- Title: ISRAEL: Filipino caregiver surprise star of Israel's X-Factor
- Date: 13th January 2014
- Summary: FOSTANES SPEAKING TO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR FOSTANES WALKING OUTSIDE VARIOUS OF FOSTANES SITTING IN THE STAFF ROOM, TALKING TO ANOTHER ISRAELI FINALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) FILIPINO CAREGIVER AND X-FACTOR ISRAEL FINALIST, ROSE FOSTANES, SAYING: "Being in the X-Factor really changed my life because before I had a very low self-esteem and now I got a good confidence for mysel
- Embargoed: 28th January 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Arts
- Reuters ID: LVAC228JWVBJRBTB4LMKNRWXY5H2
- Story Text: She was once part of a faceless crowd of foreign workers who clean homes and tend to Israel's sick and elderly, but, in recent weeks, one Filipino caregiver has shot to stardom on a TV talent show, hoping to shine a spotlight on her community.
Belting out hit songs by the likes of pop stars Queen and Christina Aguilera, Rose Fostanes surprised Israeli viewers and swept the judges of the Israeli X-Factor off their feet with her soulful renditions and swinging beat, rocking her way to Tuesday's (January 14) live finale.
Fostanes, 47, said the show had turned her world upside down.
"Being in the X-Factor really changed my life because before I had a very low self-esteem and now I got a good confidence for myself and I got friends and people love me on the street and I got many compliments from them, good compliments," she told Reuters.
There are about 20,000 Filipinos working legally in Israel, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, with most working as cleaners and caretakers for the elderly and disabled.
So much so in fact, that in Israel the word "Filipino" is often considered synonymous with "caregiver".
Fostanes, 47, said she has been working for about 20 years across the Middle East, and came to work in Israel four years ago.
She had always wanted to be a professional singer, and the Israeli X-Factor, she said, gave her a final shot at a dream she hoped could inspire others.
"Being in this competition, I think I that I am, how do you say this, I will be a leader for them because of what I did," she said, referring to her compatriots and fellow caregivers.
"I think also they will be proud of me, and they will be - and everybody in the world will know that Filipinos, even working as a cleaner, or whatever a foreign worker can also share their talents and they can also be a part of a big event like this," she added.
At first, Fostanes said, she thought Israelis would not vote for a foreign worker and that she would be an underdog in the competition, in which viewers and a panel of judges comprised of four Israeli musicians determine at different stages which contender moves up and which gets dropped.
But, to her surprise, the votes, cast via text messages or on the show's website, kept on coming in, and have catapulted Fostanes to celebrity status in Israel.
Shiri Maimon, Fostanes' mentor on the show and herself was a finalist in a musical realty show 'A Star is Born' more than 10 years ago -- said the eventual outcome of the programme was not what people would remember about her.
"Hopefully she is going to win and if not it doesn't matter because I think she made an amazing journey here in Israel and I think the Israeli people gave her so much strength, and now she believes in herself," she told Reuters Television.
"She knows that she can be a singer, she needs to stand on a stage, to perform, that's what she needs to do and hopefully she is going to be one of the best singers in Israel," she added.
Fostanes said her dream was to win the competition, but told Reuters there were still things she needed to return to.
"But I have to go back to my work as a caregiver," Fostanes said.
Fostanes has been compared to Scottish singer Susan Boyle, 52, who shot to fame in 2009 after appearing on the TV show "Britain's Got Talent" and performing a flawless rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables."
Boyle's life story from unknown Scot to multimillion-selling recording artist has been made into a musical. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None