The Long and Indie Road

Image by Daniel Tchetchik

By Lea Penn March 7, 2011

Crossposted from Haaretz

“Would you like to see what I have in my bag?” asks Noga Shalev at the start of our meeting in a bustling Tel Aviv bar before pulling a flute out and starting to play.

Image by Daniel Tchetchik

Perhaps because of the noise, no one in the bar notices, but even if they did notice, she certainly would not have gotten excited.

“Sometimes I sit on the bus and my hands automatically go into the bag and without realizing, I start playing,” she says. “It’s very meditative to play the flute; it’s simple, addictive and soothing.”

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