I’ve been singing since the age of four. I’ve had very little training but I’ve always listened.
Having been brought up on a diet of Motown (from my mother) and Brazilian music (from my father) I started off my singing career doing traditional folk music. I’ve sung in various folk bands and sung backing vocals in several soul bands. From there I became interested in Jazz and performed as a solo artist with different backing ensembles. When I began to sing in Yiddish something clicked for me. It brought together my folky roots with my delight in jazz and my fascination for the Yiddish language. It also brought together the music in my life with my Jewish life, which has become increasingly important to me. I’ve been fortunate to have support for my Yiddish from Dr Heather Valencia, University of Stirling, and Dr Helen Beer of UCL.
Jo Nicholson studied as an Exhibition Scholar at the Royal College of Music, winning several prizes. Since graduating in 1992 she has pursued a lively freelance career, performing, broadcasting and recording with many of the UK’s finest orchestras and ensembles, and featuring as a soloist, including with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the Proms and with the Scottish Ensemble, performing Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto. Her compositions include the score for the dance work “In Situ”, which won a Herald Angel at the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and as the director of Sonsie Music she has written four musical stories for primary school children. Currently she is working on a musical setting of Matthew Fitt and James Robertson’s “A Moose In The Hoose: A Scots Counting Book”.
Phil was born in London to a leftwing Jewish family. He has a first in music from Goldsmiths College, where he studied with avant-garde guru John Tilbury. His musical experience ranges from Berlin Cabaret to contemporary classical, but his main love is klezmer (5 years in a Jewish wedding band planted a seed that continues to grow). In Edinburgh Phil currently leads his klezmer mavericks Moishe's Bagel and plays piano with internationally-acclaimed Salsa Celtica, whilst his compositions have featured on London’s South Bank and at Edinburgh's Queen's Hall. Happiest leading the action from the middle, Phil’s driving accompaniment and creative insight is the glue that brings a band together.
