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Dear friends,
I will be representing Israel in the Eurovision song
contest in May, together with my good friend Mira Awad.
I had been offered this position in the past and
refused. This year I agreed, with the goal of using
this huge media platform (many millions of viewers) as
a means to convey a message of peace in these
difficult times, together with my friend Mira .We will
perform the song "There Must Be Another Way"
together, in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. With a
message such as this, and artistic freedom, I am proud
to represent Israel in the Eurovision. Mira and I want
to convey a message of peace and dialogue during these
difficult times, to show that co-existence is STILL an
option, our only one! Our friendship is living proof
of this.
Sending
you all my best wishes, shalom and saalam,
About
Noa
Known in Israel by her
given name Achinoam Nini, Noa is Israel's leading
international concert and recording artist. Born in
Tel- Aviv in 1969, Noa lived in NYC from age 2 until
her return to Israel alone at the age of 17. Her
family is originally from Yemen. After serving the
mandatory two years in the Israeli Army in a military
entertainment unit, Noa studied music at the Rimon
School where she met her long-time partner and
collaborator Gil Dor.
Noa's strongest influences come from the singer-songwriters
of the 60s, like Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell
and Leonard Cohen. These musical and lyrical
sensibilities, combined with Noa's Yemenite roots and
Gil Dor's strong background in Jazz, Classical and
Rock, have created Noa and Gil's unique sound,
manifested in hundreds of songs written and performed
together. Noa plays percussion, guitar and piano. She
is married to Dr. Asher Barak, they have two
children, Ayehli and Enea, and live in
Israel.
Over the span of their
19
year career together, Gil and Noa have written and
produced 4 hugely successful Israeli albums: "Achinoam
Nini and Gil Dor Live", "Achinoam
Nini and Gil Dor" (also known as "Rachel
and Leah"), and "Achinoam Nini".
Their 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) for Universal
Music and "Genes & Jeans" (2008.
Universal). In addition, Noa has recorded a live album
with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and a
live cd and dvd with The Solis String
Quartet. Their latest release in Israel is a
collection of Neapolitan songs translated into Hebrew,
and performed together with the Solis string quartet,
named Napoli-Tel Aviv. There are also various
compilations available. The songwriting duo have sold
over a million and a half copies of their current
catalogue.
Noa, Gil
& Sting.
Noa has toured and sang
with rock superstar Sting, performed her song "Child
of man" with Stevie Wonder for a CBS TV
special in the US, and shared the stage and microphone
with many great artists, including Carlos Santana,
Sheryl Crow, George Benson, Jhonny Clegg, Zucchero,
Peter Maffay, Pino Daniele, Rita Marcotulli, Massimo
Ranieri, Carlo Fava, Florent Pagny, Jean Jaques
Goldman, Lokua Kanza, Jorge Drexler, Joan Manuel
Serrat, Miguel Bose, Donovan, Maurane, Eric Serra,
Pascal Obispoe, Patrique Bruel, Mike Manieri, Al
Dimeola and Bustan Avraham....
Noa
&
Massimo Ranieri
Noa
&
Joan Manuel Serrat
Noa
&
Miguel Bose
Some
Concert Highlights :
Noa has performed in "Carnegie Hall' and "AveryFisher Hall' in NYC, "Olympia'
in Paris, Rome's "Colloseum", "The Barbican' in London,
"Zellerbach Auditorim" in San Francisco, the 'Ravinia Festival" in
Chicago, the "Montreaux Jazz Festival" and 'PaleoMusic Festival" in Switzerland, "Palau
de la Musica" in Barcelona, the "North Sea Jazz Festival'
and Carre Auditorium in Holland and the 'Water Festival"
in Stockholm, as well as numerous successful tours of major venues and
festivals throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Brazil and Japan.
Noa was the first Israeli Artist formally invited to perform in Morocco.
Her appearance in the Sacred Music Festival in Fez lead to a 15 minute
special on her as part of CNN's popular music program, "World Beat".
In 1994 Noa performed her version of "Ave Maria" for a live audience of
100,000 and a TV audience of millions at the culmination event of the
"Year of the Family" at the Vatican, witnessed by Pope John
Paul II. She performed during the Jubilee in the year 2000, before
the Pope and an audience of 500,000 students, together with Alanis
Morissette, Lou Reed, Gerarad Depardieu, Dave Stewart and Andrea
Bocelli. Following these performances, Noa was invited to
participate in two of the annual Christmas concerts at the Vatican,
sharing the stage with artists like Dionne Warwick, Mick Hucknell,
The Corrs, Lionel Richie and Deedee Bridgewater. When Pope John Paul II passed away, Noa
was invited to Rome to sing on the Italian television's main broadcast
in his memory.
