A Bristol music venue has admitted it made a “mistake” when it cancelled a concert by the Jewish band Oi Va Voi after pressure from activist groups who objected to their identity and the presence of an Israeli guest singer, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Strange Brew, a 330-capacity venue, had originally booked the British Jewish klezmer-folk group to perform in May before abruptly withdrawing the event. The venue now concedes that the complaints it acted upon were driven solely by the fact that Oi Va Voi are “a Jewish band performing with an Israeli singer,” acknowledging that the scrutiny directed at them was discriminatory.
In a public statement, Oi Va Voi condemned the campaign that led to the cancellation, saying the “intimidation of the activist groups who wanted Strange Brew to cancel our gig would never be tolerated against any other minority.” The band described the fallout as deeply distressing: “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.”
The group added that the backlash had been fuelled by “untrue and misguided claims about us, our music,” and about guest performer Zohara, an Israeli singer whose album artwork had been singled out by activists.
Strange Brew acknowledged it had capitulated to external pressure, saying: “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.”
The venue admitted it now understands the objections were rooted in prejudice: “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.”
Insisting that the band had no political agenda, the venue stressed: “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 concluded that cancelling the show contradicted its stated values and 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.”
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