Petersburg, Russia, spontaneously formed Otava Yo in 2005. They wanted to create new interpretations of Russian folkmusic, accessible to all audiences, and to revive old favorite Soviet tunes.After working on its "Russian beat"

concept forthree years the band released the album, "Once Upon a Time".

Some call them "modern buffoons" while others describe the music as "communalflat groove". Both are true. Otava Yo serves up its music in a vigorousmanner with a good dose of humor, mixing up overdriven traditional Russian instruments with a stereotypical Russian look, which

simultaneously frightens and attracts the tourists. Otava Yo aims to dispel the belief Russian folk music is boring and not danceable.

Witty song introductions emerged with the music, livening up already energetic performances.The band is very popular in its home city of St. Petersburg, playing some 80concerts a year at various venues and events. The past three years were especially successful. Otava Yo played at

several well known European folk festivals, breaking records in festival CD sales andmeeting the President of Estonia; made music videos; received an award from Bratislava’s Humor Academy; and with support from the St. Petersburg Committee of Culture produced a play based on Russian Christmas songs, subsequently releasedon an album in December 2011.

Otava Yo performed in Mexico, France, Estonia, Portugal, Latvia, Slovakia, Poland,Germany, Netherlands, Austria and India.

The band's second music video, "The Tale of Ivan Groove", is No.1 on World MusicNetwork's October Video Chart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbBU06irWT8&feature=youtu.be&hd=1