Achinoam Nini

Achinoam Nini
Achinoam Nini
	Achinoam Nini (Noa) 2018
Background information
Birth name	Achinoam Nini
Also known as	Noa
Born	June 23, 1969 (age 55)
Origin	Tel Aviv, Israel
Genres	Pop, world, Hebrew, jazz, blues
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1990–present
Labels	NMC, Geffen Records, Universal Records
Associated acts	Pat Metheny
Website	Official website

With roots and upbringing spanning Yemen, Israel and the United States, Achinoam Nini aka Noa is a singer, songwriter, poet, composer and percussionist, speaker, activist and a mother of three children.

Together with her longstanding musical collaborator Gil Dor, accomplished musician and co-founder of the Rimon School of music, Noa has released 15 international albums and graced many of the world’s most important and prestigious stages like Carnegie hall and the White House, and has performed for 3 Popes. She has been mentored by Pat Metheny and Quincy Jones, and shared the stage with legends such as Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli and Sting. In addition to her prolific musical activity, Noa is considered Israel’s most prominent cultural advocate of peace, her “Voice of Peace”.

Biography[edit]

Achinoam Nini (Hebrew: אחינועם ניני; Aẖinóʻam Nini; known outside Israel as Noa), was born in Bat Yam, Israel, On June 23, 1969, to a Yemenite Jewish family, and moved to New York City at the age of two.

She attended SAR Academy and Ramaz High School, remaining in New York until her return to Israel alone at the age of 16 for love.

She completed her mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces performing with a military entertainment troupe. 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, co-founder and academic director of the school.

Noa is married to Dr. Asher Barak (The original love for whom she returned to Israel at age 16) , a pediatric pulmonologist. They have three children – Ayehli, Enea and Yum.

Music career[edit]

Noa started writing poems and putting them to music at age 8. Her strongest influences come from the singer-songwriters of the 60s, like Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. These musical and lyrical sensibilities, combining traditional Yemenite music, Jazz, folk, classical and rock influences, have created Noa and Gil’s unique sound, manifested in hundreds of songs written and performed together. Noa plays percussion, guitar and piano.

During her career that spans over 28 years, Noa’s extraordinary vocal range, versatility and creativity have brought her from stadiums to clubs, arenas to underground venues, classical concert halls to experimental dives.

She has performed in 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, and the Stockholm Water Festival in Sweden to name a few, and has done numerous successful tours in major venues and festivals throughout Europe, North and South America, and the Far East.

Noa writes in English and Hebrew but has performed in Arabic, Italian, French, Spanish, Catalan, German, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese.

Gil Dor[edit]

Gil Dor is Noa’ musical and artistic director as well as co-writer arranger, producer and guitarist. Born 1952 in Israel Gil Studied classical guitar, served in the Israeli Army as a musician in an entertainment unit 1971-1974, and continued his studies in the U.S.A concentrating on jazz at Berklee College in Boston and on classical theory and composition at Queens College in NY.

Upon returning to Israel in 1981 Gil established himself as a guitarist as well as an arranger/composer performing live jazz and rock and recording with leading artists in Israel. During 1983 & 1984 he taught jazz improvisation and guitar at the “Jerusalem Academy of Music”. In 1985 Gil co-founded the “Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music” in Ramat Hasharon, Israel. In his capacity as “Rimon” academic director for 5 years, Gil developed and wrote many core curriculum as well as advanced courses. He has performed in jazz festivals in Israel and Europe ith his own ensembles and together with Al DiMeola. Since 1990 he has been working exclusively with Noa.

Duets and collaborations[edit]

Noa first international album was produced by Pat Metheny. Quincy Jones has been her mentor for almost two decades, and is the executive producer of her recent release “Letters to Bach” . Noa has toured and sang with rock superstar Sting, performed her song “Child of man” with Stevie Wonder , and shared the stage and microphone with many great artists, including:

United states[edit]

Carlos Santana, Sheryl Crow, George Benson, Al Dimeola, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, Mike Manieri, Dee Dee Bridgewater

Italy[edit]

The Solis String Quartet, Nicola Piovanni, Zucchero, , Pino Daniele, Rita Marcotulli, Massimo Ranieri, Carlo Fava, Sarda

France[edit]

Charles Aznavour ,Florent Pagny, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Lokua Kanza, Maurane, Eric Serra, Pascal Obispo, I Muvrini

Spain[edit]

Joan Manuel Serrat, Joaquin Sabina, Miguel Bose, Jorge Drexler, Pasion Vega

Germany[edit]

Peter Maffay

The Middle East[edit]

Khaled, Mira Awad, Nabil Salameh and RadioDervish, Bustan Avraham, and many more!

