Noa

Achinoam Nini (Hebrew: אחינועם ניני, romanized: Aẖinóʿam Nini; born 23 June 1969), also known professionally as Noa (נועה), is an Israeli singer-songwriter, percussionist, poet, composer, and human rights activist working internationally. She is accompanied by guitarist Gil Dor and often plays the conga drums and percussions as she sings. Noa represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 together with singer Mira Awad, with the song "There Must Be Another Way". Her music is known to fuse languages and styles. She has performed in 52 countries and was the first Israeli artist to perform in the Vatican.

Noa was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a family of Yemenite-Jewish origin. She moved to Riverdale, Bronx when she was two years old. She attended SAR Academy and Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Upper School of Ramaz High School, remaining in New York until her return to Israel alone at the age of 16.

She completed her mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, serving as a singer in the military band of the Northern Command. After her release she studied music at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, where she met her long-time partner and collaborator Gil Dor, then a faculty member of the school.

Noa is married to Asher Barak, an Israeli pediatrician. They have three children.

Noa has performed in a variety of locations around the world, including 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, the Stockholm Water Festival in Sweden, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona and Teatro Real in Madrid.