OKEANOS ®
GREEK MUSIC ENSEMBLE, IZMIR I TURKEY
OKEANOS is known to be the most enjoyable Greek Music Group in Turkey. Their perfoming activities include such historic musical genres as Smyrneika and Rembetika, reproduced from recordings of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century from the first gramophone records and radio shows, and accompanied by shows of dances known as zeybekika and hasapika.
The group was founded in 2007. Evrim Atesler’s 20-year performing partner Mert Isyar plays the bouzouki and five members.
In their live performances they provide audiences with unforgettable experiences of zeibekiko, hasapiko, hasaposerviko and Turkish zeybek dances. They are record breakers of live performances at the Swissotel Buyuk Efes in Izmir, with 1000 performances within 5 years and 2000 performances within 8 years.
OKEANOS’s repertory includes not only the most favoured Smyrneika and Rembetika but also songs loved by both Greek and Turkish people of the Aegean and its islands as well as the continent.
OKEANOS keep up their live performances at Swissotel Buyuk Efes in Izmir for the 9th year, presenting both modern and traditional versions of their music.
Evrim Atesler I Voice, Acustic Guitar, Baglamadaki
Mert Isyar I Vocals, Bouzouki, Guitar
Burak Senisik I Violin
Ozan Lezgioglu I Percussions
Filiz Onder I Vocals
NEABANDA ®
NEW SOUND OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, ATHENS I GREECE
Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. East and West. Greece and Turkey. Once upon a time and nowadays. Friendship and synergy. Just a few words that help trace the music group NEABANDA in the densely populated polyphonic geographical music map of today. Six Greek and three Turkish musicians, 9 men and a woman, get creative, communicate, discover, express and find their own expression, travel and take us travelling to Izmir, Athens, Alexandria, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Piraeus. Cities giving out the fragrance of history. 19th and 20th century. Times of turmoil and upheaval. Times of separation. 21st century. Same places. Similar people. Time for get-togethers.
One Turkish and two Greek musicians, Evrim Atesler, Aris Konidaris and Mihalis Bakalis, friends, colleagues and almost… relatives by now, amidst sea dives on both sides of the Aegean, internet sessions and live performances, had been talking for months about gathering their friends, Greeks and Turks, from both Aegean coasts, and start playing together the music they love, that music that has brought them closer to each other and has reminded them of their common roots. Said and done! And here it is, ready, brand new and shiny, dashing, lively and youthful the New Band, in other words NEABANDA.
NEABANDA consists of:
Alexandros Psomopoulos, bouzouki
Aris Konidaris, bass
Giorgos Zorgrafos, accordion
Evrim Atesler, voice, guitar, clarinet, nay … and whatever else comes up
Ibrahim Kurnaz, violin
Ismet Cakmak, percussions
Mihalis Bakalis, percussions
Nikos Plios, guitar
Ria Ellinidiou, voice, percussions
Socratis Desypris, bouzouki