Oi Va Voi

Oi Va Voi
Oi Va Voi at a concert in Cambridge, September 2009
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Alternative
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Outcaste, V2
Associated acts	Spengler, Galliano, KT Tunstall, Haylie Ecker
Website	[1]
Members
Josh Breslaw Matt Jury Steve Levi Nik Ammar David Orchant
Past members
Sophie Solomon Lemez Lovas

Oi Va Voi is a British band that takes its name from a Yiddish-derived exclamation popular in modern Hebrew meaning, approximately, "Oh, dear!" It is an experimental band from London, England, which formed in the late 1990s. Their sound draws on Jewish music from both the Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions, including both klezmer and Judaeo-Spanish music, as well as Eastern European, especially Hungarian folk music, as well as contemporary electronic music.

Current band members

• Nik Ammar (guitars, mandolin, vocals, production),
• Josh Breslaw (drums, percussion, production),
• Matt Jury (bass),
• Steve Levi (clarinet, vocals),
• David Orchant (trumpet),

Guests:

• Anna Phoebe (violin)
• Lucy Shaw (bass)
• Bridgette Amofah (vocals)
• Alice McLaughlin (vocals)

Former band members

• Sophie Solomon (violin, viola, piano, accordion, melodica), a founding member of the band who left in 2006 to launch her solo career.
• Lemez Lovaz (trumpet, vocals, piano, songwriting, lyrics), songwriter and lyricist, a founding member of the band who left in 2007.
• Leo Bryant (bass)

Associated acts

• Anna Phoebe
• Maiya James of Spengler
• Earl Zinger (a.k.a. Rob Gallagher) of Galliano featured on the Laughter Through Tears album
• KT Tunstall, though never an official member of the band, featured on the Laughter Through Tears album and was a regular member of the live set-up. Her solo career then took off towards the end of 2004.
• Uzbek musician Sevara Nazarkhan featured on the Laughter Through Tears album
• Haylie Ecker

Discography

Albums

• Digital Folklore (2002)
• Laughter Through Tears (2003)
• Oi Va Voi (2007)
• Travelling the Face of the Globe (2009)

Singles

• "7 Brothers" (2003)
• "Refugee" (2004)
• "Yesterday's Mistakes" (2004)
• "Yuri" (2007)
• "Every Time" (2009)

Awards

• Oi Va Voi won an Edison award for Album of the Year 2004 Netherlands
• Oi Va Voi was nominated for the BBC Awards for World Music 2003 in the Boundary Crossing category.

See also

• Jewish music
• Klezmer

External links

• Oi Va Voi official website
• Oi Va Voi at Myspace
• Oi Va Voi at Sziget Festival 2009 (photos)