Dragostea din tei

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
"Dragostea din tei"
"Dragostea din tei" cover
Single by O-Zone
from the album DiscOZone
Released Spring 2004
Format CD, 12"
Recorded 2003
Genre Eurodance
Length 3:34
Label Jive Records
Producer(s) Dan Bălan
Chart positions
O-Zone singles chronology
"Numai tu"
(2003)		 "Dragostea din tei"
(2003/2004)		 "Despre tine"
(2004)

"Dragostea din tei" (pronounced /ˈdra.gos.te̯a din tej/) is the most successful single by the Moldovan band O-Zone. The song was written and composed by Dan Bălan, and the original version was sung by Dan Bălan, Arsenie Todiraş and Radu Sârbu. The single was first released in 2003 in Moldova, where the group lived and produced at that time, and in the spring of 2004 in most other European countries. As of 2006, the song is still in the lower reaches of some Eastern European singles charts. It was written and produced by Dan Bălan (who wrote most of the group's songs), and was one of 2004's most successful summer hits, as well as one of the best selling singles of the year across Europe.

Although O-Zone's version was the most popular across Europe, several other versions of the song have been made, most notably by the Romanian singer Haiducii, who released the song in Europe at around about the same time. Both have accused the other of taking it without permission. "Dragostea din tei" has also inspired a number of parody videos distributed over the Internet, most notably Gary Brolsma's popular "Numa Numa Dance" video. The "Numa Numa Dance," first showing up on the flash site Newgrounds.com, has become so famous that it has sparked numerous parodies of the video itself in the United States over the years since 2003.[1]

Contents

[edit] Title translation

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since March 2007.

"Dragostea din tei" is written in Romanian, and the title is difficult to translate due to the lack of context for the phrase. There are several proposed translations of the title, such as Love from the lime trees (also called "linden trees") and Love out of the linden trees. The intended translation is possibly shown in the subtitles of the music video by O-Zone, which translates it as Love of the linden tree. Linden trees have strong lyrical associations in Romanian poetry, tied to the work of the poet Mihai Eminescu. Therefore the expression may be interpreted as romantic, "linden-type" love. Another interpretation of the title is a simple paraphrase of a popular Romanian children's book, "Pupăza din tei" by Ion Creangă (in translation "The Hoopoe in the linden tree").

Another very likely translation takes into account the neighborhood "Tei" in Bucharest, the capital of Romania (in Romanian, "Cartierul Tei"). Since it's a place very popular with college students (several dorms in the area) and youngsters in general, the connection is there ("Love in Tei" as in "Love among young people"). In spring especially, many young pairs can be seen in the parks and streets in Tei, and "love is in the air" — even though it might be love that lasts just for a little while; the song alludes to this.[citation needed]

The third translation comes directly from a native Moldovan. He claims that the title uses a wordplay and simply means "Love at first sight" (i.e. "Love from the linden trees", roughly analogous to "Love from the clear blue sky" in English, with the added associations that linden trees have in the Romanian language). This translation obviously rises above the literal meanings of the words and draws on something more poetic and specific to the language and culture. Given that O-Zone is from Moldova, where Romanian is spoken (along with Russian), it seems quite plausible that this interpretation is accurate. Furthermore, it provides something more universally meaningful, as the idea of love at first sight is understood more globally than the idea of love having to do with linden trees.[citation needed]

A still image from O-Zone's music video
A still image from O-Zone's music video

[edit] Track history

In 2003 O-Zone released their second album DiscO-Zone in Romania. The album would include "Dragostea din tei" although the first single from the album would be "Numai tu". However, when it became clear that "Dragostea din tei" was the stand-out track, it was scheduled for release.

At around about the same time Haiducii recorded her own version. O-Zone accused Haiducii of stealing the track and after suing them, O-Zone won in the Romanian court of justice.

O-Zone's "Dragostea din tei" had been released in Moldova six months earlier and had a lot of success there, but as promotion in Italy began for the cover version the group's record company began the promotional campaign across Europe.

The two versions were extremely similar. Whilst Haiducii hit number one in Italy, O-Zone prevailed in most of Europe. In Germany, however, both versions hit number 1 and 2 in the charts at the same time.

The song was also featured in the 2005 Disney animated movie, Chicken Little. It was not used in the film, but was used in the trailers.

"Dragostea din tei" has also appeared in an expansion cartridge for the Nintendo DS video game Jam with the Band. It was chosen to be included via a survey conducted by Nintendo in July 2005 and was released in September of the same year with other popular songs as well.

The song was also recently featured in an O-Zone-themed toy given out as the McDonalds Happy Meal prize in Bulgaria, Portugal and other European countries.

