Noa (singer)

Noa, born Achinoam Nini (Hebrew: אחינועם ניני‎; Aẖinóʻam Noa; born June 23, 1969), is an Israeli singer-songwriter, percussionist, poet, composer & activist[1] working internationally. She is accompanied by guitarist Gil Dor and often plays the conga drums as she sings.[2] Noa represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 together with singer Mira Awad, with the song "There Must Be Another Way". Her music is known to fuse languages and styles. She has performed in 52 countries and was the first Israeli artist to perform in the Vatican.

Achinoam Nini
Background information
Also known asNoa
Born (1969-06-23) June 23, 1969
OriginTel Aviv, Israel
GenresPop, world, Hebrew, jazz, blues
Occupation(s)Singer
Years active1990–present
LabelsNMC, Geffen Records, Universal Records
Associated actsPat Metheny
Websitenoasmusic.com

Biography

Noa was born in Bat Yam, Israel, to a Yemenite Jewish family, and moved to New York City at the age of two.[3] She attended SAR Academy and Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Upper School of Ramaz High School, remaining in New York until her return to Israel alone at the age of 16.[4]

She completed her mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces performing with a military entertainment troupe.[5] After her release she studied music at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat Hasharon, where she met her long-time partner and collaborator Gil Dor, then a faculty member of the school.[6]

Noa is married to Asher Barak, a pediatrician. They have three children.[7]

Music career

Noa has performed in a variety of locations around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, Olympia in Paris, Rome's Colosseum, The Barbican in London, Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley, California, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, the Stockholm Water Festival in Sweden and Palau de la Música Catalana in Bareclona.

Noa and Gil Dor at the Bardentreffen festival 2014

Noa has recorded songs in Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Italian, Neapolitan, Sardinian, Spanish, Galician, and Yemenite Hebrew. Noa and Gil Dor have had various ensembles since their early days as an acoustic duet. Noa and Dor's ensembles vary from album to album, ranging from collaborations with musicians such as: Zohar Fresco, Steve Rodby, Solis String Quartet, Hila Carni and symphonic orchestras around the world. Noa's music is influenced by the singer-songwriters of the 60s such as Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and James Taylor. These musical and lyrical sensibilities, combined with Noa's Yemenite roots and Dor's background in jazz, classical, country and rock, have created Noa and Dor's unique sound audible through hundreds of songs written and performed by the duo. Noa plays percussion, guitar and piano.

Achinoam Noa performing at the opening of the Peres Institute for Peace

In 1994, Noa performed the English version of Ave Maria for a live audience of 100,000 and a TV audience of millions at the closing event of the International Year of the Family at the Vatican, Rome, Italy, witnessed by Pope John Paul II.

Noa and Dor have performed on numerous occasions with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. They recorded an album during a live performance at Tel Aviv's Mann Auditorium in 1997. Over the years they have collaborated with symphonic orchestras from Lille, Messina, Parma, Murcia, and Florence. In September 2003, Noa performed a song entitled L'isola della Luce (after the Greek island on which it was performed) which was written by Nicola Piovani especially for her. The work was commissioned by the Cultural Olympics Committee in Athens. In May 2004, the duo performed with the Israeli rhythm and dance troupe Mayumana between the two final games of the Euroleague basketball championship.

Together with Arab-Israeli singer Mira Awad, Noa represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Their song "There Must Be Another Way" qualified for the first semi-final but eventually finished in 16th place.[8]

