FOLLOW
YOUR HEART
(talk
starts with verse and chorus form the song “follow your heart”…..)
I was 16
years old when I decided to leave home alone and move from NY to Israel, for
love.
I come from
a Jewish Yemenite family, born in Israel but raised in the US from age 2.
When I was
15, I was on a summer hiking trip in Israel, when I met this amazing young man,
and fell totally in love with him. From that moment, all I could think about
was how to plan my return, how to convince my parents, how to be with him. This
was crazy and totally devoid of logic. I was already really into music, and
living in the most amazing city in the world for a potentially budding artist,
I knew going back to Israel would mean mandatory military service, an identity
crisis (I already had a pretty complex identity), a total meltdown of my comfort
zone and yet, my heart wouldn’t let go of me. “Achinoam, Achinoam” it said, day
and night. “You know this is what you’ve gotta do, so do it!”
And I did.
Achinoam, as
my heart just told you, is the beautiful name my parents gave me. It means, freely translated, sister of peace.
But later in life, as I embarked on an international musical career, and
understanding Achinoam was just too difficult for most people to pronounce, i
took on the name “NOA”…three letters at the heart of Achinoam, with roots in the Bible.
Noa was the
first feminist in Jewish history, But for me, the name is more significant as an
acronym: N-O-A : Not Only Achinom.
I
understood, I guess, from a very young age that together works better. That
giving up some of your ME to become a WE is glorious. My heart dances whenever
I connect and resonate, and Asher…that man I fell in love with (which is
sitting right here)….was just the beginning.
After my military
service…I went to study at the Rimon School of music in Ramat Ha Sharon…
My idea was
to form a band…I never wanted to be a Star Star in classic fashion, I wanted a
team, a family! I wanted to be Sting in the Police. (btw years later I did a
whole tour in France with sting! But that’s another story :) So I set out to
find my mates. Then I walked into class on the first day, and there was this
teacher, and he was talking, and I was mesmerized, by his wisdom, creativity,
energy, passion, he was a total WOW. I mustered courage to ask him to listen to
the songs I was writing at the time, fortunately he found my song writing worth
encouraging and offered me a student teacher collaboration in a festival the school
was taking part in. I was so thrilled!!
At the time
I was already being wooed by all kinds of producers, managers, etc, that were offering
to invest a lot of money in my career, pushing me to take the so called “fast tkt” to stardom, (I would later learn that no such thing
exists) , to forget this collaboration with a musician 17 years my elder, to go
for younger, hipper producers, forget my original songwriting, to do some
remixed covers, take songs from professional pop song writers, change my hair and the way I dress, pose for
the camera, etc etc…
It seemed
tempting, who doesn’t want to be a star?? But there was my heart, nagging…naaa.
It said, this is not right Achinoam. I don’t care how successful a mundane pop
song could be , I want to create something new!
I want to work with a person who can encourage creativity, nurture it,
who can join me on this quest for depth and beauty, who is relentless and
passionate and as much a perfectionist as I am, who believes in the ME WE idea,
the team, the family…so I said no to all those guys with their big promises (my
heart is going! Yeah! go girl)….and went with the teacher.
I got much
more than I bargained for. A partner, a mentor, an amazing musician, a gold mine of music ,mind and spirit. I left
school that year, but stayed in the school of life to this day, with this great
man to my right: my musical collaborator and guitar master GIL DOR :)
Then things
started moving really quickly. Gil introduced me to Pat Metheny, one of the world’s
most amazing musicians, an incredible Jazz guitarist and composer, and one of
my heroes! I met Pat in New York soon after, and left him a recording gil and I
had made earlier that year .
He called me
later that evening, and said one of the songs he heard on that disc was so
beautiful he wished he had written it himself! I almost died. He asked: how can
I help you? So I took a breath and said: produce an album for me.
And he did!
So Gil and I
went to NY, Pat brought his incredible musicians, we started making the album,
it was amazing.
After the
recording, pat had to go on tour, so we had a few months before we mixed the album.
Gil and I
came back to Israel, and started working on a project for the Israel Festival
in Jerusalem, based on the beautiful poetry or Rachel and Leah Goldberg. It was
a totally artistic project, so you can imagine our surprise when one of the
songs became a huge hit!
A recurring
theme with us, all of our “hits” were accidental…they just happened as we were
busy following our hearts…
So we were
performing in Israel, in bigger and bigger halls, and travelling across the Atlantic
to finish the album with Pat, we got signed by Geffen Records, I was getting
really popular and working really hard. And in the middle of all this…I got
married!
Yes yes, your head is saying: what? Why! All
these guys falling at your feet, travelling, exciting places, be free! Why
weigh yourself down??
But my heart
was saying: naaa….that guy, the one from the hiking trip… he’s your man. He’s
you partner for the marathon…unite!
And I did.
And
my heart was dancing….
And that’s when
I started learning to juggle. A three ball juggle…music, matrimony, and ten
years later, motherhood, once, twice three times..three children, three
thousand concerts….three, is a magic number..:)
By the way,
that’s another reason I never wanted to sing any song I didn’t love, or do anything
I didn’t feel strongly about…how could I justify leaving my loved ones for
fluff? For bogus? What for??
But for
lighting my little flashlight into another hidden corner of the human soul, for
creating something, for making the world a better place, for beholding a dance
of hearts as music connects people on a higher level…ah! For that, I was willing
to sacrifice…
And I did…
Carrying my
kids around the world, nursing them on planes and trains, on many sleepless
nights with the help of my incredible family and friends…
The juggling
was intense. but it was about to get totally crazy….as several monumental events
unfolded..
