Mashina is an Israeli rockband which was active from 1983 to 1995, and then again from 2003 to the present. The band is considered by many to be Israel's most important and influential rock band. Their musical style took inspiration from ska and hard rock, among others.
History
Mashina was formed by singer Yuval Banai, a member of the noted Banai family. His father, the late Yossi, was an actor and singer, as are uncles Gavri and Ya'akov, along with many of Yuval's cousins. During his army service, Banai met guitar player Shlomi Bracha and the two started playing music together. A friend of theirs, a recent Russian immigrant, suggested they call their band "Machina Vremeni", which means "time machine" in Russian. After the army service the two split up; Banai formed the band"Shlom Ha-Tzibur", while Bracha teamed up with bassist Michael Benson to form the band "HaChazit Ha'amamit". In 1984 they decided to combine to form a new band, which they called Mashina, bringing in drummer Iggy Dayan; in 1985, they released their self-titled debut, which quickly became a hit on the Israeli charts. Later, Avner Hodorov joined the band on keyboard and saxophone. They gained widespread popularity in Israel during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In May 1995, the band announced their retirement and put together four heavily-publicized farewell shows. What would have been their fourth and final performance, in Arad, Israel, ended when three of the spectators were crushed to death by the crowd before the band went onstage. The band played another farewell concert several months later at Park HaYarkon, which they dedicated to those three fans. After Mashina broke up, Banai released 3 solo albums: "Yuval Banai", "Rashi Dub" and "Nish'ar BaMakom" . Bracha released a solo album, and Benson co-founded the electronic-rock group Atmosfire, which came out with one album. The band re-formed in 2003 and began touring and releasing albums again. On October 8, 2006, the band performed at the opening ceremony of the 27th Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre. Mashina has gone on several North American tours, playing in cities including Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Toronto, Washington and Los Angeles. Banai and Bracha served as co-mentors on season 2 of The Voice Israel, in 2012-2013.
Music
The musical growth of Mashina can be mapped to different influences across their albums. Their early sound was obviously imitative of ska bands like Madness; they didn't bother to hide the influence, titling what became one of their earliest hit songs "Rakevet Laila Le-Kahir", an homage to Madness' "Night Boat to Cairo", or "Geveret Sarah Hashchena" that copied the theme, music and opening lyrics of Bob Dylan's "The Hurricane". Their subsequent albums combined reggae, punk rock and Middle Eastern elements. "Ha'Amuta Le-Heker Hatmuta" has sounds influenced by The Cure, "Miflatzot Ha-Tehila" has sounds influenced by The Pixies and grunge, "Si Ha-Regesh" has the blues influence of Pink Floyd, and "Lehitra'ot Ne'urim Shalom Ahava" presents the anthemic quality of U2 and Simple Minds. Their lyrics tend to be cynical, sometimes humorously so. They have common themes of alienation, the struggle of everyday life and a desire for some sort of physical or spiritual escape.
