OCCASIONAL DREAM [or ΠΕΡΙΣΤΑΣΙΑΚΟ ΟÎΕΙΡΟ in Greek] is -or maybe better, was- a band based in Athens, Greece that performed for more than 10 years since 1993.
The band had been continuously “trespassing†on different styles of music, experimenting with different arrangements of members and instruments used, tanking advantage of a vast array of diverse aesthetics, techniques and styles that its members brought into play.
STYLE:
Acoustic rock, traditional forms of the Mediterranean region, European Jazz, experimental Jazz, contemporary Greek songwriting, world music influences were elements combined in different balance and ratios during occasional dream’s history. The main characteristic of Occasional Dream live performances was its improvisational and collective interaction aspect something that was also vital part of the composing procedure of original music.
LIVE PERFORMANCE:
The Band had performed extensively in Athens during all those years mainly in live-bars and small concert halls but had also given concerts in Thessaloniki, Argos, Larisa and other Greek Towns. In June 1999, Occasional Dream represented Greece at the 'Biennale Of Young Artists', held in Rome, Italy. In June 2000 they participated in the International Ethnic-Jazz Festival 'Odes' in Athens, Greece and in December 2000 and 2001 they performed in Ankara, Turkey during the 2nd and 3rd European Youth Festival.
HISTORY:
The core of the band met back in 1993 in Athens, Greece, when the guitarists Vassilis Tzavaras, Leonidas Karakatsanis and the piano player and percussionist Michalis Nivolianitis formed a trio to experiment with different ways of playing, more or less famous, rock and blues covers.
Their main aim was to concentrate on the elements of improvisation and personal style. Since 1996, Harris Lambrakis playing the wind instrument Nay) and Dimitris Michelis (playing Ud), join in the band.
Occasional Dream worked on their own compositions, creating their own characteristic sound, incorporating different - and at a first sight distant - influences. With the participation of Yiorgos Kaloudis on the cello, Alekos Tsamis on percussion and later Yiannis Notaras on drums the band reaches its final 7-membered synthesis.
The Band has released an album in March 2000 with LYRA records, which contains instrumental pieces and songs with Greek and English Lyrics.
PRESENT:
The band does not perform any more but it has neither dissolved leaving open the possibility of a reactivation of the friendship networks that exist among their members in the future. Most of the people that had been involved actively in Occasional Dream band continue with their music lives eıther as members of other collectivities and bands, as professional musicians, composers, ect in Greece or abroad.
PURPOSE OF PAGE:
To share some of the experimental moments of the bands history.
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