An
Israeli rock band. Formed in 1985 by
Yuval Banay (vocals),
Shlomo Bracha (guitar),
Michael Benson (bass),
Igi Dayan (drums) and
Avner Khudorov (keyboard). It
split in 1995, after recording 8 albums and becoming one of the greatest (some say
the greatest) Israeli rock groups. Lately (2003), the group reformed, and is currently (again, 2003) touring and making new material.
It's a little hard to pin a non-English-language rock group down to a specific genre, but I'd say that it could be probably considered a Ska group, with its primary influence being the British band Madness. Their lyrics are usually quite humourous, while Yuval Banay's singing is usually tortured, or at least rather serious. The music tends to be simple (at least production-wise), and energetic.
Oddly enough, it was probably called after the Russian band, Mashina Vremeni. Yuval Banay and Shlomo Bracha decided to form the band while in the army, but they didn't have a name. A Russian friend jokingly suggested "Mashina Vremeni", probably the most popular Russian rock band ever. Unfortunately, neither Yuval nor Shlomo were Russian, so they didn't get it. The band was therefore called "Mashina Vremeni", which was later shortened to easier-to-pronounce "Mashina".
Discography:
1985 - Mashina
1987 - Mashina 2
1988 - Mashina 3
1989 - Gvirotay URabotay (Ladies and gentlemen)
1990 - HaAmuta LeKheker HaT'muta (The society of the research of mortality)
1992 - Miflatsot HaTehila (The monsters of fame)
1993 - Si HaRegesh (The peak of emotion)
1995 - Lehitraot Neurim, Shalom Ahava (Goodbye youth, hello love)
Compilations:
1995 - Mechonat HaZman (The time machine)
1995 - HaOsef HaSheni (The second collection)