lillehammer for two years, and even planned a wedding before reaching the conclusion that it was too cold to remain living in your country,” Dana says. “But she boasted of the Norwegian boys, and told me I’d like them. So I’m coming back!”

 

14 million UK viewers witnessed Dana's recent Eurovision victory and this exposure will be crucial if the Israeli transsexual is to transfer to that success to the UK charts. To capitalise on fresh memories of the spectacle, a UK version of Diva is being rush-released. The Eurovision stigma and the Israeli origin of the song will make airplay hard to come by, but she wouldn't be the first international winner to secure a major UK success with an English translation of a winning entry.

The polished hi-energy based version we're being offered will appeal to those that were tempted by Gina G's Ooh Aah .. Just A Little Bit, so a Top 10 hit is not out of the question. However, it shouldn't be forgotten that voting UK viewers placed Dana International in a lowly sixth place.

 

BIRMINGHAM, England-Sony Music has signed the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) winner, Israeli transsexual Dana International, for the world excluding Scandinavia, the Benelux, and Eastern Europe. Dutch indie CNR Music signed International's rights for these territories in the days leading up to the May 9 contest here (Billboard Bulletin, May 11). By Fred Bronson.

The winning song, "Diva," is being rush-released in the UK in an English-language version and will appear on Sony's Dance Pool imprint. The deal includes a second single in September and an album to follow in October, according to the artist's attorney, Yochay Chay.

CNR hopes to have "Diva" as a single on the market within a week and already has advance orders for 20,000 copies in Belgium. However, the company is looking beyond the winning entry.

"We want to build a career," says Guido Janssens, international marketing director for CNR Music. "With the attention she got at Eurovision it will be easier to establish her as a star. We're looking at a second single with remixes by Junior Vasquez and Rollo." Janssen believes that the artists will have mainstream success beyond the dance market she has already conquered.

Winning the ESC isn't always a guarantee of international success, although ABBA used the competition as a springboard to global fame in 1974. Last year, Katrina & the Waves had a top three hit in the UK and parlayed the Eurovision victory of "Love Shine a Light" into top 10 success in Austria, Norway, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, and Holland, with top 20 postings in Hungary and Denmark.

In 1996 Ireland's entry "The Voice" by Eimear Quinn won the competition but failed to make an impression beyond Ireland. Instead, eighth place UK entry "Ooh Aah... Just a little bit" by Gina G was the commercial champ, reaching No. 1 in Britain, going top 10 worldwide, and peaking at No. 12 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, the contest's highest-ranked UK entry in US chart history.

Gina G might easily have won the 1996 contest had televoting been in place as it was this year. After an experiment last year in which six countries conducted a popular vote by telephone, 23 of the 25 countries in this year's ESC opened their phone lines to let the people decide. Only Hungry and Romania relied on the traditional method of having small juries determine the result.

Televoting changed the contest in one important way, says Jonathan King, who for four years has helmed the Great British Song Contest heat to select the UK entry. "People only want to hear an entry once, so being 'instant' is very important. That is what I'm going to have to bear in mind now that the punters are voting. But great records can be gotten the first time."

Televoting is just one way the song contest, established in 1956, is being drawn into the modern age. Next year will see the dropping of the "ABBA rule," which requires songs to be performed in the country's official language. The rule was invoked after the Swedish quartet won in 1974 by singing "Waterloo" in English.

This year's contest had a nail-biting, cliffhanging finish. The lead kept bouncing between Israel, Malta and the Netherlands as the participating countries reported their results. In the end, Macedonia's vote decided the clincher, awarding eight points to Israel. That sent Malta's song, "The one that I Love" by Chiara, into third place, behind the UK entry "Where are You?" by Imaani, released by EMI.

Dana International is the 26th female singer to win the Eurovision Song Contest. Born Yaron Cohen in 1972, the singer became a drag artist and had some recording success with a parody of a Whitney Houston song before going to London in 1993 to have a sex-change operation. That fact had stirred controversy in her home country.

"Diva," written by Yoav Ginai and Tzvika Pik, was released in March in Israel on the IMP Dance album "Diva-The Collection."