Other…[edit]

Anna Maria Jopek, Johnny Clegg , Bea Palya and Ha Hui (China)

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

· Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor (1993)

· Noa (1994)

· Calling (1996)

· Achinoam Nini (1997)

· Blue Touches Blue (2000)

· Now (2002)

· Noapolis - Noa Sings Napoli (2005)

· Napoli-Tel Aviv (2005)

· Genes & Jeans (2008)

· There Must Be Another Way - with Mira Awad (2009)

· The Israeli Songbook (2011)

· Love Medicine (2015)

· Letters to Bach (2019)

Live albums[edit]

· Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor Live (1991)

· Achinoam Nini & the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (1998)

· Noa Live - DVD/Double CD with the Solis Quartet (2005)

Compilations & other albums[edit]

· First Collection (2001)

· Noa Gold (2003)

· Classic Noa (2012)

Singing for Film and Theatre[edit]

In 1998, Noa recorded the part of Esmeralda in French for the original soundtrack of the multi-Platinum selling musical "Notre Dame de Paris", but did not play the role on stage. 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 for film:

"My Heart Calling" from the Luc Besson film "The Messenger" (The story of Joan of Arc, with Milla Jovovich)" – Noa wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals.

“The Experience of Love" from the James Bond film “GoldenEye”, - Noa recorded vocals together with Serra.

In 2000, Noa recorded the theme song for Roberto Benigni’s award winning film "La vita è Bella", entitled “Beautiful that way”, for which she also wrote the lyrics, In English and Hebrew, together with Gil Dor. The song was recorded and released with the album Blue Touches Blue, and also appears on the soundtrack of the DVD as well as on her album Noa Gold in two versions.

Ambassador of Peace[edit]

On Nov. 4th, 1995, Noa was on stage performing for an audience of 50,000 at the historic peace rally in Tel-Aviv just minutes before the late Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. She was the first and only major Israeli artist who agreed to have her name posted on the billboards calling for participation in this fateful rally.

The horrible murder of Yitzhak Rabin, which took place minutes after Noa finished her performance and embraced the prime minister, devastated Noa and changed her life. It was on that day she decided to dedicate much of her time and energy to speaking out for peace and encouraging dialogue, standing up for the underprivileged and being an active human rights advocate. She has done so ever since, as an inspiring speaker and performer, through musical collaborations, attendance at demonstrations, articles, blogs, posts and interviews, and extensive volunteer work. Noa is Israel’s most outspoken and courageous cultural advocate for peace, a true “Voice of Peace”, a role which has led her to the most wonderful, and challenging, moments of her life. Noa has raised a clear voice for peace for more than two decades, undeterred by fear, incitement against her and threats to her life.

Noa has collaborated frequently with Arab and Palestinian artists from around the world, including Khaled , Nabil Salameh , Rim Banna, Amal Murkus and Mira Awad. Together with Awad, Noa represented Israel in the 2009 Eurovision song contest, singing her self-penned “There must be another way” in English Hebrew and Arabic. The performance had a huge international impact, and was covered by Al Jazeera, CNN, the BBC and the New York Times, amongst others.

Noa supports numerous organizations working for peace and dialogue in Israel. She is on the Board of The New Israel Fund, supporting hundreds of organizations working for equality and human rights in Israel, and of the Umm El Fahem art gallery, directed by her close friend Said Abu Shakra. She is on the public board of the Polyphony Foundation in Nazareth, which educates Arabs and Jewish Israeli youth in classical music. She supports Bridge over the Wadi, an Arab-Jewish bi-lingual chain of schools throughout Israel, and Kids Creating Peace in Neve Shalom. She supports Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle, having been one of the very few Israeli artists to agree to sing in their annual joint Jewish/Arab memorial day service.

Noa refused to receive a prestigious award when it became known that at the same ceremony, a life-time achievement award would be given to an artist who has used his art in the service of racist views and incitement against Arabs, a man who has expressed support for the murderer Baruch Goldstein (who shot Muslims in the back during prayer) and Yigal Amir, the murderer of Yitzchak Rabin. Her refusal was widely criticized by the artistic community, who sought to “separate politics from art”, but Noa remained steadfast in her belief that elevating an artist with such racist views to “cultural hero” status, as reflected by this particular award, is in effect normalizing his views and statements, and that the role of any society, and especially its artists, is to do exactly the opposite.

