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Artist
Otava Yo
12+ albums
russianfolkRussian Folk
about
Otava Yo (Russian: Отава Ё, ота́ва meaning "aftergrass") is a Russian folk rock band from Saint Petersburg, formed in 2003. Alexey Belkin, Alexey Skosyrev, Dmitriy Shikhardin, and Peter Sergeev worked together as buskers on the streets of St. Petersburg for about three years. The positive feedback from the listeners inspired them to officially form a band in 2003. Of the initial members, only Shikhardin had formal musical education; the rest were self-taught. Initially the band was called Reelroadъ and they played The Pogues-styled Celtic punk, but later changed their name to Otava Yo and turned to Russian traditional music. In 2005 they released their first studio album, “Pod Aptekoj”, named after their favourite street performance spot near a homeopathic pharmacy on Nevsky Prospect. Four years later, in 2009, Otava Yo released their second studio album, "Zhyli-byli", continuing into a musical direction they called "Russian beat". The band released their next album, "Rozhdestvo", in 2011. Containing traditional Christmas songs, it marked a deviation from their characteristic musical direction, that they ultimately returned to in their 2013 album "Chto za pesni". The band's breakthrough came with the video for the song “Sumetskaya”, featuring Russian fist fighters. In 2015, “Sumetskaya” reached the No. 1 position on World Music Network’s February Video Chart, and had been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube - a number that reached 14 million in 2018, setting the
