“In many ways, I owe everything to the band.”
It’s been over 25 years since two students ran into each other on a street corner in Oxford and decided to set up a band. Oi Va Voi, rooted in Jewish and Eastern European musical traditions, would eventually reach hundreds and thousands of people across the world.
Dash’s Artistic Director Josephine Burton and Jonathan Walton, also known as Lemez Lovas, knew they needed more people and more instruments. Soon after Sophie Solomon, Steve Levi, Leo Bryant, Nik Ammar and Josh Breslaw joined the band and they began fusing together klezmer, jazz, funk and drum and bass.
Last summer, their breakout album, Laughter Through Tears, turned 20 and the band marked it with a celebratory reunion gig at EartH in Hackney. In this episode we hear from the original members of the band and moments from last summer’s reunion.
As with all enduring families - there have been many moments when both life inside and outside the band got really tough, but Oi Va Voi lives on and this podcast celebrates these stories, the music and the people who made it. Josephine also shares why Dash Arts delayed releasing this episode back in October 2023.
In the podcast, we hear from:
Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts and former Singer, Oi Va Voi
Jonathan Walton/Lemez Lovas - former Trumpeter, Oi Va Voi
Josh Breslaw - Drummer, Oi Va Voi
Leo Bryant - former Bassist, Oi Va Voi
Sophie Solomon - former Violinist, Oi Va Voi
Nik Ammar - former Guitarist, Oi Va Voi
Steve Levi - Clarinetist, Oi Va Voi
KT Tunstall - former Singer, Oi Va Voi
Music:
Recorded live at EartH, Hackney on 22nd July 2023. Used with permission of Oi Va Voi.
Intro: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi
Artwork:
Album Cover taken from an early ep, Odessa, recorded in early 2000. Photo credit lost in the mists of time!
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