The idea for the competition came from Kol Yisrael producer Israel Daliyot after seeing people celebrating Domenico Modugno's victory in the 1959 Sanremo Music Festival while on vacation in Rome.
[1] Daliyot approached the Israel Broadcasting Service, and with involvement of the Prime Minister's Office, the first festival was held as part of the 1960 Independence Day celebrations.
The festival became an annual fixture in the Independence Day celebration over the following years, although it was not held in 1962, 1962 and 1968, when it was replaced by other variety shows.
At 1976, there was another replacement festival called "The singing celebration", which worked differently; there was no competition, and the participants performed 2 songs each, one that was already known and one brand new.
Following the main competition an intermission was held during which the viewing crowd submitted its vote for the winning song, while an interval act was performed.