Singer says IDF radio biased against women

Pop singer Maya Buskila is always on the lookout for some good publicity.

Initially discovered by a pair of talent scouts at a local karaoke bar, Buskila, 37, who has the look of an older Amy Winehouse, found fame through pop music and reality TV.

There she was being drafted into the army at age 31, after avoiding it at the age of 18 when she claimed she was too religious to serve. A few years later, she starred in “Big Brother VIP,” a reality TV show that showcases 13 people living together in one house, and then in “Chai b’LaLa Land,” another reality show about singers trying for fame in Hollywood.

Now she’s making headlines with a diatribe against Galgalatz, the popular radio station operated by the Israel Defense Forces that she claims doesn’t play her music.

She told an audience in Herzliya and then said on Channel 2 that “one radio station is trying to insult me, and I’m calling on [Culture Minister] Miri Regev to get up and do something and change the method of Galgalatz that is ruining the careers of male and female singers.”

Regev has been in the news recently for controversial statements on which kinds of cultural productions should receive government funding.

In response to Buskila’s accusations, the radio station’s officials responded that it holds nothing against Buskila or her music, and that a team of 70 music editors listen to about 70 new songs each week and then decide which songs to play.

The radio station did name Buskila its Artist of the Year after her first album in 2004. While she has released singles over the last few years, Buskila hasn’t produced a full album since 2008.

Galgalatz, considered one of Israel’s top stations, reaches nearly 30 percent of Israeli radio listeners, according to market research company TGI.