Ocacia

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Ocacia

Background information
Origin	London, UK/Caribbean
Genre(s)	smooth jazz
Years active	1999 - present
Label(s)	Souljazzfunk
Website	http://www.ocacia.com
Members
Nadia Kanouche Alik Shahadah Brian McCooke Maya Jobarteh
Former members
Natasha Odlum David Hadley
Notable instrument(s)
Piano, Drum and Bass

Ocacia is an international smooth jazz studio and performance group. Ocacia is known for their socially conscious lyrics. The music is characterized by some as "escapist" in the usage of space, chords and ethnic overtones. The chord structure has an absences of "thirds" and is similar to other African Diaspora and African classical music by its “drum and bass” dominance. Not all the music fits into the smooth jazz canon, as some of it is more in the film score world. Their first album was released in 1999. The original members of the group were Owen 'Alik Shahadah (Piano/keyboards), Natasha Odlum (voice), David Hadley (Bass), Brian McCooke (drums). In 2002, Natasha Odlum left the group and Nadia Kanouche became the new lead feature vocalist. Ocacia works as a studio group composing soundtracks and is also known to work with other artist such as Maya Jobarteh and M.K. Asante,Jr.

The name Ocacia is an African name derived from acacia.