What is "macha"

Macha is a goddess of ancient Ireland, associated with war, horses, sovereignty, and the sites of Armagh and Eamhain Mhacha in County Armagh, which are named after her. A number of figures called Macha appear in Irish mythology, legend and historical tradition, all believed to derive from the same deity. The name is presumably derived from Proto-Celtic *makajā denoting "a plain" (genitive *makajās "of the plain"). It was also said that Macha was called Grian Banchure, the "Sun of Womanfolk."

Macha is the name of a goddess and several other characters in Irish mythology.

Macha can also mean:

• The LÉ Macha (01), a ship in the Irish Naval Service, named for the goddess
• The Macha crater in Russia, less than 7000 years old
• Macha (Chrono Cross), a playable character in Chrono Cross.
• Macha (band), a band from Athens, Georgia combining Indonesian instrumental elements with indie rock
• Macha, Zambia, a region and chiefdom in the Southern Province of Zambia
• Santiago de Macha, a town in the Bolivian department of Potosi
• Macha Mission Station, a Christian mission in Zambia
• Macha Oromo, a section or sub-group of the Oromo people
• Mia (.hack), a character in the anime .hack//SIGN also known as Macha
• Karel Hynek Mácha, a Czech romantic poet
• Ken Macha, former manager for the Milwaukee Brewers
• The Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA), an ACHA Division 2 conference not sanctioned by the NCAA
• The Flag of Macha, the remains of the first physical flag of Argentina
• Macha, Russia, a selo in Machinsky Rural Okrug of Olyokminsky District of the Sakha Republic

Macha was an experimental post-rock band from Athens, Georgia composed of brothers Josh McKay (founder/singer/multi-instrumentalist), Mischo McKay (drums/percussion), Kai Reidl (multi-instrumentalist) and Wes Martin (multi-instrumentalist). Macha's music combined the precision tension-and-release post-rock of Mogwai with the lush, hypnotic grind of My Bloody Valentine, along with elements of post-punk, kraut-rock and especially Indonesian Gamelan. The CMJ New Music Report opined that the band "may have invented a new genre - call it Indo-rock." They incorporated a variety of instruments into their sets: Javanese zither, Balinese bamboo flute, hammered dulcimer, Hawaiian slide guitar, talempong nipple gongs and Nepalese shawms, vibraphone, and a 1970s-era thrift-store organ called the Fun Machine.

The band released their self-titled debut album in 1998 for Jetset Records. The album made the top five on both the CMJ and Gavin College Radio Charts. In 1999 they released See It Another Way (Jetset). They also teamed up with Bedhead a year later for the mini-album Macha Loved Bedhead (Jetset 2000). Four years since their last full-length, the group returned with Forget Tomorrow (Jetset 2004) expanding their sound and venturing into more pop territories.

Josh McKay is currently a member of the indie rock band Deerhunter, and recorded solo material under the name Abandon the Earth Mission (A.T.E.M.) in Athens.