Alexey Belkin vocals, kazoo, flute
Timur Sigidin base-guitar
Dmitriy Shikhardin vocals, violin, kazoo
Julia Usova vocals, violin, kazoo
Petr Sergeev drums
A group of professional folk musicians from St. Petersburg, Russia, spontaneously got together in 2005 and formed Otava Yo as a side project. They wanted to create new interpretations of Russian folk music, accessible to all audiences, and to revive old favorite Soviet tunes. Otava Yo serves up its music in a vigorous manner with a good dose of humor, mixing up overdriven traditional Russian instruments with a stereotypical Russian look, which simultaneously frightens and attracts the tourists.