TEL AVIV-Viewers of the Eurovision Song Contest may have embraced transsexual artist Dana International, but the torrent of opposition in her own country has grown ever stronger in the wake of the 26-year-old singer's victory with "Diva" in Birmingham, England, on May 9. By Barry Chamish and Fred Bronson.

After she was selected to represent Israel in the annual competition, International was denounced as an "insult" and a "message of darkness" by orthodox rabbi Shlomo Ben-Izri. Traditionally the winning country hosts the next year's contest. With the competition to be held in Israel next year, politicians are adding their voices to the fray. "Such a shameful event will not take place in Jerusalem," proclaims the city's deputy mayor, Rabbi Haim Miller. "It will be better to stage it in a country of goys."

Continued opposition and security issues could cause the Israeli Broadcasting Authority to decline to host the 1999 contest. In Birmingham, the Israeli delegation stayed at the Hyatt Regency because it was the only hotel with bulletproof glass. But not all religious forces are opposed to the artist who was once a man.

"I found a quote in the Bible about castration," offers Rabbi Marvin Antleman. "God says those who cut off their genitalia will be accepted if they become God-fearing. What is amazing about the passage is that the name 'Dana' is spelled out, and the word 'international' appears."

 

People in Israel have been astir lately with the impressive Eurovision representative of the country, Dana International, who was originally a man. Dana was chosen to represent her country in the Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham on Israel's pre-Eurovision. The song "Diva" was absolutely superior according to the jury. Israel's extreme right political blocs are against the choice of Dana, because she has had sex change surgery, which the religion sees as a sin bigger than sodomy.

Sold millions
Dana is very popular elsewhere in Middle East as well, in addition to Israel. One radio station has even chosen her as the female artist of the year. Dana sings in Arabic, Hebrew, French and English. Her music is a combination of traditional ethnic and western pop rhythms.

The president of the Israel's choice committee, Gil Samsonov, thinks that Dana's transsexuality is the needed key on the way to the Eurovision contest win. “We want to indicate that we are a liberal country, in which people are estimated according to their skills, not their sex,” Samsonov announces. Dana, who has stepped forward as a symbol of liberation, is worshipped in European gay- and transsexual circles.

Problems with the army
Dana, born in Tel Aviv to a normal Jewish family, started to doubt her sexuality when she was 16. “At the beginning I moved in the gay circles but I realized that it wasn't meant for me. Just when I started to dress in women's clothes I found my real me.”

After a long waiting Dana had a sex change surgery in London in 1993, because it's forbidden in her home country governed by orthodox Jews. In Israel there's a compulsory military service for both men and women. “I got arrested by the military police several times. Sometimes I was taken to the men’s garrison, sometimes the women’s. I caused confusion in both so I was always sent back,” Dana says.

The family has also had to accept their "daughter" and is now supporting Dana to win the Eurovision contest.

 

The Israeli transsexual Dana International takes the prize. The 26-year-old's Grand-Prix victory has a political meaning in her homeland.

Frankfurt/Main -- Not "der Meister" Guildo Horn but a no-less-harshly assessed contestant ran off with the prize in Birmingham: the transsexual Dana International from Israel took the trophy at the European pop festival Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Saturday night with the rather conventional song "Diva."

After an extremely tense final competition the pop singer, opposed in her homeland by orthodox Jews, nosed ahead and edged out Great Britain and Malta. The success of the 26-year-old made up in one night for Sunday's Jubilee, which was also given political significance in the struggle of liberal forces against ultra-religious ones. Five years ago the son of Yemenite refugees, born under the name Yaron Cohen, underwent a sex-change operation. That anyone like that would compete for Israel at a European music competition was a poke in the eye for the deputy Health Minister Shlomo Ben-Izri, from the orthodox Shas party.

With her win in Birmingham Dana has now shown up her critics. In a somewhat-too-figure-hugging gray-glittered dress she brought to the contest stage the properly strong haunches of a gelding. The voice was as uncannily feminine as the flowing black hair. And for the encore she changed triumphantly into a black dress with colourful feathered arms by her favourite designer, Jean-Paul Gaultier.

