San Francisco, USA. May 16, 1997

Israeli pop star Noa to fuse Mideast beat, jazz in S.F. concert
LESLIE KATZ

When Israeli singer-songwriter Noa brings her signature blend of folk, jazz and Middle Eastern rhythms to the Bay Area next week, fans are likely to notice a certain world-weary toughness in the performer's newest tunes. Where past albums have reveled in such uplifting topics as the beauty and wonder of nature, the singing star's new album, "Calling," targets the subjugation of women, the grief of parents whose children are killed in terrorist bombings, and the pain of flickering and lost love.

"This album is temperamental, which I think is a reflection of the challenges and hurt I've experienced and seen," says Noa, who will perform Thursday, May 22 at San Francisco's Nob Hill Masonic Center in a concert celebrating Israel Independence Day. Gil Dor, one of Israel's leading jazz guitarists and Noa's longtime musical partner, will accompany her.

The all-English "Calling," produced by Geffen Records, is, in the singer's own words, "not nearly as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" as her previous album, "Noa." That Hebrew and English recording went gold in Israel, platinum in France and was a surprise hit in Japan.

"On that album I was really highlighting the positive," says Noa, who cuts a commanding stage presence with her pure, powerful voice and striking waist-length black curls. "It's a brighter picture. I've grown up a lot since I wrote those songs. I've seen the world; different things matter to me now."

Speaking this week from her hotel room in Springfield, Mass., the second stop in a two-week U.S. tour, the 27-year-old performer says one subject that has increased in meaning for her is politics.

"In the last couple of years, I have become much more socially and politically involved," she says. "A few months before [Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin's murder, it became much more acute. When he was assassinated, I think something snapped in my mind."

The transformation surfaces in songs such as "Manhattan-Tel Aviv," which includes the lyrics: "Can I find a future here? Everything is so unclear. Can I ever find a life under threat of fire and knife?"

Since Rabin's assassination, "it's been downhill in terms of what's going on in Israel," says the singer of Yemenite background.

Born Achinoam Nini in Tel Aviv, Noa -- who shortened her name for professional reasons -- moved to New York with her family at age 1. Raised in the Bronx, she spoke Hebrew and Yemenite at home, English elsewhere. She attended a Jewish day school where most students were of European, not Arabic, extraction.

Such dualities had Noa confronting deep-seated questions of identity by age 15.

"At some point, I became very unhappy," she recalls. "I was torn between the traditional environment of my parents' home and the outside world. I needed to figure out who this dark-skinned thing was -- Jewish, Yemenite, American?"

At age 17, Noa left New York's esteemed High School for the Performing Arts and moved to Israel, anxious to be on her own and also in love with an Israeli, Asher Barak, whom she met on a trip to Israel and later married.

In Israel, where military service is mandatory, she joined the army and landed a gig in a singing outfit charged with entertaining troops. When her tour of duty ended, she asked herself: "Do I want to go to college and study physics more than I want to sing? The answer was a resounding `no.'"

Since deciding to make music her life, Noa hasn't looked back, forging a career that has taken her around the world, from music festivals in Israel to Carnegie Hall to schools in Detroit's inner city.

At a 1994 stop at the Vatican, she and Gil Dor performed their version of "Ave Maria" before 100,000 people, including Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa.

Ultimately, Noa believes music has the power to alternately soothe and provoke. She hopes to do both.

"I want to lift your spirit, take you to a different place," she says, "but I also want to shake you up, make you see what you might not want to see."

Noa will perform at 8 p.m., Thursday, May 22 at Nob Hill Masonic Center, 1111 California St., S.F. Tickets: City Box Office, (415) 392-4400 or BASS,(510) 762-BASS or (408) 998-BASS. Tickets are also available at the door.