On the album
NOA, that Pat produced, we had recorded an original version of the Bach- Gunod
Ave Maria. I wrote original lyrics, an ecumenical, almost iconoclastic prayer for
peace….and gil arranged it to sound almost like a folk song. this song fell
into the hands of a man in Italy who was producing an event in the Vatican…so one
day we got a call, inviting us to perform for an audience of 150,000 people in
St Peter’s square, for Pope John Paul the 2. The first Israelis ever to do so. We
were shocked, and thrilled!
There were voices in Israel calling me to decline
this invitation, Jews that were still angry at the church for what it had done
to our people over the centuries…but my heart was saying, if this pope believes
in breaking the walls between religions, in collaboration, in reaching out, who
am I to say no? on the contrary, this is exactly where I want to be!
We were
subsequently invited 8 times to perform at the Vatican for John Paul the second,
and later, for Pope Benedict, and just recently, for the wonderful Pope
Francis.
And my
heart? Not only dancing, exploding! What an honor, to be able to contribute to
a shift in consciousness through music, to an expansion of vision, to a
broadening of perspective! How thrilling, how right it feels.
And so
another ball was thrown into my juggling act, the fourth…..not only music ,
matrimony and motherhood, but meaning…a mission….a
message….much greater than myself.
and that was just the beginning.
The
following year, we were invited to perform in another huge event….a peace rally
being organize in Tel Aviv, to support Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres, Nobel
peace laureates, as they signed the Oslo
Accords…a new horizon for Israel and Palestine! What joy!
When the mayor
of Tel Aviv called me to ask if I would sing, it took me three milliseconds to say
YES! He was thrilled as it appeared he’d gotten quite a few “No”s already,
which surprised me, but shouldn’t have. I was later to learn; any political
affiliation is almost Taboo for popular artists. But I wasn’t thinking in those terms, I was so
honored to be able to celebrate peace!
The event
was the most wonderful and most horrible evenings of my life. What began as a
joyous celebration of the future, ended in enormous tragedy when Yitchak Rabin was
murdered by Yigal Amir, as he descended the very same staircase I myself had
walked down just a few minutes earlier.
I was
devastated. that very night, I decided that
if this great man could pay with his life for peace, for humanity, for values, for
the future of our children, I too would pay a price….i would act, I would speak
out, I would carry this torch forward stubbornly, fearlessly.
my heart ,
understanding the ramifications of this decision… bowed its head, and nodded in
agreement.
After that, one thing lead to another very quickly, all
mixed, blurred… speaking out, refusing to perform in the occupied territories,
supporting a two state solution, threats
to my life, concerts cancelled, performing
at the white house, speaking and singing at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, becoming a Global Leader of Tomorrow, meeting and befriending Quincy
Jones and performing in many of his events, in NY, Rome, Switzerland, being
Knighted by the president of Italy, becoming good will ambassador for the UN….working
with Nicola Piovanni and Robberto Benigni, collaborating with Arab artists ,
like Khaled, Nabil Salameh, Rim Banna and more, participating in demonstrations,
writing blogs, refusing to receive prizes alongside racist artists, more hate
mail and threats, boycotts, and all the time writing songs, putting my hands in
the mud of the soul and flying high above it all like a bird, and back again…..
touring, wonderful concert halls, long roads, children, juggling, juggling
while running, on my knees, in my sleep, in my dreams…. praying to the God of
music, and believing, with all my heart, that it all comes down to “love your
brother as you love yourself…..”
In 2009 I
was approached by the Israeli Eurovision committee to represent Israel in the
Eurovision. I said Yes, but I had conditions: I wanted to share the spotlight
with Mira Awad, a great Arab Israeli artist, and we would write the song
ourselves, in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
And so it
was. We were attacked from all sides, those who hate, those who are suspicious
and afraid, those who do not believe, those who have given up.
But we also
reached CNN, the NY Times, El Jazeera, BBC Iran and millions of young people
around the world with an incredible message that they could relate to , that
they believed in, and they gave us their support! Every one of the hundreds of
letters I received at the time, from iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, all over the
world …every one brought tears to my eyes….they
are treasures I will pass on to my children….
Here’s part
of the song as I wrote it originally in English:
(we
perform part of “there must be another way”)
I’ve
followed my heart. It’s nagging, dancing
and prodding me on has brought me to the most challenging and most spectacular
places of my life. And I say to you, in a crazy world, changing so fast, mind boggling technology,
communication, FOMO, pressure, uncertainty, and almost preternatural competitiveness…..though
it seems crazy, it may not be such a bad idea….
To follow
your heart.
because, in
the worst case….you’re left with your heart! (If you’ve done something meaningful for
yourself and others, you are a success! Yippee..
And in
the best case.. you’re left with your heart. What’s all the success, glory,
fame and fortune in the world worth without it??
And what is
your heart anyway?
It’s more than
a blood pumping organ on a valentine’s day card…
Here’s how I
see it:
HEART
H- head, humanity,
home, humility, hearing….
E- essence,
ear, empathy, extension…
A -Art!
R-
resonance, responsibility, the road….
T- two,
togetherness, time….and tomorrow….
Dear
friends, thank you for listening.
We’d like to
leave you with a song.
(we perform
UNI…)
The end :)