Awards and recognition
  • In 1998 Noa won the "Crystal Award" by the "World Economic Forum" in Davos, Switzerland, where she performed together with Palestinian artists and participated in numerous panels dealing with peace in the Middle East and the role of art and artists towards bringing it about.[9]
  • In 2000, the mayor of Melpignano, Italy, awarded honorary citizenship to Noa and Nabil Salameh (a Palestinian singer songwriter) for their activity for peace.
  • In 2003 Noa was nominated Israel’s first “Goodwill Ambassador” for FAO, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization.[10]
  • On April 3, 2005, Noa became the first woman to receive the medal of the "Galileo Galilei" order from the "Grand Orient", the Italian arm of the Freemasons.
  • On August 7, 2005, Noa received the "Gemona Seminar" prize for artistic excellence and her contribution to peace and understanding.
  • In 2006, Noa won the "Critics' Award" at the 56th Sanremo Music Festival in Italy, appearing with the Solis String Quartet[11] and Carlo Fava.[12]
  • In 2008, Noa was became a "Cavaliera de la republica" - Knight of the Italian republic.
  • In 2018, she was honored with the title "Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" - Commander of the order of merit of the Italian republic.[13]
  • In 2018, Noa was also named "Pellegrino de Pace", Pilgrim of Peace, Assisi. [14]
  • In 2019, Noa was awarded the Shulamit Aloni Lifetime Achievement Award. [15]

Soundtracks

In 1998, Noa recorded the part of Esmeralda in French for the original soundtrack of the multi-Platinum selling "Notre Dame de Paris", but did not play the role in the musical. Her song "Babel", written in English, French and Hebrew as theme song for the Gerard Pullicino movie of the same name, topped the charts in France the following year.

Noa collaborated with French composer Éric Serra on two songs: one for the film The Experience of Love from the James Bond film GoldenEye, and the song "My Heart Is Calling" from the Luc Besson film The Messenger.

In 2000, Noa recorded the theme song "La vita è bella" of the film "Life Is Beautiful", Roberto Benigni's Oscar award-winning film. Noa also wrote the lyrics to the song now titled "Beautiful That Way", together with Dor. The song was recorded and released with the album Blue Touches Blue, and also appears on the soundtrack to the film as well as on her album Noa Gold in two versions.

Duets and collaborations

Noa and Dor have collaborated with Khaled from Algeria, Nabil Salameh, of Palestinian origin, born in Lebanon, Handallah from Nablus, Rim Banna from Nazareth, Amal Murkus from Kfar Yasif, and Mira Awad from Kfar Raameh.

In May 2002, she took part in a concert at the Rome Colosseum, under the banner of "Time for Life – A Tribute for Peace", featuring Ray Charles, Mercedes Sosa, Khaled, Nicola Piovani, and artists from Afghanistan, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Africa and Ireland. In May 2004, she performed in We Are the Future: a globally telecast fund raising concert for children in conflict areas. On July 2, 2005 she performed in Bono and Bob Geldof's Live 8 concert in Rome's Circo Massimo.[16] In September 2005, she performed at the Ambrosetti Forum which took place in Villa d'Este, Como, Italy, in the presence of Shimon Peres, Saeb Erekat and Amr Moussa. In November 2010, Noa and Mira Awad performed at the closing concert of the Science for Peace event hosted by the Fondazione Umberto Veronesi at the Bocconi University of Milan, Italy.

FAO ambassador

In October 2003, Noa was named Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.[7]

Political views

Though Noa claimed "she has paid a price in Israel for 'being outspoken about peace and expressing left-wing political views'" [17], she has performed at Israel's Independence Day celebrations in London[18] and Vancouver.[19] She is also an outspoken opponent of the BDS movement, noting that she herself has been "a victim of its hypocritical and harmful activity."[20]

Discography

Noa and Gil have written and produced three albums: Achinoam Noa and Gil Dor Live, Achinoam Noa and Gil Dor (also known as Rachel and Leah), and Achinoam Noa. Their five international albums are Noa (produced by Pat Metheny) and Calling (produced by Rupert Hine) for Geffen Records, Blue Touches Blue (produced by Mike Hedges) for Mercury Records, Now (produced by Gil Dor & Yoad Nevo) and Genes & Jeans (produced by Gil Dor) for Universal Music. In addition, Noa recorded a live album with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and a live CD and DVD with The Solis String Quartet.

