Music venue says it was a 'mistake' to cancel Jewish band gig

A music venue in Bristol has said it was a "mistake" to cancel a gig by a Jewish band after pressure from "activist groups" who complained about their booking.

In May, Strange Brew called off a concert by London group Oi Va Voi, who bill themselves as a modern folk klezmer band.

The venue has now said it recognises the complaints and scrutiny of the group were likely only "because they are a Jewish band performing with an Israeli singer".

In a statement, Oi Va Voi said the "intimidation of the activist groups who wanted Strange Brew to cancel our gig would never be tolerated against any other minority", adding that "this episode has had an immense personal and emotional impact on us".

"It has also led to financial loss, reputational damage and a barrage of hate, the like of which we had never experienced before," they said on Wednesday.

The group said the complaints had come from activists "making untrue and misguided claims about us, our music and the album artwork of guest performer Zohara".

"The only reason we received a level of scrutiny that would lead to such false accusations is because of our heritage and the nationality of one of our performers," they said.

They also criticised "the readiness of venues, promoters and festivals to cave in to demands that exclude Jewish artists", but welcomed Strange Brew's new statement.

The venue said: "We made a last-minute decision to cancel this performance following complaints about the band from activist groups, including about Zohara's solo album artwork.

"We have reflected on this decision and have realised that we made a mistake in doing so. We recognise that Oi Va Voi was likely only subjected to this level of scrutiny, and Zohara's album artwork interpreted negatively, because they are a Jewish band performing with an Israeli singer.

"Oi Va Voi are musicians, not activists. They have no political affiliations and, as far as we are aware, have never made any political statements, be it in their music or otherwise."

Strange Brew added that it was "not in line with our values to exclude Oi Va Voi and Zohara from performing on the basis of conjecture by another group about their views".

The 330-capacity venue said it had implemented compulsory antisemitism training for senior management and had made a donation to the Community Security Trust, which seeks to protect British Jews from antisemitism.

Oi Va Voi grew in prominence in the early 2000s and have been praised for putting Jewish music "on the international map", using klezmer music - a musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of eastern Europe.