Biography

Ethnix was founded in 1989 in Tel-Aviv. Two of the leading members of the band Nehama and Kaliski were previously in a band called Moscow that didn’t succeed as expected. After the band broke up they started a new band.

Rami Kleinstein the famous singer and producer that already knew them, listened to some of their new material and recommended them to Roni Baron, the manager of the big record company Helicon. Baron and Dror Kalinski (younger brother of Tamir) invented the name Ethnix, because the band was planning to incorporate ethnical and oriental music in their dance/pop/electronic music. Later in 1989 their first single came out on the radio and was called No Where To Go. The song had some success and through it they got the attention of the media and the audience. The album that followed the first single came out in 1990 and it was a big hit. Eventhough the album received negative criticism from the media it turned platinum and the people just loved it. They loved the fresh new sound of Ethnix and it was an album with many hits that was played non-stop in the summer of 1990. Songs like Desert Wind, Handing Over, Two Two and more made it one of the best albums of 1990.

In 1991 with their success and their obligation to their on growing audience they worked hard and Nehama and Kaliski added new band members so they will be able to perform in live shows and concerts. They also released their second album which was called Masala, which means Spices in Indian. The album had lots of successes and became a double platinum in no time and Ethnix became the most famous band in all of Israel. Some of the hits were Spot On A Fruit, An Old Song, To The Light and of course the duet with Zahava Ben that became a mega hit which was called Ketornay Masala.

This period in the early 90s was a very good period in the Israeli music industry, especially for Israeli rock and pop bands and Ethnix just shined above all other artists. One thing that the band found disturbing during this period, was that although they had made really good music and had lots of success they didn’t get good critics from the media and were said to be a bit to soft. This influenced them and their third studio album was a bit more with rock touches. The album that came out in 1992 was called A Jackals Howl. The album didn’t reach the success the previous one had, but also this album reached a platinum status and included many hits like the songs Strawberries, Adania, The Truth In Her Voice and more. Because of all the hits Ethnix established their status of the biggest Israeli band of the early 90s.

After checking out their rock limits and using more guitars than in their previous album they returned to their own territory and own sound, which meant more keyboards and more melodic catchy songs. Their forth studio album was released in 1993 and it was called Man And Snake. This album also had several hits from which the most famous ones were Jessica, Temple Of Love and more. The album continued their success streak and it became a platinum album too, selling somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 albums.

In 1993 the band was so famous that they had sold out concerts in Israel and also abroad in countries like USA, Uk, Switzerland, France and Germany.

After coming back from a busy year of concerts they released their next album in 1994. The album had lots of oriental music in it and it seemed that the band was also experimenting in this album as it was not like their previous albums. The album was called You and it had few songs that had mild success in the charts. The band remained very famous. Around this time Israel had only one broadcasting channel and a second channel at its beginning. So few channels made it even more special when Ethnix belonged to the few artists to be asked to perform on the main channel. They even had a show that went on for several hours where they broadcasted a concert of Ethix and their favorite artists performing with them. With only one and a half channel in the air, their concert show was something spectacular.
They also sang a song with the Comedy Store, at the time the top Israeli comedy show group in Israel with the most successful show on TV.

Their sixth album came out in 1996. Ethnix wanted it to be with more oriental touches but the material they gathered for it didn’t include much of this style. In this year they also added another guitar player to the band Yehoram Poisner. The album was called Pop and it had many hits that had lots of success in the charts and were played non-stop on TV and radio stations. The hits were She Wont Return, Give Me Some Dineros, The Commune and more. The album was a typical Ethnix album and had a strong electronic and pop sound to it.

Nehama and Kaliski were very anxious to work on an oriental music project as this genre was very popular and they were introduced to a young talented star with lots of potential called Eyal Golan. They had lots of chemistry with him and together they wrote and composed his Mega Hit album in 1997 called Without You. An album that ended up as one of the best selling albums in Israel of all time. 1997 was also the first year since they started, that they didn’t take out a studio album for themselves.

In 1998 Ethnix had one of their busiest years ever. They produced their seventh studio album and also worked together and produced an album for Eyal Golan. Golans second album with them was called Soldier Of Love. The album became a extremely good selling album and had many number one hits in it.

For the first time Ethnix was also able to produce an oriental album for themselves. They released the album Welcome To Israel in 1998 and had also lots of success. It had many hits in it, and the song called Black BMW (Free And Happy) became one of the greatest summer hits of all time as it was played non-stop on radio and TV stations. The song was also popular to be played at weddings, bar mitzvas and other celebrations. The album tried to show the unity in the variation of the Israeli culture. On the cd-image the band members appeared dressed in costumes from different nations, different economy classes and different fields from Israel that make it one nation.

News

Articles:

1. Concert Review Ethnix & Eyal
2. Ethnix & Eyal Golan Concert

Videos

Videos:

Ethnix - Linda


Ethnix - America