You need only hear her first name.
Sort of like Cher. But of Yemenite descent. And Israeli.
Noa, as she’s known to fans worldwide, will perform two shows on March 21 and 22 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.
“She completely engages with the audience,” said Sam Lauter, 43, who saw Noa when she was last in San Francisco in 1997. “She so clearly loves what she’s doing, and you end up feeling that during the concert.”
Music lovers around the globe apparently share Lauter’s feelings. Better known in her home country by her full name, Achinoam Nini, the curly-haired, olive-skinned beauty has fans in the Middle East, Europe and North America. She’s developed an especially big following in Italy.
“The Italian public gives me great deal of love, more than I could have imagined,” Noa said during a telephone interview from Israel. “Of all the countries [I’ve played], Italy has embraced me the most, in sheer love and admiration. It is beyond my comprehension.”
Ordinarily, she said, her songwriting is personal. She writes for herself, without regard to her religiously, ethnically and culturally diverse fans. She usually writes her songs in English (her first language, having grown up inthe Bronx), but has also taken famous Israeli poetry and put it to music.
But playing shows in Italy inspired her to “think of ways to repay them for their unconditional acceptance of multifaceted music.”
And so was born the inspiration for her latest album, “Napoli-Tel Aviv,” in which she and longtime musical collaborator Gil Dor translated traditional Neapolitan songs into Hebrew. They wrote in the album’s liner notes that the songs “made aliyah to Israel.”
The Solis String Quartet traveled from Naples to Noa’s home recording studio to make the album’s 14 tracks. The album was released last year.
Noa’s music blends her Middle Eastern roots with pop and folk sensibilities. She plays guitar, percussion and piano. But much has changed since the singer-songwriter made her first album in 1991.
She’s performed for Pope John Paul II, at Carnegie Hall and with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Offstage, the 38-year-old is married with two children.
“With all due respect to my career, it’s in second place to my family,” she said. “It’s totally hard to manage a family and career. But it is possible. You need a lot of patience … I would never think of giving it up.”
She toured often in 2006, and said that 2007 will be a more laid-back year. She wants to spend more time at her Tel Aviv home, so that she can spend more time with her children, ages 2 and 6, and also more time working on another album.
Nonetheless, she’s excited to perform next month at the JCCSF.
She’ll take the stage with Gil Dor and another friend/musician, Zohar Fresco, who she says is such an impressive percussionist that “it’s worth it coming to the show just to hear him.”
The trio is “like musical telepathy,” she said. “We can totally read each other’s minds, and it creates an energy on stage like nothing else.”
Noa usually doesn’t sing about Middle East issues (though she did once, with the song “Shalom, Shalom”), and said she doesn’t feel any pressure to politicize her music. She does, however, feel a certain responsibility to speak out and not hide behind being an artist. She’s emerged as an outspoken advocate for peace.
“For many people, I’m the only connection they’ll have to Israel, and so I have a chance to affect their opinion in a positive way,” she said. “Still, it’s very important, especially for the Jewish community, to understand that I do not put on a concert of Jewish music. I’m a singer-songwriter who happens to be Jewish, and that’s an important distinction to make.’
Noa will perform 8 p.m. March 21 and 22 in Kanbar Hall at the JCC as part of the 22nd annual Jewish Music Festival, co-sponsored by the Israel Center and the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco. For tickets, which cost $35-$50, visit www.jccsf.org or call (415) 292-1233.