Biography
Noa, born Achinoam Nini in Tel-Aviv in 1969 to parents of Yemeni descent, ranked among Israel's most globally recognized vocalists near the millennium's close. She spent her childhood in New York from age two through seventeen before returning to her birthplace. Following the required two-year term in the military, she enrolled at the Rimon School of music and formed a close association with multi-instrumentalist Gil Dor, whose command of guitar, piano, and percussion would anchor their enduring partnership.
Shaped by the songwriting of Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen, Noa issued her first recordings with Dor: the 1991 concert set Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor Live and the studio follow-up Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor in 1993. Her third project, the 1994 album Noa, marked her initial worldwide distribution; Geffen Records issued the collection, which Pat Metheny produced in New York after Dor's introduction, featuring English lyrics alongside acoustic bass from Steve Rodby and piano from Lyle Mays, both of the Pat Metheny Group. Calling, released in 1996 and also handled by Geffen, was produced by Rupert Hine and likewise delivered chiefly in English; unlike earlier work, the record carried an overt political charge rooted in the shock of Yitzchak Rabin's assassination on November 4, 1995, at a large peace demonstration in Tel-Aviv where Noa and Dor had appeared.
After Calling received uneven responses, she returned to Hebrew with the self-written Achinoam Nini in 1997 and followed it with the orchestral live document Achinoam Nini & the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998. Blue Touches Blue, issued internationally in 2000 and self-described by the artist as her defining statement, paired her with producer Mike Hedges, whose résumé included U2, Manic Street Preachers, the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Lush. Now, another global release from 2002, emerged as a more personal effort composed during her first pregnancy and produced by Dor alongside Yoad Nevo. Two projects with Naples's Solis String Quartet—Noa Live in 2005 and Napoli-Tel Aviv in 2006—preceded Genes & Jeans in 2008, another Dor collaboration that revisited the Yemeni melodies of her childhood.
Shaped by the songwriting of Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen, Noa issued her first recordings with Dor: the 1991 concert set Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor Live and the studio follow-up Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor in 1993. Her third project, the 1994 album Noa, marked her initial worldwide distribution; Geffen Records issued the collection, which Pat Metheny produced in New York after Dor's introduction, featuring English lyrics alongside acoustic bass from Steve Rodby and piano from Lyle Mays, both of the Pat Metheny Group. Calling, released in 1996 and also handled by Geffen, was produced by Rupert Hine and likewise delivered chiefly in English; unlike earlier work, the record carried an overt political charge rooted in the shock of Yitzchak Rabin's assassination on November 4, 1995, at a large peace demonstration in Tel-Aviv where Noa and Dor had appeared.
After Calling received uneven responses, she returned to Hebrew with the self-written Achinoam Nini in 1997 and followed it with the orchestral live document Achinoam Nini & the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998. Blue Touches Blue, issued internationally in 2000 and self-described by the artist as her defining statement, paired her with producer Mike Hedges, whose résumé included U2, Manic Street Preachers, the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Lush. Now, another global release from 2002, emerged as a more personal effort composed during her first pregnancy and produced by Dor alongside Yoad Nevo. Two projects with Naples's Solis String Quartet—Noa Live in 2005 and Napoli-Tel Aviv in 2006—preceded Genes & Jeans in 2008, another Dor collaboration that revisited the Yemeni melodies of her childhood.
Albums
Singles