Noa - Achinoam Nini

Noa releases the album "Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor Live" July 1991

- Achinoam Nini Gil Dor Live (12 tracks)
(CD NMC 20009-2, Israel, 1991, NMC Music)
- Achinoam Nini Gil Dor Live (12 tracks)
1. "Mishaela" (3.47)
2. "I Will" (4.29)
3. "Material Girl" (5.10)
4. "She Went To The River" (4.11)
5. "For Father" (4.20)
6. "Imagination" (2.55)
7. "Eye Opener" (3.57)
8. "You Are Too Beautiful" (4.17)
9. "Barren" (Uri) (4.20)
10. "Drive My Car" (5.00)
11. "Moon Tune" (5.50)
12. "Paranoia" (3.26)
(the final track "Paranoia," Noa's first 12" release, is not a live track)
(CD UMD80443, EU, 1997, Universal/NMC (reissue of 1991 album))

Noa & Gil Dor duet concerts continued uninterrupted, and gradually Noa & Gil became more and more popular until the Gulf War suddenly erupted. Noa & GIl were forced, sadly, to discontinue their performances until further notice. At this time they recorded a wild satirical version of the Beatles '‘Can’t Buy Me Love"(dedicated to the Emir of Kuwait), and an emotional rendition of "Ave Maria" (Bach/Gunaud) with original lyrics, a personal prayer for peace. They put both these songs on cassettes and gave them out as gifts to the soldiers manning the "Patriot" missiles in Israel. "Ave Maria" was later to find its way to the album "Noa", and change Noa & Gil Dor lives by getting them invited to sing for the Pope and 100,000 people at the Vatican.

Anyway, Noa & Gil decided to plan a date to do record a live concert with the intent of releasing their first album. So regardless of the war, they invited a few friends and family members to their favorite concert venue, "Tzavta" Tel-aviv (a cult institution in Israel), and play a gig. At the time it was forbidden under law to have any sort of public gathering for safety reasons in Israel. And then, lo and behold - a small miracle! That very evening it was announced that the war was officially over. And on the eve of "Purim" "Tzavta" was packed, the gig was wonderful, Guy Yaffe (our incredible sound engineer) did a great job, and the first album was on its way. This was a very daring album for Noa & Gil Dor, virtually production-free, primal, naive and wide open. It was their first declaration of taste and sensitivity, full of love and magic.
© (info by www.noasmusic.com )

- Achinoam Nini Gil Dor Live (12 tracks)
(CD MVCG 179, Japan, 1991, MCA Victor, with diff. P/S)

Jerusalem Post - Jerusalem Author: Aryeh Dean Cohen
Date: Dec 26, 1991 Abstract (Document Summary)
The shows and album therefore mix hot sets where [Gil Dor, Nini]'s voice and Dor's guitar get to do their flying trapeze acts, alongside quiet numbers like She Went to the River, a somber, Judy Collins-style ballad written by Nini. And of course there is the haunting Uri based on a poem by Israeli poet Rahel, about a barren young woman's prayer for a son.

Nini read the poem in a book of Rahel's verse, given to her by [Asher]. "It's beautiful, it's all breathtaking, but there's such a deep darkness, a sadness that come from her life that was so difficult. I am a person of light, a positive, optimistic person, so I was looking for hope in her poems, and I found some hope in this one. There is an immense amount of beauty in its sadness, and finding beauty in sadness is rare. "And there is simplicity, and the beautiful last line where she says: OK, I'll pray like Rahel and wait like Hanna, but I will wait. Maybe I'll have him in another life, maybe I'll have him in the form of a poem that I've written. And I love that. So I wrote music to it, and Gil loved it, and it became popular."

Nini is still largely influenced by [Paul Simon], who she says "is like God." She vows to meet him "and he'll listen to my music, too, by hook or by crook." Other Nini favorites are Sting and [Joni Mitchell]. "For me, she's a real symbol, a person who developed from real straight folk music to jazz which is undoubtedly her sound, which is what I'm striving for - to try to combine my ethnic side, my American side, and my Israeli side into something which is just me."