Numa Numa is an Internet phenomenon based on amateur videos made for the Romanian pop song "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone.
The phrase "Numa Numa" comes from the chorus of the song, "nu mă, nu mă iei," meaning, roughly, "(you) won't take, won't take me."
Maiyahi by Ikari
The first video to gain widespread popularity was created by Japanese internet user Ikari, and features animated images of cats resembling Mona from 2 Channel and text based on a series of puns:
- Alo ("hello") becomes "arrow," "alone," and Arlong (a character from One Piece)
- Salut ("greetings") becomes saru (monkey)
- Sunt eu ("it's me") becomes sugee (incredible)
- Un ("an") becomes un (yes)
- Haiduc ("outlaw") becomes haidoku (to read)
- şi te rog ("I ask you") becomes ji bero ("tongue characters")
- Fericirea ("your happiness") becomes panchira (upskirt)
- Nu ma, nu ma iei becomes "noma, noma yay!" ("drink, drink, yay!")
An episode of Smap X Smap featured the band lip-synching "Dragostea din Tei" with the cast of period drama Ō-Oku, with all the performers loudly chanting "Noma, noma yay!" during the chorus.
Gary Brolsma
A Flash-based video of nineteen-year-old American Gary Brolsma (born July 7, 1986) lip-synching the song energetically on his webcam brought the Numa Numa phenomenon to the US. Brolsma has stated that he first discovered the song in the Japanese flash animation.
Brolsma first published his "Numa Numa Dance" on the Newgrounds site on December 6, 2004. Since then it has popped up on hundreds of other websites and blogs, and he has made appearances on ABC's Good Morning America, NBC's The Tonight Show and VH1's Best Week Ever.
Brolsma lives in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Reportedly, he is not happy with his fame, although he has created tweaked versions of the video since it became popular (see below). According to The New York Times, Brolsma has become an "unwilling and embarrassed Web celebrity." Brolsma has stopped taking phone calls from the media; he canceled an appearance on NBC's Today Show on February 17, 2005, and he did not cooperate with The New York Times for their February 26, 2005 article about him.
Brolsma's video also contains some puns, among them pictures of "feta cheese" during the lyric "fericirea" ("happiness") and a LEGO representation of Bob Ross during the singer's words: "sunt eu Picasso" ("it's me, Picasso").
UBC Numa Numa
On February 10, 2006, eight students from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada released a four-and-a-half minute video in which they lip-synch and dance to the song. The video has attained cult status on campus, and, since the video was linked on Collegehumor.com, rapidly increasing popularity on the internet, receiving over 200,000 hits in its first two days online.
The main creators of UBC Numa Numa are fourth-year marketing student Jorgen Kjono (who wears an orange construction helmet in the video) and recent graduate Tyson Miller. Kjono, who has uploaded several other amateur videos on YouTube and owns a film production company called HBS Productions, filmed most of the video and did the editing. The video was filmed on the UBC campus, on Wreck Beach, and in Richmond, and features a pilot (Miller, wearing an authentic, borrowed pilot's uniform) who meets some UBC engineers and has fun with them. Cast in the video can be seen wearing UBC Engineering jackets and dancing next to the large concrete "E" which marks the Engineering department.
The students entered the video in the UBC Civil Engineering Club’s FilmfEUSt, an annual amateur film festival for UBC's Engineering students. Since none of the students involved are Engineering students the video was disqualified from the competition, but nevertheless received a standing ovation at the FilmfEUSt screening, and remains linked on the Civil Engineering Club website [1].
According to Kjono, who is still a UBC student as of March 2006, "It’s incredible how many people recognise us, especially Tyson [Miller]. I was sitting in class and these six Chinese guys were staring at me and then I acknowledged them and they all busted out the sprinkler [a dance move performed in the video]" [2].
A second video, Numa Numa: The Later Years, featuring footage that did not make it into UBC Numa Numa, is also available. Kjono and Miller have plans to make other videos.
Other versions
Dragostea din Tei's infectious beat has made it a favourite among amateur video makers, and there are hundreds of other Numa Numa videos to be found online, including one featuring a Sim from the computer game The Sims 2 dancing to the song.
See also
References
- "Internet Fame Is a Cruel Mistress for a Numa Numa Dancer". The New York Times Metro Saturday. 2005-02-26. p. B6.
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External links
O-Zone versions
Selected amateur versions on the Internet
- Gary Brolsma's original version
- American Idle, a Flash animation parody of American Idol and Gary Brolsma
- Numa Numa special edition, with English subtitles
- Chinese Version
- Maihahi: Japanese animated version
- Hebrew Numa: This version became popular in Israel when it was used as the theme song of a children's song contest
- Malaysian students
- Numa Gone Wild: Flash movie of a man who detests the Numa Numa
- Numa Numa Relived: Video of a boy who is only identified as "Dean" performing a tribute to Brolsma's version at a Cable access or public televison talent show in Ozark, Missouri called "Wednesday Night Live"
- Red Vs Blue Numa Numa: created by members of the Red vs Blue Community
- UBC Numa Numa and Numa Numa: The Later Years
- Numa Numa Guild Wars cosplay Guild Wars cosplayers do the Numa Numa.
- USS Enterprise Sailors
- Numa Numa Dance performed at Rockefeller Plaza in New York
- Lego dancing video
- Flash wordplay on the lyrics
- Dragostea Din Taksin: a parody of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
Remakes and official releases
- Guo Mei Mei - Bu Pa Bu Pa
- Japanese version
- Napoleon Dynamite Numa Numa Dance: This version was made by fans of the flash video and shows a clip from the popular movie Napoleon Dynamite where he is shown dancing to the hit song
- Chicken Little Trailer
General
- Lyrics (Romanian and English translation)
- Garybrolsma.net - Gary Brolsma fan website