Jewish band Oi Va Voi speak out after Bristol venue Strange Brew apologise for “mistake” in cancelling their gig after pressure from activist groups

Jewish band Oi Va Voi have spoken out after Bristol venue Strange Brew apologised for the “mistake” in cancelling their gig following pressure from activist groups.

The modern folk klezmer band were scheduled to perform at Strange Brew on May 21 with guest performer Zohara. However, in a statement posted to social media, Strange Brew explained they made a “last-minute decision” to cancel the gig due to “complaints” from activist groups, including criticisms of guest performer Zohara’s solo album artwork.

Zohara’s artwork for her most recent album, 2024’s ‘Welcoming The Golden Age’, features the Israeli musician naked, carrying a wheelbarrow of watermelons. A deleted post from Strange Brew (via Bristol Live) at the time said activist groups claimed the artwork contained “politically loaded symbolism related to the people of Palestine”. The fruit has become associated with Palestinian resistance due to the watermelon sharing all four colours with their flag.

At the time, Oi Va Voi responded and said the claims from activist groups about there being a political undertone were “untrue” and “misguided”. Meanwhile, Zohara posted her own statement at the time, prefacing that “this discussion is secondary to the only thing that truly matters: ending the starvation in Gaza, bringing all the hostages home and stopping Israel’s bombardments”.

She went on to say that she “didn’t know” the watermelons were a symbol of Palestinian resistance. However, upon learning their associations, it became “meaningful” due to her own Moroccan heritage, and how “Moroccan culture was silenced where I grew up”. Zohara added that she would “stand by” her album cover: “Boycotting artists over imagined narratives doesn’t serve justice, it silences the very people working to create better futures”, she wrote.

Now, Strange Brew have written they made a “mistake” in cancelling the gig, adding: “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 continued. “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. We are an inclusive venue, and 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 venue went on to say they had “resolved the situation amicably” with the band,  adding they had “implemented compulsory anti-Semitism training for all our senior management”, along with making a donation to the Community Security Trust (CST), which “works to protect British Jews from anti-Semitism”.

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Now, Oi Va Voi have responded to the incident on social media, saying that they “welcome Strange Brew’s statement” along with their anti-Semitism training and donation to the CST. They also wrote that they welcomed how the venue “accepted that it treated Oi Va Voi differently due to our Jewish heritage when it cancelled our gig on 21 May 2025”.

They reiterated that the complaints from activist groups were “untrue and misguided claims about us, our music and the album artwork of guest performer Zohara,” adding that “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”.

“We are British Jews and non-Jews making socially-conscious, humanitarian music that aims to bring people together,” Oi Va Voi went on to say. “We have played worldwide, including in Christian, Jewish and Muslim majority countries, without problem”.

Oi Va Voi added that the “intimidation” of the activists who attempted to have the gig cancelled would “never be tolerated against any other minority, either in the music industry or elsewhere. Anti-Jewish racism is racism, and racism is injustice, wherever it comes from”.

They also highlighted the “deafening” silence around the band’s gig cancellation, along with other Jewish performers, whether British or Israeli. “The readiness of venues, promoters and festivals to cave in to demands that exclude Jewish artists, and the lack of attention from the music press when this does happen, has contributed to an environment which has allowed anti-Jewish racism in Britain to persist largely unchallenged”, they wrote.

“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”.

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This year, Israeli musician Dudu Tassa’s gigs with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood were also cancelled due to pressure from the BDS movement. The pair have played multiple shows together in the last two years, leading the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) to describe their performance in Israel as “artwashing genocide”.

Greenwood would respond to the cancellations in a lengthy statement, writing: “Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing.

“Intimidating venues into pulling our shows won’t help achieve the peace and justice everyone in the Middle East deserves. This cancellation will be hailed as a victory by the campaigners behind it, but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find that anything positive has been achieved.”

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