Ovadya
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Ovadya

Chicago, Illinois, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2000

Chicago, Illinois, United States
Established on Jan, 2000
Band Alternative World

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"Please note!"

With the addition of vocalist Terrence Price to the band, Ovadya's sound has changed from female to male vocals. Some of the older press releases below refer to previous Ovadya vocalists. - Please note!


"Ovadya: Music w/o Borders (Pioneer Press)"

By
SHERYL DEVORE
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

Reverent as well as irreverent, hard-core rock-'n'-rollers with a passion for folk music, and decidedly Jewish, Ovadya blends contemporary sound with tradition.

The band is a unique complement of powerful female voices, saxophones, electric guitars, electric bass, electric violin, rain sticks and other assorted percussive accouterments.

They've performed at the Elbo Room and Abbey Pub in Chicago and recently returned from a gig at Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati.

Lately they've been playing at local Borders stores, including a concert Friday at the Wilmette Borders. The acoustics and space limitations, they complain, don't allow them the full use of their electronic gewgaws and heart-pounding drums. Still, they were able to belt out their inimitable style at the Deerfield Borders, with adroit guitar strumming: raw, but refined emotion and female folk harmonies in tunes such as a tribute to the leader of the band's mother called Kaddish, a Jewish mourner's prayer. At times the music inspired two strangers to organize a percussive give-and-take clapping.

Band leader, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter M. Hurley once led a band called Advocate, which received rave reviews in publications such as Guitar World. After a hiatus, which included mourning the death of her mother, and a brief time living in Israel, Hurley is back writing songs with Ovadya and performing what she calls "uneasily categorizable, seriously unique music."

Still, she does try to categorize, saying Ovadya is a blend of Celtic, jazz, Middle Eastern music and psychedelic rock, as well what she calls "four-part wack Balkanesque harmonies." . . . - Pioneer Press Chicago/4 county area


"Ovadya Hard to Define, but Easy to Rock by J.T. Morand"

They call themselves psychedelic world music with heavy Middle East influences. That much is evident.

But the members of Ovadya also say listeners might hear traces of System of a Down, Earth, Wind and Fire ... Alice in Chains. Heart also comes to mind, with the duel female vocals, and heavier Pink Floyd. None of it was influenced by anybody though.

Influenced "means a person tries to consciously emulate a sound," said guitarist and vocalist M Hurley, adding the only thing she ever tried to emulate was popular sitar player Ravi Shankar. "There is so much good stuff out there that I love, but that doesn't mean we sound like it at all."

Hurley said the content of [many of] Ovadya's songs are based on the Psalms or liturgy and inspired by a spiritual worldview. "I took a song that was probably a thousand years old, no copyright, and re-rendered it," she said. "And some [of our] songs are just about stuff of life." - Chicago Tribune’s Pioneer Press


"Hometown Heroes (Guitar World)"

MOLLY HURLEY WAS five when she discovered harmony. "They taught us a song in kindergarten," says the guitarist/singer/songwriter. "It sounded so good to me." As she walked home from school that day, humming the tune in her head, she thought, "Hey, why don't I do this?" And so she "figured out" what harmony was.

Years later, Hurley, who is adopted, learned that her maternal and paternal grandmothers were both music teachers. "There is something to be said for genetics," she says. "Music was just in me at an early age."

The first time she strummed a guitar, she says, it was "immediately beautiful" to her. After some intense pestering; Hurley's mother bought her an acoustic-a K-Mart special. Mom was duly rewarded.

"I drove my mother insane;' Hurley admits." For many years I didn't know-you were supposed to tune a guitar." That didn't prevent her from mastering her instrument." I just made tunes on some weird tunings and memorized them. My mother thought I was insane."

The upshot of this was that, aside from learning how to play in 11 different tunings (she also worked out the chords by ear), Hurley became an incredibly intuitive player. "My best stuff," she declares, "have been my mistakes, which I've incorporated into my playing. When I play electric I do some things you'll never see. They're blasphemous. I play with a capo --- and a thumb pick. I do open tunings, and a --- Nashville tuning on electric. That's the plus side of being self-taught."

Molly's use of open tunings has led people to compare her playing to that of Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges. Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Django Reinhardt and sitarist Ravi Shankar are among her favorite players. Her style is a melange of raunchy blues licks, jazzy chordings, and folksy fingerpicking... - Guitar World Magazine


"CityBeat, Cincinatti, OH"

This might not entirely possible, but O*VAD*YA's main inspiration could be the kaleidoscope. The band is very similar to the toy; each new twist reveals a vibrant blossom of unexpected potency. Classic Rock rubs elbows with Celtic harmonies. Jazz welcomes back Medieval lyres. Arabic flutes duel with electric guitars. A World music education in one night.

Dig it: WorldBeat Cranberries, Rusted Root, smoking hookahs - Jacob Richardson


"Local Anesthetic/WXRT"

From Richard Milne's Local Anesthetic Show (Thanks, Richard):

"Seven piece band from Chicago's way north side today, who sound a lot like a musical commune come to life. There's an
English- hippie- meets- summer- of- love vibe to the music of Ovadya, on their recently released disc, Driftless.

Now, usually, any song about an abusive alcoholic parent isn't the most obvious choice to play on the Local Anaesthetic Capsule, but this is so powerful and so well done that it is today's Local Anaesthetic Capsule on 93 XRT - the band is called Ovadya: O-V-A-D-Y-A and this is their tune, Memories Buried.

