Shir & Tim

Shir & Tim

Auditions to find Israel's representative in the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest were held in October. Participants were scouted from various youth groups, competitions and stage schools. Shira Frieman and TimoTi Sannikov were selected to represent Israel as a duo, Shir & Tim.

Shira is 13 years old and goes to school in Galilee. She likes singing, dancing and acting and took a film course as a young girl. She also performed at family events as a young girl. Shira also plays the saxophone and enjoys dancing to jazz music.

A year ago Shira participated in the third season of Israel’s prime time TV singing competition for children, Music School, where she worked with various singers and composers, and played with some of Israel’s best musicians. "While participating in the show I learned I am able to face even difficult challenges, and always stick to what I think is true" she says.

Shira has participated in stage productions such as Musical Festival in Bat-Yam, tribute shows to the late Ofra Haza and Uzi Chitman, and the Ladino Festival. Shira also gives her voice to dubbing work, such as the Hebrew version of Disney’s Finding Dory. Shira especially loves Israeli music and enjoys listening to classics such as Hava Alberstein, Arik Einstein and Shlomi Shabat. "I actually don’t know what I’ll do when I grow up, but I’m sure music will always be part of me".

Tim is also 13 years old and comes from Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. In addition to Hebrew and French, he speaks Russian and English and can sing in 8 different languages.

From a very young age, TimoTi has been learning to play the piano and the organ. He writes and composes songs and has taken professional singing lessons since the age of 7. He also takes dance classes in various genres including classic, freestyle and tap dancing.

TimoTi has participated in various local performances and competitions in the past few years such as Being A Star and Family Performance on Channel 24 and international competitions such New Wave Junior, Slavic Bazaar and other international festivals in Italy, France, Czech Republic and Latvia.

TimoTi is part of the live team of the third season of Ukraine's The Voice Kids. As of June 2016, TimoTi is part of the cast of the Israeli rendition of the musical Billy Elliot. He plays the character of Billy’s best friend, Michael. The rehearsals took about 10 months, and the show is a huge commercial hit in Israel.

Besides the performing arts, TimoTi enjoys playing soccer, swimming, climbing walls and going on family trips. "Most of all I love to sing and dance, be on stage and entertain the crowd in front of me".

Shir & Tim will participate in the the Junior Eurovision stage with an original song written especially for them acclaimed songwriter Noam Horev (who also wrote the lyrics for Israel’s entry to Eurovision Song Contest 2010) and the composer Dor Daniel who will also be in charge of musical production.