The Junction

Oi Va Voi came together in the late 1990s when trumpeter Lemez Lovas, drummer Josh Breslaw, bassist Leo Bryant, clarinettist Steve Levi, guitarist Nik Ammar and violinist Sophie Solomon pooled their diverse musical backgrounds in left-field jazz, hip-hop, rock bands, drum n bass and Jewish klezmer.

With the addition of K.T.Tunstall on guest vocals, their debut album fused modern dance music, singer-songwriter sensitivity and their Jewish cultural heritage with global rhythms drawn from Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and beyond.

Laughter Through Tears received rave reviews and won two awards in the BBC Radio 2 awards for world music. Yet anybody who saw Oi Va Voi’s spectacular live shows was left in little doubt that they were far more than a world music act with an enviable ability to rock a crowd and get a dance floor heaving. The album went on to sell more than 100,000 copies worldwide.

The follow up album “Oi Va Voi” was greeted with great press acclaim in Europe, and beyond but within a month of its release the group’s label, V2, was sold to Universal and closed down. Undaunted, the band regrouped in the spring of 2008. They knew that the only way for them to have real, long lasting success on their own terms was to take control of every aspect of their career. The band played a string of festivals across Europe, pouring all profits into the recording of the new album and in October 2008, “Travelling The Face Of The Globe” was completed.

The core of the group remains the unique eclecticism and outstanding musicianship of its members, both founding ones and now established new faces. Reuniting the group with the producers of “Laughter Through Tears” (Grammy winners Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Quarmby), “Travelling The Face Of The Globe” is the realisation of 5 years hard work and the coming together of a band on top of their form and with a full understanding of the way forward. The early reactions to the album and recent live shows have been overwhelming in their praise. The band’s management have spent the last two months putting all the tools in place for a successful campaign that the new album so richly deserves.

“One Of The Most Exciting Band’s in Britain Today” The Daily Telegraph

"one listen to the album suggests that the band have surpassed their earlier works to create a record that should find them a much bigger audience, while repeated listens reveal that this is the kind of album you could easily fall in love with." The Sunday Times

"The UK finally has a band to match the best of the current American groups who are exploring alternatives to the guitar, bass, keyboard and drum line-up that has become such a cliche of international alternative music. Watch out, Calexico, DeVotchKa, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Beirut, you have company." The Guardian

“Musicians who sound like everything we've heard but nothing we know.” Time Out

“Wild, bewildering, enthralling.” The Independent

Support from Gil Karpas

Under 14's must be accompanied by an adult.
 
Doors / Bar open 7pm.

In association with The Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival

Think vocal harmonies. Think Elizabethan pop. Think fretboard wizardry. Think the Melodeon.  If you can think all of that, then you have just conjured the dark and peculiar Medeival world that is Faustus.

Comprised of three of the most pivotal players in the English roots revival of the past decade, Faustus boast a trio of travelling minstrels whose musical Curriculum Vitae is frankly intimidating…

Saul Rose  – Probably the best Melodeon player in the country - best known for his work with the Kings of Calicutt and Waterson Carthy.  Saul takes on Melodeon and singing duties. Spotted by Eliza Carthy in the early 90s he was then asked to join Waterson:Carthy. Saul has worked with so many people that it could indeed be said that he is a musical whore – of the very highest quality naturally!

Paul Sartin - Paul is a hugely versatile and classically trained musician who counts Bellowhead, Belshazzars Feast and Christchurch Cathedral Choir amongst his many musical outings. Paul takes fiddle, oboe, vocal, questionable gladrags and inimitable jazz MC technique duties for both Faustus and the now infamous Bellowhead.

The final piece of the Faustus puzzle is Benji Kirkpatrick, who takes the role of self-styled ‘fretboard wizard’. Benji was a member of the Oysterband Big Session playing alongside Eliza Carthy, Jim Murray, Rose Kemp, Cara Dillon and Seth Lakeman. Lending his talents to the Mercury-nominated Seth Lakeman on many duo/trio projects and tours, and being a fully paid-up member of the mighty Bellowhead, Benji is the perfect finishing touch to this power of three.

Under 14’s must be accompanied by an adult. 

Doors / Bar open 7pm.