Israeli Soul

Noa and Gil Dor will bring modern Israeli music
to West Bloomfield.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

N

oa is an international entertainer
with musical and political missions.
Born near Tel Aviv of Yemenite an-
cestry, raised in the United States
and now living in Israel, Achinoam
(Noa) Nini, 25, wants Jewish audi-
ences to appreciate her original songs
for themselves, not because of any
feeling toward her citizenship.
She also wants non-Jewish audi-
ences to appreciate Israel for both the
lifestyle it shares with other modern
nations and its commitment to peace.
Noa will be carrying out her two
missions during a Jan. 29-Feb 22 tour
to seven Midwest cities.
Joined by her composing and per-
forming partner, Gil Dor, she will
bring her unique style to West Bloom-
field High School at 8 p.m. Wednes-
day, Feb. 8. The performance is part
of the Jewish Community Center's
Encore series.
The duo also will present perfor-
mances and conduct workshops for
students in Detroit, Muskegon and
Ann Arbor public schools as part of
the Mid East/West Fest, a cross-cul-
tural educational program that ad-
ditionally is taking them to Illinois
and Indiana.
"The concert basically consists of
songs from three albums that Gil Dor
and I have made together," explained
Noa, whose sound connects to jazz
and classical harmonies, projects
American pop sensibilities and fea-
tures Middle Eastern elements.
"It's a very diverse show, and it in-
volves many different musical styles
that we try to bring together into one
musical expression. I sing and play
the guitar and a lot of different per-
cussions. Gil plays various guitars
and does back vocals.
`There are songs in English and in
Hebrew, and there's one song in
Yemenite, which is the language that
my grandparents speak. There also
are instrumental pieces.
"I think that for a very long time
Jewish audiences were interested in
hearing from Israeli artists only He-
brew songs or songs that reminded
them of the homeland. I don't think
it's fair to do that to a performer or
an audience because an artist has
many different sides and facets, and
I think the most important thing is
honest artistic expression."
When she appears before the chil-
dren who are part of the Mid
East/West Fest, which brought the
Tnuatron Dance Theater to the same
cities in November, Noa plans to in-

dude opportunities for
open conversation.
"We're going to talk
about where we come
from, what kind of music
we make and what kinds
of instruments we use,"
she said. "We're going to
tell them a little bit about
how we struck this off —
our point of view melodi-
cally and harmonically.
We are going to teach a
little bit of the Arab tech-
nique of playing the hand
drum.
"The great thing about
percussion is that any-
body can do it without
knowing anything about
music, language or musi-
cal influences that relate
to percussion. There's
something very earthy
and basic about it."
For both the musical
presentation and the dia-
logue, the youngsters are
being prepared by their Israeli singing star Noa.
teachers.
tertainment unit. Over two years, she
"There are people who
think Israel is really a backwoods performed hundreds of shows and de-
kind of desert country, and they know cided on hercareer.
nothing about what's really going on
In early 1990, Gil Dor was asked
there," she said. "People should know to give a concert at a jazz festival in
that Israel is a young, vital and mod- Tel Aviv and invited Noa to join him.
ern country with a lot of hip music She was then a student at the Rimon
just like so many other places in the School of Contemporary Music, which
he co- founded.
world.
"It's not terror-infested. It is diffi-
The duo's first album, "Achinoam
cult to live there, but it also is beau- Nini and Gil Dor Live in Concert,"
was certified gold in Israel, and they
tiful and wonderful to live there."
Noa's family left for America when recorded a second, "Achinoam Nini
she was a year old so that her father and Gil Dor," all in Hebrew. The third
could study chemical engineering at album, "Noa," was recorded for Geffen
Columbia University. In New York, Records in the United States and pro-
she went to religious school and sang duced by jazz legend Pat Metheny.
Together, Noa and Gil Dor have
in a choir.
When Noa was 12, a teacher taken their music to countries around
brought her to a studio to record some the world and had a special engage-
songs the youngster had written, and ment for the pope last October, when
the duo presented their version of
dreams of stardom began.
Noa attended the High School of "Ave Maria." The song, molded into
the Performing Arts, where she sang a prayer for peace which they felt all
and danced in musicals but did not people could relate to regardless of
think that her dreams of performing race or religion, is included in their
could really come true.
recent album.
"There were about 150,000 people
As a teen-ager, she was inspired to
move to Israel by a hiking guide she in St. Peter's Square, and the pope
met on a trip there. She finished high was sitting right next to me," she rem-
school in Israel and eventually mar- inisced. "I was very pleased that he
ried the young man, Dr. Asher Barak, had the guts to at least try to recon-
cile with Judaism, recognize the State
a pediatrician.
Upon graduation, she was drafted of Israel and open an Israeli embassy
into the army and assigned to an en- in the Vatican.

"I could see that when we sang it
wasn't just a polite reaction from the
pope; his reaction was sincerely emo-
tional. He clapped hands, sent me a
million kisses and later sent through
his assistants many blessings, say-
ing that he really believed the key to
world peace was through the collab-
oration between Judaism and Chris-
tianity.
"I hope this is part of a general
wave of change and growth not only
in terms of religion but in terms of na-
tions of people sharing global com-
munication."
Most of her European shows are
for non-Jewish crowds — people re-
lating to the music without the his-
torical or emotional background that
some Jews have.
"It's so interesting to see their re-
actions to Hebrew songs, especially
when the Hebrew is totally new for
them," she said. "It really moves me
to see non-Jews getting excited, lov-
ing the Hebrew songs and singing
them phonetically.
"We had a chance to collaborate in
Italy with some Palestinian artists,
which is something I wanted to do.
I'm very much in favor of the peace
process and of 'live and let live.'
"If I can meet with these artists,
tell them what my views are, listen
ISRAELI SOUL page 88