 

Pouting Israeli popstrel Dana International has whipped up a storm of controversy in her native land - accused of being a symbol of a sick society, she has even received death threats. And all because she used to be a he. Now she's about to strut her stuff on Eurovision. Terry Wogan watch out. By David Kaufman.

When Israeli popstar Dana International - one-time man, big-time glamour gal and part-time political trouble-maker - takes the stage at this month's Eurovision contest in Birmingham, many in her native land will be praying for her to lose. True, this is not the type of encouragement ordinarily associated with the annual music event. But then again, Israel is no 'ordinary' country, and even Dana would concede she's no ordinary singer.

What Dana 'is' is Israel's first-ever transsexual media icon, a pouty lipped, coiffed-haired, daringly-dressed alternative to the violence and strife traditionally reported from the Holy Land. She sings in three languages, is adored by millions throughout the Middle East, and is poised to go global with her next album.

So why all the negativity back in Jerusalem? Because Israel is a country fraught with political unrest both inside and out. A small, but vocal, religious group holds power well beyond its numbers in Israel's parliament. There they enjoy the Prime Minister's ear, demand laws weakening secular freedoms and routinely do battle with the nation's liberal masses. When she was chosen by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority over 14 opponents to go to Eurovision, Dana, you could say, became caught in the crossfire.

Though her wounds were light, they were certainly stinging. Dana received death threats. She was called a symbol of a "sick society." One religious MP asked the government to revers its decision. Another threatened to resign in protest.

"These people have lots of power and they wanted to cancel my song," the 26-year old singer said of her right-wing opponents. "But they could not do it and they could not cancel me."

Six months later, Israel has turned to more pressing concerns and Dana's on her way to Birmingham. It won't be her first trip to Britain. Eight years ago Dana came to London as 18-year old Yaron Cohen, male genitalia intact. She went back to Israel as a woman, and shortly after Dana International was born.

But pop-stardom didn't just happen. Like Madonna and Boy George, Dana is a product of urban club-culture. In this case it was the Tel-Aviv night scene and a chance encounter with local DJ Ofer Nisim almost a decade ago. Still Yaron - but with his inner-Dana screaming for release - he joined a Nisim-produced drag show featuring imitations of leading Israeli singers like Ofra Haza. With childhood full of voice lessons and a stint with the Tel-Aviv Youth Company of Music under his belt, Yaron was a natural performer and quickly became a drag phenomenon. By 1992 he was ready to formally enter the musical arena and together with Nisim, recorded an original song, Sa'ida.

Few Israelis realized that Sa'ida's singer was actually a man and the song became widely popular throughout the country. Meanwhile Yaron was in London, en route to Dana. And though her family initially reacted with shock and rejection upon her return, Dana knew she'd done the right thing.

"No parent wants their child to turn from a boy to a woman," says Dana, who's since reconciled with her family. "But if I would have stayed a man I would never have felt complete, I would never have been happy. I wanted to be a woman without the make-up, without the wigs. I wanted to wake up and go to sleep as a woman." Moreover, Dana knew she'd never find love as Yaron. "I don't like having relationships with gay guys. They wanted macho language and macho bodies and were not attracted to me," she recalls. "So I knew I would never be happy as a man."

Finally femme and with nothing to hide, Dana could now focus on her career. A year after the operation Dana recorded her first album, the eponymous Dana International, which went gold in Israel. In 1994 her second album Umpatampa went platinum and Dana was named female singer of the year by the Israeli music industry. With the release of her third album - 1996's Magnuna ('Insane' in Arabic) - Dana International began to live up to her name, acquiring a large following in Egypt and Jordan where she sold over 5 million pirated cassettes.

Not surprisingly Dana's music caused a scandal in the Arab world. Because she sings in Arabic - as well as Hebrew and English - Dana became a darling of the burgeoning Arab pop music scene. But in a region known for its disdain for Israelis - not to mention transsexuals - Dana quickly came under fire. Newspapers claimed her music was corrupting Arab youth and the Egyptian authorities even banned the playing or sale of her songs. It was Dana's first taste of censorship and a prelude to the Eurovision debate she would soon encounter back home.

