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February 15, 2005
Help. Why am I singing in Romanian?
Alo.
Salut.
Sunt eu, un haiduc.
It started with this: Numanuma. Yeah, it's funny, but I love it, as well. The kid is the fat gay kid in all of us with the fierce drag queen waiting to get out.
And the song is catchy. Try and get it out of your head. Just try. See?
Here's the original group: Musique-radio.com présente : O-ZONE "Dragostea Din Tei", vidéo clip. Their name is O-Zone, and they're a Moldavian boy band. Yes, Moldavian. From Moldova. Where's that? Wedged between Romania (Moldova was a former province lost , I believe, in the Second World War) and Russia. They're singing in Romanian, with what I am told is a Moldavian accent. As if I could tell.
It's cheesy, but one learns a few things about boy bands, including those from Moldova:
Boy bands are calculated to equally appeal to gay men (note the rainbow at the beginning, the bodybuilders, the Village People cartoons and the convenient absence of all females) and teenaged women. What does this say about our tastes?
The song was released in Romania in late 2003 and went to #1 in France the following summer. George Bush won the United States election shortly after, and I think the two events are related. Boy bands from Moldova singing in Romanian are one of the final signs of the apocalypse.
Dragostea Din Tei did spawn a few other bizarre videos, among the strangest is this one in Japanese - http://ikari0310.hp.infoseek.co.jp/flash/maiyahi.swf that links English sounding cognates to the Romanian. The "stea din tei" in dragostea din tei becomes "study day". Of course, in the kid's lipsynch version, the Romanian word "fericeria" (happiness - Romanian ia a Latin language - think "felicity") becomes a still shot of feta cheese. Ain't associative logic grand?
To further your numa numa obssession, here are three skinny Polish geeks playing with dildos. They really really really cannot dance. http://strony.aster.pl/amanek/Klip.wmv (not work safe).
A Hebrew parody. Several cute Israeli boys, and some Israeli babes (for thems that likes 'em). Anyone care to offer a translation of the Hebrew lyrics?
And finally -
Romania - Dragostea Din Tei - Lyrics in Romanian and English and
Dragostea Din Tei - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (their entry on the song.)
Posted by Leigh Witchel at February 15, 2005 2:33 AM
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Comments
Re: Israeli Lyrics
A large portion of the song is... difficult to translate. The chorus, however, is
"Hapizmon Zeh Numa Numa Yeh/
Lo Meivin Milah, Okei."
"The chorus is 'Numa Numa'
I don't understand a word, okay?"
Other parts of the song translate but I'm not clear on the connection and I think that chorus might be the answer.
"Mah-ya he, Mah-ya ha...Die Kvar."
"Mah-ya he, Mah-ya ha...enough already."
Posted by: Anonymous at March 10, 2005 4:05 AM
i have more translatioin for the hebrew version if u want.
Posted by: danny winch at March 15, 2005 10:26 PM
lo meivin milah ok- i don't understand a word ok?
lo hechpat la, gatz oseh la teh- she doesn't care because gatz (a name) is making her tea
Posted by: danny winch at March 15, 2005 10:28 PM
Ma-ia-hii just sounds
Ma-ia-huu just sounds
Ma-ia-hoo just sounds
Ma-ia-haha just sounds
Ma-ia-hii just sounds
Ma-ia-huu just sounds
Ma-ia-hoo just sounds
Ma-ia- dai kavar just sounds enough already
alo? Agam? Hello? Agam(name)?
zot roni this is roni(name)
toovia gam and also toovia(name)
kanael name
v'har'el name
oded po meeshta'el oded(name) here is choking
(shows him coughing)
alo, alo hello, hello
tziyur shel piccaso a picture made by piccaso
some words i cant make out then
hapeezmon ze the chorus is
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
ani lo meivaeen meelah ok? i dont understand a word ok?
lo echpat lee i dont care
gatz oseh lee teh gatz(name) is making me tea
az taggedoo keefak hey then youll say "keefak hey" (an expression kinda like oh yeh)
hapeezmon ze the chorus is
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
lo meivaeen meelah ok? i dont understand a word ok?
lo echpat lah she doesnt care
gatz oseh lah teh gatz(name)is making her tea
az taggedoo keefak hey then youll say "keefak hey" (an expression kinda like oh yeh)
banot, baneem girls boys
then a bunch of other things i cant understand
alo, cos beera? hello, a cup of beer?
lo mofaz shel yeladeem no, this is a child freindly atmosphere
then mostly the same stuff over and over again. i will post a better one later, when i have time. also keep in mind that the point of this song is not to make sense, but rather to keep the same rhyme scheme
Posted by: yonster monster at March 15, 2005 11:13 PM
Thanks to both of you for the help. My Hebrew pretty much withered and died after my Bar Mitzvah. But I think I can still remember the first lessons from B'yad Halashon. (Slicha chaveri, Ma ha sha'ah? Ha sha'ah shtayim.)
Posted by: Leigh Witchel at March 16, 2005 12:10 AM
I think the fact that this version of Numa Numa was the theme song for a children's theatrical show make more sense of the otherwise nonsense lyrics.
Posted by: Ken at May 29, 2005 11:30 PM