Oko (trans. ''Eye'') was a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n and Yugoslav

hard Hard may refer to: * Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture * Hard water, water with high mineral content Arts and entertainment * ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series * Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock super ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band formed in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

in 1972. Formed and led by guitarist and vocalist Pavle Kavec, Oko was a prominent act of the

Yugoslav rock scene Popular music in Yugoslavia includes the pop and rock music of the former SFR Yugoslavia, including all their genres and subgenres. The scene included the constituent republics: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Montenegr ...

in the 1970s.

Band history

1972–1978

Guitarist and vocalist Pavle Kavec started his career in 1966, while he was still in

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, playing with the band Rož'ce (''Lil' Roses''), performing with them on the Zagreb Guitar Festival. In 1967, influenced by the works of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, Kavec formed the

power trio A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quartet ...

Yeti Experience, featuring Kavec on guitar and vocals, Miran Bulič on bass guitar and Borut Sedej on drums. In 1971, Kavec moved to the band Skarabeji (''The Scarabs''), whose sound was inspired by

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

. In 1972, Kavec formed Oko with drummer Jani Tutta and bass guitarist Miro Tomassini, the latter previously a member of the band

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

. They adopted the name Oko after a suggestion by fellow musician

Janez Bončina Janez Bončina, nicknamed Benč (born 3 December 1947) is a Slovenian composer, guitarist and singer. He is one of the leading authors and performers of Slovenian and Yugoslavian rock music. In the middle of the 1960s, Bončina with his friend ...

. Initially, Oko performed

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

, but later started to move towards

and introduce

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

elements into their music. In 1973, Tutta was replaced by Dejan Gajić. The new Oko lineup made their first recordings, for Radio Ljubljana. In 1975, Gajić and Tomassini both moved to the band Jutro, drummer Toni Dimnik and bass guitarist Franjo Martinec becoming new Oko members. This lineup of the band recorded the band's debut release, the

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...

"Vse dal sam ti" / "Spet nazaj" ("I Gave You All" / "Back Again"), released in 1975 through

Jugoton Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, SR Croatia. History Jugoton was formed in 1947. It is notable for releasing some of the most important former Yugoslav pop and rock records ...

record label. This lineup of the band also recorded the material for their first studio album. All the songs were written by Kavec, with the exception of the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

"Tema IV", composed by Martinec. The lyrics for the song "Sam sam" ("I Am Alone") were written by Dah frontman

Zlatko Manojlović Zlatko Manojlović (Serbian Cyrillic: Златко Манојловић; born 1951) is a Serbian guitarist and singer. He is known as the leader of the progressive rock band Dah and the heavy metal band Gordi, as well as for his eclectic solo ...

, who also appeared on the track as guest vocalist. The album was produced by Dečo Žgur, and it featured guest appearances by Izvir keyboardist Andrej Konjajev and percussionist Miha Vipotnik. However, Oko disbanded a year later, before releasing the album, as Dimnik moved to

Buldožer Buldožer (meaning "bulldozer"), was a Yugoslav-Slovenian progressive rock band from the 1970s and 1980s. They were one of the first bands in communist Yugoslavia that could be considered Avant-prog, and forefathers of the Yugoslav new wave. I ...

and Martinec decided to dedicate himself to his studies. Kavec re-recorded the vocals with new lyrics in

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

(they were originally in Slovene) and released the album in 1976 under the name ''Raskorak'' (''Gap'') through

record label. At the time of ''Raskorak'' release, Oko was inactive, and Kavec was playing with the band Boomerang. At the end of 1976, Kavec reformed Oko with drummer Zlati Klun and bass guitarist Igor Bošnjak. They performed until 1978, when Oko disbanded, making several one-off reunions in the following years for anniversary concerts.

Post breakup, 2000 reformation

After Oko disbanded, Kavec mostly retired from performing, dedicating himself to his school of guitar. However, in the early 1990s he returned to the scene with his solo album ''Hočeš z menoj'' (''Wanna Come With Me''), which he recorded with his son Mitja Kavec on bass guitar and his former bandmate from Oko Dragan Gajić on drums. In 1998, Max Plus record label reissued ''Raskorak'' on CD, with the band's early recordings as bonus tracks. This re-release led to reformation of Oko. The new lineup featured Pavle Kavec (guitar, vocals), Ernie Mendillo (bass guitar) and Klemen Markelj (drums). On their performance in the Hound Dog club in Ljubljana they recorded the live album ''Oko (Live December 2000)'', which they self-released in 2001. The album featured only one Oko song, "Raskorak", and covers of rock hits from the 1960s. Oko's original bass guitarist Miro Tomassini died on 21 August 2019."Odšel je Miro Tomassini", Sigic
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Discography

Studio albums

*''Raskorak'' (1976)

Live albums

*''Oko (Live December 2000)'' (2001)

Singles

*"Vse sam dal ti" / "Spet nazaj" (1975)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Oko
at

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Oko
at Prog Archives Slovenian hard rock musical groups Slovenian jazz-rock groups Slovenian progressive rock groups Yugoslav hard rock musical groups Yugoslav progressive rock groups Yugoslav jazz-rock groups Musical groups from Ljubljana Musical trios Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups disestablished in 1978