[edit] Remixes and parodies

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • A number of parody videos were produced that used this song by a number of different groups in Japan, most notably by several Flash movies Maiyahi grafting Japanese lyrics on to the original Romanian by using whichever word sounds closest (in other words, animutations). The resulting bizarre interpretations, usually involving monkeys, ninja Picassos, and drunken cats, became an instant hit in Japan.
  • The American release of DiscO-Zone [1] features an English version of the song performed by Dan Bălan and Lucas Prata. It focuses on the "It's me, Picasso" lyric from the original to provide a theme of an artist who has lost his muse. Bălan and Prata performed an English recording of "Dragostea din tei" on the Today Show called "Ma Ya Hi" on February 22, 2005. Unlike the original recording, however, this version was not so successful and ended up taking the 72nd spot on the Billboard Charts.
  • An Austrian version with German lyrics was released in 2004 by the artist "Antonia aus Tirol feat Sandra S.". The music was mixed with tuba and accordion sounds, the lyrics were changed to a story about flirting in the office. A snippet in MP3 format can be heard on Antonia's official page. It was topping the Austrian charts quickly after the release.
Another image from the music video.
Another image from the music video.
  • A Eurobeat version of the song was remixed by Italian artist Sergio Dall'Ora in early 2005 for release to the Japanese market. Fusing the original song with the popular fast-tempo stylings of the Eurobeat format, the release was one of the few occasions a commercial Eurobeat song has been remixed from an already-existing European track.
  • A Japanese version of the song was released by comedian Maeda Ken on August 24th, 2005 under the artist name Maeken Trance Project (his drag alter-ego), titled "Koi no Buchiage Tengoku: Koi no Maiahi~Chihuahua~Banzai [2]"(恋のブチアゲ 天国：恋のマイアヒ～チワワ～バンザイ, "Love's High Tension Paradise: Love's Maiahi~Chihuahua~Hurrah"), fusing the original song with popular Japanese Eurobeat song Banzai and part of the 2002 ad Coca-Cola commercial-related hit by DJ Bobo titled "Chihuahua". It should be noted that although this is a Japanese release, the "Dragostea din tei" section of the medley is sung in Romanian.
  • On November 11, 2005 another Japanese version under the same title "Koi no Maiahi" was released on the compilation album of Avex record label artists "Girl's Box ~Best Hits Compilation Winter~" (AVCD-17769) by the singers Hasebe Yu (長谷部優) from girlgroup "dream", Iwasaki Mai (岩崎舞), and Takimoto Miori (瀧本美織) both from girlgroup "SweetS". [3] The group also did a nectar and crystal remix of this song.
  • In Brazil, the singer Latino created his own version of "Dragostea din tei". Called "Festa no Apê" (Party at the Pad), the song's lyrics are somewhat indecent, talking about a party (held by the singer himself) that became wild. The song resembles "Dragostea din tei" only in rhythm and melody.
  • The Spanish humorist brothers Los Morancos parodied the song for their TV program as "Marica tú" ("Queer you") with audaciously gay lyrics. This version has become more popular than O-Zone's in Chile, Argentina, and other South American countries, where is mostly known as "Fiesta Fiesta, Pluma Pluma Gay" (Party Party, Manerisms Manerisms Gay); it can even be heard and/or requested at weddings.
  • A Dutch version by the Belgian trio De Feestridders (The Partyknights), which criticizes the use of speed cameras also exists. De Feestridders also have made a parody of Boten Anna which is a song made by Basshunter, called Ik heb een boot. Other Dutch parodies include "Muggen Hier, Muggen Daar" (Mosquitoes Here, Mosquitoes There) by Gebroeders Ko, "Lekker Lekker" (Nice, Nice) by Ome Henk and "Duitsers Hier, Duitsers Daar" ( German Here, German There), by Lange Frans en Baas B
  • An Afrikaans version of the song was done by a new artist, Nicholis Louw. The song goes by the name of "Net die een vir my", meaning "Just the one for me". The original 'ma-ia-hii' was kept. The song was also a huge hit in South Africa.[citation needed][4]
  • A Chinese version by Jocie Kok (郭美美), a female singer from Singapore, titled "Bu Pa Bu Pa" (不怕不怕, "Not Afraid, Not Afraid") [5]. The song is about overcoming her fears and becoming a stronger person. The start of the chorus, 看见蟑螂我不怕不怕螂, translates to "I'm not afraid when I see a cockroach". This track was released in a single, which includes the original track and 8 different remixes. The song begun a hit in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan as well as China, launching Jocie Kok into stardom with her other single titled "Lao Shu Ai Da Mi" (老鼠爱大米, "The mouse loves the rice").
  • A clip from the 2005 Walt Disney's animated movie Chicken Little with the title character dancing to a sped-up mix of the O-Zone version; in fact, it popularized the song in Mexico and in the Southeast Asia region (in Malaysia and Singapore, the trailer is aired on TV regularly and in fact, many Malaysians and Singaporeans attributed the song to Chicken Little thanks to the trailer). [6]
  • An English version named "My PC" [7] in mockery of a Dell laptop catching fire. [8]

[edit] Chart positions

This section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since March 2007.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/r/a/Dragostea_din_tei.html"