numa numa (ma-ia-hii, ma-ia-huu, ma-ia-hoo, ma-ia-haha)

First, watch the Numa Numa dance video, then read on.

Apparently, I've been living under a rock, since even the folks on Good Morning America (and CNN, VH1 and MSNBC) knew about this before me. It is also especially funny because this song, featuring what has been described as Romanian yodeling, was all the rage while I was in France last summer.

In Thursday's "Around the Watercooler," the anchors of "Good Morning America" talked to 19-year-old Gary Brolsma of Saddle Brook, N.J., who has become a sensation on the Internet with an amateur video of himself singing and dancing to a Romanian pop song [Dragostea Din Tei by O-zone]. He calls it the "Numa Numa Dance." [This site has a version with English subtitles]

Note: While I've been studying for the GMAT (t-minus 36 hours, thank God), the rest of the planet has been making their own parodies. See http://www2.aqweb.net/ikari/flash/maiyahi.swf and http://www.newgrounds.com/collections/numanuma.html

Speaking of not studying for the GMAT... here's what WikiPedia has to say on the subject:

"Dragostea Din Tei" (meaning "Love Among the Linden Trees" in Romanian) is the most well-known single of the Moldovan-Romanian band O-Zone. It was released in Romania in late 2003 and in much of the rest of Europe in early 2004. Having topped the singles charts in many European countries, the song could undoubtedly be regarded as one of 2004's most important Summer hits. The song attained cult status among a variety of social groups across the continent, the russ of Norway being a prominent example.

In Italy, the most popular version is from Haiducii (Paula Mitrache). Both O-Zone and Haiducii accuse each other of stealing the song.

Now considered both a dancing anthem and a gay anthem, it also achieved some club success in the US. A collaboration between Dan Balan of O-Zone, and New York DJ Lucas Prata created a version of the same tune in English. This version, renamed "Mai A Hee", is only superficially connected to the original lyrics, with no mention of trees.

The song has received some additional popularity on the Internet through several amateur Flash music videos. One stars a super deformed rendition of Sha Gojyo, a character from the anime and manga series Saiyuki, performing some limited dancing. There is also a video done entirely out of LEGO bricks.

The most recently popular flash video using the song depicts 19-year-old Gary Brolsma, overweight teenage boy from Saddle Brook, New Jersey, lip syncing the words. The video was seemingly taken from the view of a web camera. A version of this video has also appeared with extraneous pictures flashing up at times: a man towering over penguins, known as Penguin God to some, a man looking into the camera known as Yablo the Sexy and a Chinese man inside a doggy bag.

See a video of the boys of O-Zone lip-synching to their own song in an American Bandstand-esque "live" appearance. And a link to the original video.

The lyrics in Romanian and English:

Ma-ia-hii Ma-ia-huu Ma-ia-hoo Ma-ia-haha	[These are just sounds.]
Alo, Salut, sunt eu, un haiduc, Si te rog, iubirea mea, primeste fericirea. Alo, alo, sunt eu Picasso, Ti-am dat beep, si sunt voinic, Dar sa stii nu-ti cer nimic.	Hello [on a cellphone], greetings, it's me, an outlaw, I ask you, my love, to accept happiness. Hello, hello, it's me, Picasso, I sent you a beep [cellphone signal], and I'm brave [or strong], But you should know that I'm not asking for anything from you.
Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei, Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei. Chipul tau si dragostea din tei, Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.	You want to leave but you don't want don't want to take me, don't want don't want to take me, don't want don't want don't want to take me. Your face and the love from the linden trees, And I remember your eyes.
Te sun, sa-ti spun, ce simt acum, Alo, iubirea mea, sunt eu, fericirea. Alo, alo, sunt iarasi eu, Picasso, Ti-am dat beep, si sunt voinic, Dar sa stii nu-ti cer nimic.	I call you, to tell you what I feel right now, Hello, my love, it's me, your happiness. Hello, hello, it's me again, Picasso, I sent you a beep [cellphone signal] and I'm brave [or strong], But you should know that I'm not asking for anything from you.

Translation copyright © 2004 by The Cat-Tea Corner/SB. All rights reserved.

Via Geoff (and Cass)