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May 9, 2008
Yoav's fame rising fast
Israeli-born singer and songwriter enjoys success.
EVA COHEN
His style is hard to pin down, and that's a lot of the appeal of Israeli-born singer Yoav. The 20-something-old moved to South Africa with his family at the age of two and had an interesting upbringing.
As a singer, he just goes by Yoav, but his full name is Yoav Sadan. He is the youngest of three children, with an older brother and sister. He is the only one in his family who doesn't know Hebrew in any form and his parents used to speak in Hebrew when they didn't want him to understand. When his family arrived in South Africa, his siblings spoke better Hebrew than English. They were sent to a Jewish school, but since his sister didn't enjoy it, their parents decided they would try something totally different with Yoav, the next in line.
"They put me into an Anglican all boys school, which I had a horrible time at," said Yoav. "Really, [it was like] all those clichés [in] those movies about being the only Jewish kid in school, but it was probably a good building experience."
Yoav's family are secular Israelis, so though he does not prescribe to the religious part of being a Jew, he inherited a strong Zionist sentiment.
"I feel quite connected to Israel," he said. "As far as the religious side of things and the tradition, I'm not very traditional. That's part of what I do as a writer and a poet and a singer, I try to draw from as many things as possible and I don't see or connect with any one religion. But I certainly feel, because of my name ... I definitely feel a connection with Israel.
"I went been back to Israel a few times," he continued, "but I actually haven't been back in a long time. Although now I believe I have a hit on the radio there, which makes me happy because it gives me a reason to come back and play."
As a child, Yoav began on instruments he hated, like the piano and the cello, but when his brother gave him an old beat up guitar, he found his calling. Today, the sound on Yoav's first album, Charmed & Strange, can be described as a sexier version of Jack Johnson, with the beats of Justin Timberlake. He actually says he found the musical character for Charmed & Strange when he went to sit in Central Park in New York one day and got surrounded by a field trip of junior high kids.
"I was playing these crazy drum 'n' bass rhythms and they were whirling around me like trance hippies. It was incredible. I felt like I was deejaying with my guitar."
Yoav seems to draw from a bit of everything for his unique music, including ideas from comic books and graphic novels. He tries to write down his dreams and random lines that pop into his head, and he's heavily into lyrical writing. His influences include poets such as e. e. cummings and singers like Bob Dylan. As a youth, he could get his hands on new music, but, due to the culturally boycott of South African apartheid, he never got to see his favorite bands live.
"A lot of my lyrics are about questioning reality, questioning the media and just the ordinary conventions," said Yoav. "The music I grew up listening to was pop music but it was really dark, like Pink Floyd, I felt like I was being spoken to and I wanted to make that kind of music."
Charmed & Strange has Yoav on the guitar only and, although it has received much acclaim, he says he doesn't want that limitation again.
"I'm very glad I did [this last album as I did]. I like the fact that I can go on for a performance and it's just me on the guitar, but I think it has to grow," said Yoav, who is already looking ahead to his next album. He has done some tracks and remixes with a "chap" from American rock band Nine Inch Nails, but is unsure of exactly which direction he is going to take things.
"I don't know if I've set on a producer yet," said Yoav. "I have about three or four songs and I really want to work on my lyrics for this one and take it to the next place."
Charmed & Strange was recorded in Montreal and Oxford, England. Where he will record next CD depends on which record label he goes with, and what direction he wants to take it, but he is leaning toward the West Coast, Santa Barbara area. Yoav said he likes it in London, but he thinks California would be a nice change. He has a "ridiculously expensive" apartment in London that he rarely uses and has only stayed in for about five days in total over the past few months. He has been on several tours all over the world and described the experience as "surreal."
"I've been pretty much on the road since August, September.... In October, I went on the road for three months and I was playing really large shows, 5,000 seat venues, and that was bizarre. I was going country to country and it is strange, every day is different."
Yoav has just wrapped up a spin through Western Canada, with successive shows in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton last week and he heads out east to play in Ottawa and Toronto at the end of the month. Since he recorded in Montreal, Yoav is familiar with the Canadian music scene and said he enjoys playing the clubs.
His strong voice and dark appeal have not only put Yoav onto the radio rotation across North America, but onto the charts in several countries. His single "Club Thing" and the most recent "Adore, Adore" have made him more of a household name, which is a large jump from the kid wandering around London after a year of university with a few demo tapes. The recent fame has been, as he said, surreal, but he's definitely having a good time.
"It's been an in-between almost-famous time," he said, "but I've been enjoying it."
Eva Cohen is a Canadian freelance writer, who is currently in England.
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