Despite the near constant drama, Dana still finds time for a 'normal' social life; at least as 'normal' as life can be for a transsexual, politically-conscious, pop sensation. She's recognised wherever she goes in Israel and is so well known that her parents are regularly asked for autographs at the local market. "Because of my career I have made the very proud of me," says Dana. "It has helped them to come to terms with [my sex change] because the whole country loves me." While Israel may love her, Dana says there's no special man in her life. Right now, though she's actively seeking suitors. It's been two years since the end of her last relationship, a two-year affair that ended with Dana broken-hearted. "It was the first time I found out what love means," she says of the relationship. "But his father told him to choose between his family and me, and I lost." An older and wiser Dana now says her career comes before her heart, and though she'd welcome a new man in her life, "it would be difficult to have a man and a career at the same time."

But don't think Dana's home alone when the curtains go down. Like any self-respecting vamp, she's sampling a range of middle Eastern delights, though love remain the final goal. "I can give up everything for the right man," she says. "But I need to find one who's truly special and truly understands me." In the mean time Dana refuses to become just another apolitical pop star. Why should she? While many Israelis would rather promote their nation as a macho military machine, Dana feels she represents another Israel, the 'real' Israel.

"The global media treats Israel strangely; they only want to show wars and soldiers, Jews speaking against Arabs, Arabs speaking against Jews," Dana says. "But there is another Israel, a 'regular' Israel, with people who eat at McDonald's, people who do not hate anyone.

Still, Dana is aware of her limitations. While she hopes she can open minds, she doesn't necessarily expect to change them. "I don't know if I can change things," she says. "As a transsexual many people do not respect me, so it's not like the whole world will listen to me."

But the whole world - or at least much of it - will be listening to Dana on 9 May at Eurovision. The song she'll sing, Diva, celebrates the lives of legendary women from history; Aphrodite, Queen Victoria, Maria Callas and Cleopatra, who Dana calls the "world's first diva". And in choosing Diva, Dana's once again doing what she does best: mixing art with politics.

"People usually sing about macho heroes, like Superman or Flash Gordon," Dana explained. "It's about time someone sang about woman heroes."

As for Dana, she says she'll 'faint' if she wins Eurovision, and then go on holiday, possibly to the Seychelles. It's been a long journey from conflicted choir boy to flamboyant club-kid, to full-fledged pop star. But does Dana who sings of Divas and is certainly Diva-esque - consider herself a Diva? Or even a Diva-in-training?

"I'm a bit young to be a Diva, and besides, a person should be more modest than that," she demurs. "One shouldn't call oneself a Diva - you either are or you aren't. I'm just an ordinary woman; no more, no less."

 

At 8 years old, Yaron Cohen wanted to be a singer; at 18, a songstress. Now Cohen is 26 and representing Israel at Eurovision in Birmingham. By Martin Wolf.

When the army draft notice came, Yaron Cohen was truly already more woman than man: he wore his hair long, made up his delicate face, even his breasts had lost their masculine form. Since in Israel women also serve their country in the armed forces, Cohen was quite prepared to fulfill his obligation, but only under one condition: "Only as a woman!"

The day that Cohen, alias Dana International, who at the time was parodying Whitney Houston as a drag queen in small clubs, finally showed up for the physical and raised up his t-shirt, the perplexity was great, relates Cohen. "The doctors took one look and wished me a nice day. That was that."

And so today Dana prefers to wear designer frocks from Jean-Paul Gaultier instead of camouflage, makes dance-music instead of march-music, and is on her way to becoming truly international: on May 9 Dana will compete for Israel at Eurovision, against Guildo Horn and company; the song is called, small wonder, "Diva."

And the question of gender has in the meantime been definitively answered. In 1993 Dana had herself operated in London--from singer to songstress."It was just like going clothes-shopping," she says. Even her manager is enthusiastic about he sex-change. "Most transsexuals never lose their masculine voices. But in Dana's case the change was very successful."

Case in point: at a concert in Beersheba, a town considered the macho capital of Israel, the spectators overfowed the lilittle ouse. "For the people there I was just simply a sex symbol," says Dana.

