O-Zone
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- For the form of oxygen, see Ozone.
Template:Infobox band O-Zone was a pop group made up of Dan Bălan, Radu Sârbu, and Arsenie Todiras(aka Arsenium). Originally from Moldova, the band launched in Romania. They mainly play eurodance music and are famous for the single "Dragostea din Tei", a notable summer hit which reached Number 1 in the singles charts of many countries during 2003 and 2004, and Number 3 in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single "Despre Tine" had similar success across Europe. Image:R63455.jpg
Despite its multi-platinum status in Europe, O-Zone never even scraped the bottom of the charts in America. An English recording of "Dragostea din Tei" was released in early 2005, under the title "Ma Ya Hi". "Ma Ya Hi" was performed by Lucas Prata and Dan Bălan on the New York Today Show on February 22, 2005. Nevertheless, "Ma Ya Hi" did not prove to be a hit, peaking only at #72 in March on Billboard.
The group was also rumoured, in 2005, to be representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest. However these rumours proved not to be true as the group didn't take part in the Moldovan pre-qualifiers.
In 2005 the group split up. All of the members went their separate ways and started their own solo careers. It is debated whether O-Zone is the original creator of the song. Another romanian group named Haiducii (meaning "The Outlaws") claims the song as its own, as both groups released the song about the same time.
Contents |
Discography
Studio albums
- Dar, Unde Ești (1999)
- Number 1 (2002)
- DiscO-Zone (2004)
Singles
- Numai Tu (2003)
- Dragostea din Tei (Maiahi) (2004) UK #3; #1 Eurochart
- Despre Tine (2004)
- Mai Ya Hi (English Translation of Dragostea Din Tei) (2005) US #72
Dragostea din Tei (A.K.A. Numa Numa)
In the United States O-Zone's music was popularized by the Numa Numa dance, which was made famous by Gary Brolsma of Saddle Brook, New Jersey.
In Japan, O-Zone's single "Dragostea din Tei" created a stir when it was released under the name "Koi no Maiahi" with a special Macromedia Flash style video featuring characters similar to the cat Mona, who is extremely well known in Japanese BBS circles. The entire song was phonetically translated into Japanese, and while not making very much sense, the DVD single became very popular and was sold in record stores all over Japan. One memorable line of the song sounds like 'noma noma iei' which basically means 'drink, drink, yay!' in Japanese (in the original Romanian version: "nu mă, nu mă iei" - which means (roughly) "you won't take, won't take me"). Merchandise for the cat in the video (named by O-Zone's label in Japan, Avex, as Noma neko) almost set off a fierce legal battle due to the obvious resemblance with the online cat Mona and its variants. Avex has since stopped production of the video merchandise.
A modified version of the single appeared in the Densha Otoko TV series. The song appeared in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, and it was also used in Mai A Hi in Avex Taiwan, and in [1] a trailer of Chicken Little (2005 film) although it did not appear in that movie.
External links
- O-Zone fansite
- mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp. Press for the legal battle concerning the Japanese version of the song "Dragostea din Tei"
- Arseniums.com. Arsenium's website (artist name of Arsenie Toderas)
- Dan-Balan.com. Official website of Dan Bălan
- Raduofficial.com Official site of Radu Sarbu (soon available)
- O-zone Paradise Large collection of O-zone pictures and videos
- [2] Famous Japanese flash, with "Dragostea din Tei" in background, featuring Giko Cat and Noma neko, a variant of Mona (ASCII art).bg:O-Zone
da:O-Zone de:O-Zone es:O-Zone fr:O-Zone it:O-Zone mo:O-Zone nl:O-Zone ja:O-Zone no:O-Zone pl:O-Zone pt:O-zone ro:O-Zone fi:O-Zone sv:O-Zone zh:O-Zone