OI VA VOI - Back Together

“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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