Naomi Polani (; 4 August 1927 – 15 April 2024) was an Israeli

musical director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, singer, producer, actress and dancer. She was the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

laureate for Theater and Dance in 2019.

Music career

Polani founded the singing group "''

HaTarnegolim HaTarnegolim (, "The Roosters") was an Israeli musical group that worked during 1960–1963. It operated under the direction and musical guidance of Naomi Polani and was composed of veterans of Israeli military ensembles who previously worked with ...

''" ("The Roosters") in 1960, in charge of musical and acting direction and choreography. The original group included

Yehoram Gaon Yehoram Gaon (; born December 28, 1939) is an Israeli singer, actor, director, comedian, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure. He has also written and edited books on Israeli culture. The son of Sephardic Jewish parents—a Bosnian f ...

and

HaGashash HaHiver HaGashash HaHiver (, ''lit.'' The Pale Tracker) was an iconic Israeli comedy trio. It was also known as the ''Gashashim.'' Its three members were Yeshayahu Levi ("Shaike"), Yisrael Poliakov ("Poli") (deceased) and Gavriel "Gavri" Banai. Hist ...

. They were referred to in ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'' as "one of the most exciting things that ever happened to Israeli pop. They brought us some of the greatest hits of all times". Among their hits are "The Neighborhood Song", "Everything's Gold" and "My Great Kid Yossi". In 2011, she worked with a new iteration of the group.

Honors

Polani received the Moshe Halevi Theater Arts Prize from the Tel Aviv Municipality in 2001. On 13 November 2007, she received the Akum Lifetime Achievement Award. She also received an honorary award from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

for her contribution to Hebrew song. In 2017, a tribute evening was held in her honor on her 90th birthday at the Ein Gev Festival. In April 2018, she received a special honor from President

Reuven Rivlin Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin ( ; born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the president of Israel between 2014 and 2021. He is a member of the Likud party. Rivlin was Minister of Communications from 2001 to 2003, and su ...

at the 70th Independence Day ceremony at the President's Residence. In 2019, Education Minister Naftali Bennett informed Naomi Polani that she had won the Israel Prize for 5779 in the field of theater and dance: "Her rich cultural work has given us dozens of dance, theater and music works. Naomi, who was one of the stars of the Palmach troupe during the War of Independence, is a true cultural warrior."

Personal life and death

Naomi Polani was married to the singer and actor Lior Yenai, but they divorced in the 1970s. The couple had two children: the actor and singer Yotam Yenai (1964), who performed with The Roosters band and was an actor at the Haifa Theater, and Iya (1968) – a nurse by profession. Both became religiously observant in their adolescence. Polani lived in

Moshavat Kinneret Kinneret (), also known as Moshavat Kinneret to distinguish it from the neighbouring settlement of Kvutzat Kinneret (which is organised as a kibbutz), is a moshava on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Located in the north of ...

from the 1980s. She died on 15 April 2024, at the age of 96.

References

External links

* * 1927 births 2024 deaths Israeli music arrangers Music directors Israeli theatre directors Israeli women theatre directors 20th-century Israeli women singers Israeli film actresses Israeli stage actresses Israeli female dancers Israeli dancers People from Tel Aviv {{Israel-singer-stub Burials at Kinneret Cemetery