Neta Elkayam

Neta Elkayam was born in 1980 in Netivot

Elkayam was born in 1980 in Netivot, a southern Israeli city with a large Moroccan Jewish community. Her family came from Casablanca and Tinghir, and her father is the artist Michael Elkayam. Moroccan songs at family gatherings and her grandmother led her to learn Moroccan Arabic.

She finished high school in a music track at the Bnei Akiva ulpana in Even Shmuel. She completed art studies at Kaye Academic College in Beersheba in 2005, a program at the Kalisher School of Art in Tel Aviv in 2007, and performance art studies in Tel Aviv in 2008. In 2020 she completed a Mandel Foundation leadership program.

With her husband, musician Amit Hai Cohen, she reworks songs by North African Jewish singers such as Zohra Al Fassiya, Line Monty and Salim Halali. Their 2013 show Hawa Jani toured festivals abroad, including in Essaouira, Morocco. In 2019 she was nominated for an Ophir Award for her lead role in the film Red Fields.

She also works in visual art and has shown solo exhibitions. She received the Sami Michael Prize in 2019 and obtained Moroccan citizenship in 2024. The couple has lived in Jerusalem and New Orleans.