Studio albums
  • Achinoam Noa and Gil Dor (September 1993)
  • Noa (March 1994)
  • Calling (May 1996)
  • Achinoam Noa (April 1997)
  • Blue Touches Blue (March 2000)
  • Now (September 2002)
  • Genes & Jeans (April 2008)
  • Noapolis – Noa Sings Napoli (February 2011)
  • The Israeli Songbook (March 2011)
  • Love Medicine (2015)
  • Letters to Bach (2019)

Live albums
  • Achinoam Noa and Gil Dor Live (July 1991)
  • Achinoam Noa & the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (April 1998)
  • Noa Live – DVD/Double CD with the Solis Quartet (October 2005)
  • Napoli-Tel Aviv (September 2006)

Compilations and other albums
  • First Collection (March 2001)
  • Noa Gold (October 2003)
  • There Must Be Another Way – with Mira Awad (2009)

Singles
  • Mishaela (Be'eineiha) (1992)
  • Uri (Akara) (1992)
  • He (Boi Kala) (1993)
  • Nocturno (Keren Or) (1993)
  • I Don't Know (1994)
  • Ave Maria (1994)
  • Wildflower (1995)
  • Child of Man (1995)
  • U.N.I (1996)
  • Too Proud (1996)
  • Lama (1996)
  • Mark of Cain (1996)
  • By the Light of the Moon (1996)
  • Vivre (1997)
  • Nanua (1997)
  • Mushrooms (Pitriot) (1997)
  • But Love (Aval Ahava) (1997)
  • Babel (1999)
  • One Becomes Two (1999)
  • Beautiful That Way (2000)
  • If I Give You Everything (2000)
  • The Beauty of That (2000)
  • Again and Again (Otra Vez) (2001)
  • Eye in the Sky (2002)
  • We (2002)
  • Now Forget (2003)
  • Shalom, Shalom (2003)
  • Dreamer (2008)
  • Genes & Jeans (2008)
  • There Must Be Another Way (2008)
  • Someone Out There (Yesh Ey Sham) (2011)
  • There Were Nights (Hayu Leilot) (2011)
  • Autumn Wind (Ruach Stav) (2011)
  • Lullabye (Shir Eres) (2011)
  • Nothing But a Song (2014)
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References
  1. Birchmeier, Jason. "Biography: Achinoam Nini". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  2. "A little bit of Berklee in Tel Aviv". Boston Globe. December 6, 1992. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014.
  3. "Noa's biography". Goldenland.com. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  4. optimistic about peace Archived December 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Jewish Independent, July 8, 2011.
  5. "Esra Magazine - ACHINOAM NINI ~ LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL". Web.archive.org. November 5, 2016.
  6. Nini, Achinoam, Jewish Virtual Library
  7. "Noa – still searching for another way". Israel21c.org. May 30, 2011.
  8. "Arab-Jewish singing duo go to Eurovision on sour note". jWeekly. May 7, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
  9. "WEF Previous Recipients Crystal Award" (PDF). Weforum.org.
  10. "The FAO Ambassadors". The FAO Ambassadors.
  11. "Bio". Solis.it. April 20, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  12. "Carlo Fava: official website". Carlofava.it. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  13. informatici, Segretariato generale della Presidenza della Repubblica-Servizio sistemi. "Il Presidente Mattarella ha ricevuto Noa". Quirinale.it (in Italian). Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  14. "Consegnato a Noa il premio Pellegrino di Pace nel Santuario Spogliazione". Assisioggi.it (in Italian). December 22, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  15. "Prize Winners | Shulamit Aloni Prize". Shulamit-aloni-prize.org. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  16. "Noa biography". Noasmusic.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  17. "Singer Achinoam Nini says she was threatened at airport, called 'Israel-hater'". www.haaretz.com. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  18. "DEATH THREATS FORCE ARAB ISRAELI EUROVISION SINGER TO CANCEL LONDON APPEARANCE AT ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE DAY SHOW". Zionistfederation.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  19. "Israel to Fund Achinoam Nini's Show in Canada After JNF Pulls Out Over BDS Claims". Haaretz.com. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  20. Jane Eisner, Why Accuse Israeli Singer Noa of Backing BDS, When She Rejects It Outright?, Jewish Daily Forward, February 22, 2016
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Bo'az
with The Fire in Your Eyes		 Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
(with Mira Awad)
2009		 Succeeded by
Harel Ska’at
with Milim
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