Michael Vaknin

Osher and Michael Vaknin, 35-year-old identical twin brothers, were murdered at the Supernova music festival, which they helped organize, on October 7.

Osher was confirmed dead and his body recovered soon after Hamas’s murderous rampage. The family waited and hoped desperately for news about Michael, only to be informed several days later that he, too, had been killed.

The Jerusalemite twins were music producers, festival organizers and well-known figures in the Israeli trance music scene, working under the moniker “Double Trouble” as well as “Mushroom Project.”

Sunny Vaknin, Osher’s widow, told AFP that a friend who survived the massacre had recalled seeing Osher “get out of the car to help people.”

“He was my whole life, really,” said Sunny, describing her husband and brother-in-law as “great people” who “always wanted to make people happy.”

Their sister, Ausa, told Ynet that “Osher was always in the front, a fighter, protecting those who were close to him and weaker than him. Michael was like his name, an angel. Full of knowledge, always giving mental strength, full of peace of mind. My brothers.”

Alon Hammer recalled on Facebook the twins’ huge impact on the music scene in Israel: “They founded and ran one of the best Psytrance production companies in Israel called Mushroom Project. They introduced our scene to some of the best music… They were trendsetters, musical geniuses and created a new wave of psytrance in Israel throughout the 00s. They were my close and dear friends.”

Hammer said the brothers were “absolute legends… I will never ever forget these brothers and I will never ever stop loving them. Fly high with the endless light, pump that music loud and traverse the endless universe together.”

“Osher was always kind, vibrant, welcoming,” wrote Yael Sagi on Facebook. “You always spread and shared your joy with others,” she said. Turning to Michael, she wrote: “You and Osher are twin brothers but each of you was so unique… you were so adventurous, loving and easygoing.”

“You and your twin brother… brought so so so so so much joy to my life and so many more,” she added. “You were a symbol together. You will stay a symbol forever.”

The Indian trance musician DJ Braindrop said that their loss was an enormous one in the music world.

“At this point my heart is numb. I don’t know how much more in tears I could be. Look at their beautiful happy faces, that are so beloved by the community. It is the most excruciating, cruel and unfortunate circumstance to die mercilessly, shot doing something that they loved living for,” he wrote.

“I will fondly remember my memories with them and how they both always called me with affection ‘U my bro,’” he added. “Brothers in arms, brothers in death.”
Source: Times of Israel