But elsewhere, Dana believes, peopole take her for "the devil inarnate." After her nomination for the Eurofestival a certain Shlomo Ben-Izri, Knesset Member for the Shas religious party and deputy health minister, blasted: "Israel is a light unto the world, but now darkness has broken out."

Since then a debate has raged in Israel that recalls somewhat the "Shall Guildo Horn sing for Germany?" spectacle. The orthoodox fear a humiliation in Birmingham (Israel won in 1978 and 1979) mych less that an outbreak of modernity-- for the zealots, even the appearance of a woman on stage is a scandal. Fifty years after the founding of the state secular Jews have been put somewhat on the defensive.

But the decision of the jury, which chose Dana from fifteen hopefuls, is long since made. "She has the majority behind her," says the head of the jury, Gil Samsonov.

The conflict goes on, however. Recently at a concert the resolute singer beat up a waitress and so gave the "Man or Woman" discussion new life. At the same time Dana has become a political issue in neighboring countries: the Egyptian authorities forbid entry to the singer, who also works in Arabic: they say she is part of the Zionist conspiracy.

 

Dana, the siren of Tel-Aviv, with beauty from the devil. At least, that's the opinion of the ultra-orthodox Jews, who see in this 25-year-old transsexual a distillation of all the sins. When they learned that this "hybrid creature" was going to represent the chosen people at the Eurovision contest, they were scandalized. Exempted from the Tzahal because of homosexuality, Yaron Cohen became Dana International definitively in 1993, after undergoing a final operation in London. From then on, "he" would be she. But in Israel, Dana had to brush off spit and insults before being completely recognized as an artist. Sustained by Yael Dayan, daughter of the mythical general, and by Gil Samsonov, president of the Eurovision selection committee, Dana the Yemenite wants to make a wind of freedom and tolerance blow in singing for her country.

The whole room whistled. Voices insulted her. Dana continued to sing. "My Name is not Sa'ida," parody of a Whitney Houston title. It was her first real concert, near Jerusalem. Until then she had only been presented as a "drag queen" in gay clubs in Tel-Aviv. But tonight, Dana confronted the unknown, and the unknown is savage. The first rows spit on the stage. Cans of beer flew. She told herself that she was crazy to stay there, but she sang to the end and, when the music stopped, she slowly saluted the hostile room and, in a silence, defied the hate, saying quite sweetly, "One day you will applaud me."

Five years have passed since that nightmare. The one who was called Yaron Cohen to the age of 20 today has her revenge: she has just been chosen by the eleven members of the IBA, Israel's public radio and television, to represent Israel at the next Eurovision contest, on May 9 1998 in England.

	Little Yaron (centre) was born into a large family of Yemenite origin

England, where, in hiding from friends and family, Yaron Cohen came, alone, to abandon his boy's body to the surgeons. This vertiginous passage, mixing pain and deliverance, was foretold as long as she could remember. At first, the acts forestalled her desire as much as they guided it. At 11, Yaron borrowed his older sister's dresses and make-up. The choir, where his high voice expressed itself without anyone laughing, the theatre, where he disguised himself without embarrassment, gave him his only moments of happiness. The future? To his parents, Yaron always would answer with assurance lawyer or doctor, without believing it for a second, his only priority being to find himself. He didn't attract the girls, much as they had flair, and the boys didn't attract him, that would have been simpler. Visiting Jerusalem at 15, Yaron addressed himself to God before the Wailing Wall telling Him that with him He had made a little mistake, but that he forgave Him--and that he would work it out.

A meeting brought things to a head at 18. A gay boy across the street who became for him his confidant. Yaron discovered with him Tel-Aviv's gay community, where at last he could let himself go. Between two outbursts from his father, he spoke sweetly, as to the audience at his first concert: "Have confidence in me." They tried to dissuade him. "Maybe I'll make a mistake, you've made yours." Yaron reproached his father for drinking like a fish, his mother, for having wrecked her own life staying with him. The one who drank is secretary to the tribunal at Tel-Aviv, his wife a saleswoman at a clothing store. It is a traditional Jewish family, originally from Yemen.

