Naomi Polani

Naomi Polani (נעמי פולני; 4 August 1927 – 15 April 2024) was an Israeli musical director, theater director, singer, producer, actress and dancer. She was the Israel Prize laureate for Theater and Dance in 2019.

Music career
Polani founded the singing group "HaTarnegolim" ("The Roosters") in 1960, in charge of musical and acting direction and choreography. The original group included Yehoram Gaon and HaGashash HaHiver. They were referred to in The Jerusalem Post 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 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 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 from the 1980s. She died on 15 April 2024, at the age of 96.