Biography
There are at least 4 artists wit the name Oko:
1. Hard Progressive Rock band from Ljubljana, Slovenia, formed by the lead singer and guitarist Pavel Kavec, active from 1972 to 1978.
2. Rock band from Zagreb, Croatia, formed by Ismet Kurtović in 1997.
The band Oko (Eng. „The Eye“) was formed in 1972 in Ljubljana (Slovenia, at that time a republic within former Yugoslav Federation) by the lead singer and guitarist Pavel Kavec . The original line-up included also Miro Tomassini on bass and Jani Tutta on drums. In 1973 the drummer Tutta was replaced by Dragan Gajič.
In this period they played mostly blues-based hard rock repertoire with Kavec developing unique although largely Jimi Hendrix-influenced guitar style. Later on they also included innovative elements of jazz–rock into their songs. In early 1975 the rhythm section joined another prog rock band from Ljubljana - Jutro, so Kavec assembled the new group with drummer Tone Dimnik and bassist Franjo Martinec, which recorded the 7“ single Vse sem dal ti .
During the recording sessions for their debut LP Raskorak in 1976 Kavec again lost his rhythm section – Dimnik moved to avant-rock group Buldožer, while Martinec left music business in order to study at a college. In late 1976 Oko re-grouped, this time with drummer Zlatko Klun (ex Boomerang) and bassist Igor Bošnjak, who played on tour promoting Raskorak. Oko disbanded in 1978 having not gained much fame in SFR Yugoslavia.
Kavec gathered the band in early 1990s with drummer Gajič, his son Mitja on bass and several friends and released a solo CD Hočeš z menoj in 1994. In 1996 the band played in the line-up Tomassini, Klun and Kavec. The live album was recorded in December 2000 by Kavec, Marko Bertoncelj on drums and Ernie Mendillo on bass, which presented several cover versions of Jimi Hendrix songs.
Although Oko remained an obscure band outside of Slovenia, they were important for prog scene in Yugoslavia as the followers of heavy progressive rock style under the influence of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and sharing the sensibility of similar Yugoslav bands like Pop Mašina, Dah, Fire or Drugi Način.
When Drugi Način disbanded in 1991, their singer, guitarist, flutist and main songwriter Ismet Kurtović moved on to acting, singing and writing music for theater and music for children.
In 1997, together with guitarist Davor Senčar (ex-Drugi Način), he formed a rock band Oko ("The Eye") and used the old logo from the early days of Drugi Način, that featured the picture of the eye with two irides.
Alongside Kurtović and Senčar, the other members were: Tomislav Gregurić (keyboards, vocals), Marko Kasović (bass) and Davor Trošelj (drums).
This line-up released their only album Sakrij se u mene in 1997, recorded the video for the song Kad si blizu and went on short promotional tour that included a few concerts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegowina.
Soon after that, Oko disbanded.
3. OKO is a polyphonic pop band made up of Petra Nachtmanova, Moss Beynon-Juckes, and Emma Greenfield. The trio brings together traditional vocal harmonies and new sounds inspired by Bulgarian, Serbian, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Laz, Georgian, and Turkish folk songs. They draw out stories that tell of universal experience — stories that unite us and with which we can all identify. Their songs and arrangements connect their own experiences with old stories and tell them from a particularly female perspective, presenting a dialogue between cultures, between old and new, between city and village. In the context of a Europe in which borders are closing and fear of the »other« is increasing, it is their goal to explore folk songs that break through these barriers and bring together people from different backgrounds by speaking to different musical and cultural codes.
4. techno producer OKO from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. https://soundcloud.com/okookooko
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