	During adolescence Yaron became conscious of his true nature

"I set myself up five blocks from home, and broke down." After two years of carefree nights, Yaron flew to London. A week later, it was Dana who landed in Tel-Aviv. She remained sick at home for two months with her scars, unable to put one foot in front of the other. And then one morning it came, the joy of life. Dana gave a party and, in the middle of the night, undressed in front of all her friends. At 21, a second important encounter. A 27-year-old DJ, Ofer Nissim, fascinated by her voice, proposed to Dana to participate in drag shows at the clubs where he mixed. Dana sang techno with tapes. Ofer spent his free time writing her, as a gag, "My Name is not Sa'ida." In spite of the disaster near Jerusalem, he sent the CD to the radio and the song became a hit. Whitney Houston's producer invited her to the United States. Dana made New York, Miami, and Los Angeles dance.

At home, in Israel, they were playing her an entirely different tune. In the towns where she came to sing, the ultra-orthodox pasted up posters where they wrote that, as a youth, she prostituted in the bathrooms of the Tel-Aviv airport, that she took drugs, that she was a fake "trans." If these gestures didn't suffice, they cut the electricity at the start of her concerts. A decree in March 1995, broadcast on the occasion of Purim, the equivalent of Carnival, forbade practising Jews to disguise themselves as Yasir Arafat, as women, or as Dana. Dana didn't respond; she worked, piling hit on hit. It is estimated that "Dana International" has sold, under the table, in Egypt where the authorities judge her subversive, some 200,000 copies. Symbolically, the singer makes her title her definitive name. In spite of her sex-change, known to everyone, she had to fight the authorities not to go into the army. "They would march me from office to office, and I would show my breasts to everyone!" Two years later, a second revenge: the chief of staff of the Israeli army would applaud her at a concert.

Dana International has just recorded her fourth album. She has received two gold records and one platinum, selling 6 million copies. She was chosen singer of the year in 1994. Her triumphs and her selection for Eurovision do not disarm the members of the ultra-orthodox sephardic party Shas. Deputy Gabi Boutboul, a member of ORTI, moved heaven and earth to keep Dana from singing "Diva" in England. "We name diplomats to foreign posts who make an object of consensus. In the same way, we should not send a deviant being to Eurovision." Another Shas deputy claims to be shocked as a son of Israel. "Changing sex is worse than sodomy," he declared on television. The case of Dana has been invoked in the Knesset. "Can the Jewish state be represented by a hybrid being?" Dana smiles. "Those people want to organize our lives with laws from two thousand years ago. They should leave me in peace. God doesn't belong to them. I was chosen to represent all the citizens of Israel, not the Jewish state."

A rare voice raised in her defence, that of Labour deputy Yael Dayan, daughter of the famous one-eyed general: "I can understand that the religious do not feel represented, but really in precisely what family would they recognize themselves? According to the strict interpretation of the Jewish religious tradition, they don't have the right to listen to female voices, which are considered carriers of eroticism, and they are authorized to stone homosexuals and transsexuals?"

Dana today laughs at her difference, makes people laugh with her songs, which carry no particular message. Her only message is to exist. She is the idol of a generation far from war. Her success imposes on her rules of living. Gone are the eccentricities in the club--"they'll criticize tomorrow in the papers"--to get up at 10, exercise and work. She hasn't given up her three rooms in Tel-Aviv, lives with companions of the moment, "we crash at each others' places," like eternal adolescents. From all over the world, they come to interview her. Dana is a bit taken aback by her success. The street gives her peace; she is rarely recognized, "it all depends on how I'm dressed." A cloud in this picture? Her private life, without a doubt. Dana multiplies her adventures--her bed is an arena--quite simply because no one has been able to keep her. "I would love a man to protect me, to sustain me, a man stronger than me." For the moment she attracts only phantoms and phantasms who circle around her success. So she has fun with them for a time.

All that is of no importance, she swears. What counts above all is that her father came to see her sing the night he finally decided togive up drinking. And so what if he still calls her Yaron?