In March 1999 Noa sang for President Clinton at the White House in the event held by the “Yitzhak Rabin Foundation” honoring the late Rabin’s 77th birthday. She was also invited to sing in Oslo for the anniversary of the Peace accord signed there, before an audience that included President Clinton, Ehud Barak, Yasser Arafat and the King of Norway. Noa was awarded the “Dove of Peace” by Nobel-peace prize laureate Shimon Peres, and has performed on numerous occasions for the “Peres Center for Peace”.

Noa was honored with the “Crystal Award” by the “World Economic Forum” in Davos, Switzerland, where she has performed together with Palestinian artists and participated in numerous panels dealing with peace in the Middle East and the role of art and artists in possibly bringing it about. She was also named a “Global Leader of Tomorrow”. In 2001 Noa was again invited to participate in the WEF in NY, where she had the honor of performing in a star-studded gala evening produced by Phil Ramone and Quincy Jones, featuring artists such as Bono, Peter Gabriel, Lauryn Hill, India Arie and many others. In this special concert she performed John Lennon’s immortal “Imagine” together with the Algerian singer Khaled, in Hebrew, English and Arabic. This song became an international hit.

In 2000, the Mayor of Melpignano awarded Noa and Nabil Salameh, Lebanese singer songwriter of the group “RadioDervish”, honorary citizenship for their activity for peace. Two years later year, Nabil dedicated one of the group’s albums to Noa’s son, Ayehli.

In May 2002, Noa took part in the first-ever concert at the “Rome Colosseum”, under the banner of “Time for Life- A Tribute for Peace”. The event featured Ray Charles, Mercedes Sousa, Khaled, Nicola Piovani, and various artists from Afghanistan, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Africa and Ireland. Thousands watched the concert on giant video screens.

On October16, 2003, Noa was nominated Israel’s first “Goodwill Ambassador” for FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

In May 2004 Noa and Mira Awad performed in “We Are the Future”: a globally telecast fund raising concert for children in conflict areas. The event, which was produced by Quincy Jones for of an audience of 350,000 in Rome’s “Circo Massimo”, and broadcast on MTV, VH1 and various other channels to millions more around the world, featured an international line-up of stars and performers such as Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Herbie Hancock and many more (this performance was held during Noa’s 6th month of pregnancy!)

Noa performed in Bono and Sir Bob Geldof’s “Live 8” concert in front of hundreds of thousands of people that filled Rome’s Circo Massimo and millions of TV viewers across the world. The concert’s aim was to put pressure on the world’s leading nations to erase third world debts. The Rome line up included: Duran Duran, Faith Hill, Lorenzo (Jovanotti), Nek, Pino Daniele, Antonello Venditti, Claudio Baglioni, Tim McGraw, Velvet and many others

In June 2006, the Italian Ambassador to Israel notified Noa that the President of the Italian Republic, President Neapolitano, has decided to award her the prestigious “Stella de la Republica ”( the “Star of the Republic) with the status of “Cavalliere” (knight). in 2018, President Mattarella of Italy promoted Noa to Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, one of the highest honors Italy has to give. This happened soon after her historic performances in the Italian Parliament in December of 2017, and later in the Quirinale Palace, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In December 2018 Noa became the first Israeli to recieve the prestigious “Pilgrim of Peace” title in Assisi, an award previously given to Mikhael Gorbachov, Mother Theresa and Bill Gates.

Public Roles[edit]

Board member New Israel Fund https://www.nif.org/

Board member Hispano Judio fund https://fundacionhispanojudia.org/

Board member Umm El Fahem Gallery https://www.ummelfahemgallery.com/

Board member Polyphony of Nazareth http://polyphonyfoundation.org/

Israeli Public Council member Arava institute http://arava.org/

President Capri Film Festival http://www.caprihollywood.com/

Awards[edit]

"Crystal Award" by the "World Economic Forum" in Davos, Switzerland	1999
The first woman to receive the "Galileo Galilei" medal order from the "Grand Orient", the Italian arm of the Freemasons	2005
"Gemona Seminar" prize for artistic excellence and her contribution to peace and understanding	2005
"Critics' Award" at the 56th Sanremo Music Festival in Italy	2006
Cavaliera de la republica – Knight of the Italian republic	2008
Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana - Commander of the order of merit of the Italian republic	2018
Pellegrino de Pace – Pilgrim of Peace – Assisi	2018
Hold the keys of 30 cities throughout Europe

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Other articles of the topic Biography : List of pneumonia deaths, Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, Trippie Redd, List of Mensans, Kayden James Buchanan, MrWolfy, Icewear Vezzo
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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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