Octavia (Bolivian Band)

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Octavia
Origin La Paz, Bolivia
Genre(s) Pop rock with Andean instruments
Years active 1988–1996 (CODA3) 1996– Present
Label(s) Flagstone Records
Members
Gimmer Illanes
Simón Lujan
Vladimir Perez
Ricardo Sasaki
Omar Gonzalez
Martín Fox

Octavia is the name that identifies the most important band of Rock pop in Bolivia.

Contents

[edit] Beginnings

Started in La Paz, Bolivia, in 1988, the band comprises:

Gimmer Illanes, Simón Lujan, Vladimir Pérez, Ricardo Sasaki, Omar González, Martín Fox

The first name of the band was "Coda 3" and under this name they recorded four albums of their own compositions with independent record companies in Bolivia.

In 1995 the band's music became known outside Bolivia when it's songs were aired by the most important music broadcast those days, MTV Latinoamérica. This opened the possibilities for the bigger international recording enterprises on including the band name on their lists

[edit] International appearance

In 1996 the band signed a three album deal with Sony Music Entertainment, and to avoid being confused with a Mexican band, changed their name to Octavia.

The first of these albums was "aura" in 1996, an album which later became an icon for the Bolivian market, with record sales and a platinum disc. Three more albums were created under this contract:

Some of the bands music videos were broadcast on well known music channels such as MTVla, Telehit and Ritmoson Latino.

All these productions went Gold or Platinum as an award, that is what motivated the band to tour the United States of America in 1998, including Miami, Washington, Virginia, Maryland and New York.

In the year 2000, the band was invited to the most important music festival on Latin America “Rock al Parque” (rock to the park), in Bogotá, Colombia, where they realized 2 shows for more than 50,000 viewers. the recent events inspired the network CNN in Spanish to do a new special following about the show that was given.

In the next years presentations in Chile, a tour around Peru intensifies the contract with Sony Music Entertainment and they produce the album “4”, which should have been released in Argentina, Chile, Perú, Bolivia and Ecuador. but the economic crisis in Argentina obliterates the economic movement of Sony in Bolivia, and nearby countries. in consequence for that action the new material was retired from the market.

Octavia cancelled the contract with Sony and in 2003 independently produced the album “Octavia al Aire libre” (Octavia on live), which compiles 15 years of music and was the first live record released by the band.

In 2004 Octavia spent 6 months in Oklahoma, USA and cut a new album “Talismán” which was produced by Tyson Meade, chief of “Chainsaw Kittens”, under the signature of Flagstone Records.

On 2005 the band promoted the album “Talismán” all over Bolivia, realizing series of concerts most of them very notable like the band appearance in the Paceña's FestiMusic in the city Santa Cruz and La Paz, along with bands such as Ataque 77 (Argentina) and Kumbia Kings (USA). In the first months of 2006 the band planned the releasing of “Talisman” in Argentina.

On December 2006 Octavia releases a 5 song record called "Masterplan" which plans to fill up the Bolivian desire for more productions after the "talisman" was released.

The band also works with the Bolivian Beer company "Paceña" and created and released the single "Paceña's theme" as an official song for the enterprise.

seen the good quality in rock music, the catchy sounds of pop, the estrange and unique merge with folkloric music, the electronics sequences of the actual sound and the coziness of the acoustic music; we can conclude that Octavia is a band in constant growing. and every time that pases Octavia shows again to be the best band in the actuality of Bolivia.

[edit] Discography

  • “Dia tras día” (1990)
  • “Verdades inéditas” (1991 – gold record)
  • “2387” (1994 – gold record)
  • “Coda 3 Acústico” (1995)
  • “Ciclos” (1999 – gold record)
  • “Octavia Acústico” (2001 – gold record)
  • “4” (2002 – gold record)
  • “Talisman” (2005)
  • “Masterplan” (2007)

[edit] Videos

[edit] Links