Ovadya is the name of the band - depending upon when you hear this, you can see them this weekend at The Note, March 19th their giggin' over there.

Ovadya -- check triple-W dot O-V-A-D-Y-A dot NET for more on the band and their compact disc called Driftless. The tune [called] Memories Buried was today's Local Anesthetic Capsule on 93 XRT. - WXRT, Chicago


"Israeli Review on Ovadya"

"OVADYA is the name of an American band in the Chicago area which blends Frank Zappa rock beats, Middle Eastern electric guitars, Eastern European violins, Celtic percussion and lightly flavored jazz lines into a World Music sound....

‘Driftless’ combines many eclectic styles. The instrumental work is professionally done, with interesting drums and percussion and occasional flashes of electric guitar work. My favorite cut is Driftless’ version of ‘Horeni’, which (if you close your eyes) could sound like an early outtake from Kaveret." [Israeli band] - Direction Magazine


"IncCard (national E-zine)"

http://www.incard.com

O*VAD*YA: Transcendently powerful, delectable, irresistable tunes.

O*VAD*YA’s new CD "Driftless" is a clear representation of their unique musical style. Their music is original, intense, acoustic, and electric neo-psychedelic rock, flavored with distinct middle eastern and celtic influence, with a dash of jazz.

"Driftless" begins with the song Oasis, which is about finding "water in the burning sand." The best song on the album, by far is Blue Tubes, a psychedelic journey at the end of the world, looking back.

One of my personal favorites on the album is Kaddish, a song that the lead singer and vocalist M wrote about her mother’s death (Don’t worry, it’s encouraging!) In addition, the track Pulp Schiksa is just the band having fun and jamming, which is awesome.

Check them out at http://www.ovadya.net or download their music on the Apple iTunes Store - Mark Moskowitz ass't music editor


"GoGirls Music"

The band describes themselves as a neo-psychedelic world fusion band. It's different, exciting, eclectic and fun. I love this CD!

Hit Picks: "Oasis" and "Memories Buried" - Madalyn Sklar


"Real Comments Overheard"

"Wow... Your music (O*VAD*YA's) took us on a journey!" - Elbo Room Live in Chicago


"Around Hear (Illinois Entertainer)"

The music of O*VAD*YA is complex and multi-layered stuff, with strands of different genres confidently woven together into a psychedelic-jazz-rock kind of thing that's usually found on the jam-band circuit. Led by M Hurley...on DRIFTLESS she showcases a band of musicians skilled enough to carry the genre changes and unusual time signatures and still produce tight songs that have energy. - Marcy Dodds


"Real Comments"

"An kaleidoscopic aural experience!" (Nevin's)

"Had the opportunity to catch Ovadya from Chicago... very, very cool!"

(Neon's) - Fans f/Illinois & Ohio


Discography

Black Fire (Working now in the studio--stay tuned!

Driftless

Blue Thread Records "Live"

MP3s and opportunities to buy physical CD are available on places like CD Baby, Tower Records, Rhapsody, Audio Lunch Box and Apple I Tunes, Weeds, plus approximately 18 other sites.

Radio airplay of Driftless has happened internationally, nationally and locally (including Chicago's WLUP, WNUR, WDCB, WZRD, WIIT and WXRT to name a few.


Photos

Bio

Ovadya has been playing before diverse audiences for over ten years...

...all the way from opening for Eric Burdon & the Animals to Piamenta (the "Israeli Jimi Hendrix") & benefits, to clubs to live radio, from festivals to synagogues to benefits to intimate coffee houses. Their music has been featured on radio nationally and locally (WXRT, WNUR, WBEZ, WNUR, WLUP and many more), charting in CMJ and grabbing major (Polygram) label interest and indie label offers. Press on Ovadya and its music includes Chicago Sun Times affiliates, Chicago Tribune, Illinois Entertainer and many other newspapers / periodicals.

Bandie Backgrounds

Linda Wolf has recorded with monster guitarist Phil Keaggy and played with original, far-reaching New York and Chicago-area bands.

M Hurley's songwriting and her guitar work/music interested Polygram and received indie label offers and has been on radio. She was featured in Guitar World magazine and other press and signed a licensing deal with Outright Music in 2012. 

Vocalist Terrence Price has been called "a gentle, yet strong triple threat" (Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader). Terrence's unique style has been honed through consistent work in Chicago as an actor, model, voice-over for national and local companies and musically by headlining with powerful funk/rock bands including opening for the Village People. Terrence's vocals range from original thru rock, gospel, dance music (co-writing and recording with Chicago-born DJ Roy Davis Jr) and R&B with actor Anthony Montgomery.

Matt Kanter, an alum of The Collective School of Music in New York city, has played drums extensively with nationally known bands and performed all over the US, South Africa, Israel and Mexico. When not wowing audiences, he teaches drums and does studio work.

More Recently Ovadya has been written up in the Pioneer Press, and the band's music is now on Vocolo (WBEZ affiliate).

Lineup

  • Linda Wolf: Sax and Electric Violin
  • Matt Kanter: Drums
  • Terrence Price: Vocals
  • M Hurley: Lead Guitars / Effects, Songwriting, Mandolin

http://www.ovadya.net/






Band Members