Tofa’ah was founded in 1981 by Yona Yakobovitz, an American drummer, percussionist, keyboardist, producer, arranger and songwriter living in Israel. When the band started as an all-women Jewish rock-and-roll/blues/jazz band that would play only for women, nothing like it had ever been seen. Twenty-five years later, the band is stronger than ever – it released its 10th album in August 2009.
Tofa'ah has performed at major national and international music festivals, toured the U.S., packed Binyanei Ha’uma, and plays regularly at Israel’s NCSY Center, colleges and schools; it has performed with Rutie Navon and Neshama Carlebach, appeared on radio and TV shows (Dudu Fisher, Gabi Gazit, Rivka Michaeli, Good Morning Israel, etc.) and is the subject of several award-winning documentaries. It is also the only women’s band to consistently be hired by the Jerusalem Municipality several times a year, playing to thousands of women at each event.
The band's mission is to share its music to inspire women to find their voice, joy and spirituality. To that end, Tofa'ah performs for women across the entire Israeli political and religious spectrum.
Tofa'ah's non-profit organization, Tof Miriam, was one of the first organizations to promote the arts among women in Israel and to encourage women to express their creativity and spirituality through the arts. They have sponsored Women in the Arts festivals throughout Israel specifically to give women artists a forum, be they performance artists, painters or musicians.
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