Noa and Gil have performed on numerous occasions with the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra. They recorded an album with them during a
live performance at Tel Aviv's prestigious "Mann Auditorium" in 1997, then in
January ,1998 they played a concert for 20,000 people in Philadelphia's
"Corestates Arena" with the Israel
Philharmonic and the Philadelphia
Philharmonic together conducted by Zubin Mehta. Maestro
Mehta also conducted a gala concert for the "Weizman Institute
of Science" with Noa and the I.P.O. which took place at the
"Sorbonne" in Paris in May
2003. Over the years their symphonic projects have multiplied,
including concerts with Symphony Orchestras from Lille, Messina, Parma
and Murcia, an exciting evening in the "Piazza
de la Signoria" in Florence with the Firenze Symphony in front of 18,000
people in 2005, and a concert with the Israel
Philharmonic in Israel's "Yarkon
Park" in front of an audience of 100,000, also in the summer of
2005. All of these events were conducted by Ilan Mochiach who
also arranged Noa and Gil's songs for orchestra.
In September 2003 Noa performed a vocal work entitled: "L'isola de
la Luce" (named after the Greek island on which it was performed)
written by Nicola Piovani especially for her voice. The work
was commissioned by the "Cultural Olympics Committee" in Athens.
Noa,
Gil & Mayumana in Israel. May 2004. (This
performance was held during Noa's 6th month of
pregnancy)
On May 1st, 2004, Noa and Gil, together with the successful Israeli
group "Mayumana", gave an amazing joint performance between the
two final games of the Euro-league basketball championship,
broadcast to millions of television viewers around the world.
2005 saw Noa
competing in the famous San
Remo
festival together with singer-songwriter Carlo Fava,
and
winning the illustrious Critics Award for her performance. In
2006 Noa was
the recipient of one of
the most coveted awards in Italy
for singer-songwriters, the Luigi Tenco Award, for her career
achievements.
Singing
for Peace / The Human Connection
Noa and Gil have
collaborated frequently with Arab and Palestinian
artists from around the world, including Khaled
from Algeria, Nabil Salameh from Lebanon,
Handallah from Nablus , Rim Banna from Nazareth,
Amal Murkus from Kfar Yasif, and Mira Awad
from Kfar Raameh. These collaborations enable the duo
to express, musically, their belief in the power of
communication and dialogue as a means of promoting
peace and understanding.
Interview
with Noa & the palestine singer Mira Awad
recording the Beatles hit "We can work it
out", a duet included on Noa's album Now
(2002). This is part of a special from dutch
television show "2Vandaag"
Noa,
Khaled & Ketama
Noa
& Mira Awad
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 Yitchak 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.
P
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 and collaborated on numerous occasions
with the "Peres Center for Peace".
In February 1999 Noa appeared together with Steven
Spielberg for the Shoah foundation in Berlin. That
same month, she 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. 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.
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 Colloseum", 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
Aghanistan, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Africa and Ireland.
Thousands watched the concert on giant video screens.
On October16, 2003, Noa was nominated "good will
ambassador" for FAO
(the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations). In a ceremony
which took place in Rome she joined ambassador-celebrities
like Roberto Baggio, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Debbie
Ferguson, Gilberto Gil, Gina Lollobrigida, Yousou
N'Dour, Khaled and Dionne Warwick.
In May 2004 Noa 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 and hosted
by the mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni, featured
an international line-up of stars and performers such
as Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Chris Tucker,
Naomi Campbell and Serena Williams, Patti Austin,
Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Carmen
Consoli, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Stomp, Take 6,
Angelique Kidjo and others. The concert was
performed live in front 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. (this performance was held during Noa's 6th
month of pregnancy!)
On April 3rd, 2005 Noa became the first woman to
receive the "Galileo Galilei" order medal
from the "Grand Orient", the Italian arm
of the Free Masons Oranization.
On July 2nd 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
On August 7th Noa received the prestigious "Gemona
Seminar" prize for artistic excellence and
her contribution to peace and understanding. In
September, she performed at the "Ambrosetti
Forum" which took place in Villa d'Este,
Como, Italy, before distinguished participants such as
Shimon Peres, Saeb Arekat and Amer Mussa. She
took advantage of this stage, as she has many times
before, to express her belief in the importance of
dialogue and the need for vision-driven, self-less
leadership.
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). This is the highest honor Italy has to give.
Singing for Film and Theater :
In 1998, Noa recorded the
part of Esmerelda in French for the original soundtrack of the multi-Platinum selling "Notre Dame de Paris". Her song 'Babel',
written in English, French and Hebrew as theme song for the Gerarad
Pullicino movie of the same name, topped the charts in France the
following year.
Noa collaborated with French composer Eric Serra on two songs
for film: 'the experience of love' from the James Bond film 'Goldeneye',
and the song 'my heart calling' from the Luc Besson film "Joan
of Arc".
Noa and Gil were asked to write lyrics for Nicola
Piovani's musical theme for Roberto Benigni's Oscar award
winning movie: "Life Is Beautiful". The song was recorded and
released with the album "Blue Touches Blue", and became a huge
hit for the song-writing duo.
In July 2004, During Noa's 8th month of pregnancy with her daughter
Enea, Noa and Gil, together with Palestinian singer Rim Banna,
wrote and recorded the theme song for the animated film "Pace of
Peace". http://www.paceofpeace.com
The short film, a joint project of Israeli and Palestinian high-school
students, was awarded special notice in the 2005 Venice
Film Festival.
Noa
& Mira Awad: Eurovision 2009. "There Must Be Another Way"
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