Noa - The Voice of Israel

Israeli singer Noa has a voice that radiates joy and enthusiasm. Her singing harmoniously blends jazz, American rock and Middle Eastern influences, transcending all cultural borders. Having performed an Ave Maria at the Vatican that moved the world, and a leading presence at numerous world music festivals, Achinoam Nini (Noa to everyone) has become, in just a few years, an acclaimed star of world music. "My parents, Israeli by birth and Yemeni by origin, moved to the United States" she recounts "when I was one year old. I lived in New York until I was 17, where I studied and had my first artistic experiences. An identity crisis and the pull of my homeland eventually drove me back to Israel. There I continued my studies, did my military service, and completed the training I'd begun at my New York high school at a jazz and classical music school in Tel Aviv, the Rimon School. I live just outside Tel Aviv and would never want to live anywhere else. When I'm not on tour, I write, produce, sing and perform". And what a body of work it is, one might add, and what strides toward success in fifteen years.

Thanks also to her collaborations with Gil Dor and American guitarist Pat Metheny, Noa has put to good use the skill and compositional imagination that her striking musical talent has lavished on her. After a collection of songs sung entirely in Hebrew, came Noa, the album that introduced her to audiences outside her own country, and Blue Touches Blue, the collection that the singer took on tour around the world.

But what lies at the root of such a distinctive voice? "I believe it's love" she says. "Not the love of sentimental pop songs, but a far broader feeling, a force that overcomes every resistance and brings serenity". Where is love found, and where does the search begin? "For me it was a discovery that came at a time when the conflict between reason and instinct had grown acute. Returning to my roots untangled that knot. At home I found a meeting point between the two, a place I can draw on when I create and sing. There I dissolved my restlessness and grasped the most beautiful richness in the world: love, precisely".

Noa conveys the sincerity of this impulse during her concerts too, with gestures and a voice that carry the warmth of a heartfelt embrace. On such foundations, marital success is guaranteed as well: "I met my husband at my New York high school, when I was fifteen. We got married eight years ago. We're often apart, but we're very happy". Noa is small and very slight, with an innocent, feline grace, and a smile full of life.

Even as a child, she recalls, music was always with her. At eight, she would chirp around the house and sing standing on the table, delighting relatives and friends. The way she communicates with listeners today has the same spontaneity as back then: "Can you feel my emotion too, my heart beating?" she jokingly asks the audience, placing a hand on her chest. And with the first song, "If I give you everything", she launches into a show that captivates the crowd.

As she sings, Noa offers up fragments of childhood memories, born in the Bronx, when she wondered whether the people wandering without a home or family were angels. She recalls that, while learning the letter W at school, she realized she could only see one V, and that she was destined to wear ever-thicker lenses. She revisits meeting Gil Dor and the now-eternal friendship they forged back in high school, and offers small observations, like the idea that a moment of pause granted to our frantic lives clears an overburdened mind and restores energy.

Her repertoire, very American at first, gradually drifts toward more Eastern melodies. And it's precisely when she immerses herself in that atmosphere, dancing and accompanying herself with percussion, tambourines and small wind instruments, that Noa is at her best. And when she then offers "Beautiful that way", the theme from Roberto Benigni's film "La vita è bella", it becomes clear that songs like this, performed with such a clear voice, are truly a gift. And a gift too is the "Shalom", peace, that Noa extends to the audience. A greeting and a wish that conveys a vision of life free of hatred and prejudice.

In 2002 came Now, a more pop-oriented album featuring a few covers ("Eye In The Sky" by Alan Parson and "We Can Work It Out" by the Beatles). Yet her social and humanitarian commitment remains, evident in tracks like "Hawk And Sparrow", featuring African artist Lokua Kanza, addressing the conflicts in the African continent, or "We", a call not to forget the value of the individual. Among the collaborations, a striking one comes from pianist Rita Marcotulli, who wrote the melody for "Today", the album's closing track.

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