thenumanumathing

sorry... but this blog is closed...

2008-12-14T06:08:00.000-08:00

thanks for your interest and I do hope people who find this blog from now on will enjoy it but please do not submit comments -- I have not an will not read any further comment submitted for this blog (same for any other closed blog of mine; e.g.). Thanks for your understanding and take care! D.

Alright! I've had enough of this topic...

2008-10-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

so have I accomplished what I set out to do? not exactly:)... but it was fun looking at these things; I just got a bit too negative at the end for no good reason... so I'm ending this blog with a somewhat unrelated existential song, that I found in the most unlikely place: Romanian rap! "[Life is a] bad joke!" by Parazitii/The parasites (the lyrics are just horrendous but... the message redeems the song for me... although I wouldn't listen to this song more than once:) --> great message!

Delia

P.S. a reminder to self that I should be spending more time on my existential blog. D.

Dan Balan: Dragostea din Tei -- surprise, surprise...

2008-10-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Dan doesn't seem to be able to carry the song on his own...

Delia

P.S. sung by Ozone D.

The adventures of Crazy Loop

2008-10-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

MORE: again, it could have been much better if the lyrics for Johanna, for instance, would have been clarified... what's the point of stringing song after song of supposedly non-sense lyrics? how long can people take this? D.

Dan Balan sees this project as "the adventures of Crazy Loop" I(2:30 time frame) -- there should be more songs coming in the following months (if the meaning is going to be distorted in favor of commercial interests, I may just skip th rest of this project... -- did he ran out of money so that he *needs* to do this?

Delia

P.S. as far as I can tell the quality of the slow songs is much better... D.

Dan Balan: De la mine / From me [to you]

2008-10-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

STILL MORE: oops! this was actually an O-zone song, but in the version on U-tube Dan is the only on that can be heard singing... so did he "remake" som of th O-zone songs with his new band (him soloist and the other instruments only?) D.

EVEN MORE: I suspect Dan (knowingly or unknowingly) had this poem by the Romanian poet Eminescu as a starting point, assumed the role of "Lucifer" and imagined having a short but heartfelt liaison with a mortal... (while I understand the point of the Romanian-into- English translator expressed on the top of the page, I disagree with the translation "Lucifer" because of the strong negative connotations that I do not believe are present in the Romanian version; the whole point appears to be a desired but doomed relationship between a mortal and an immortal -- which can be in itself symbolic of a relationship between an idealist and a pragmatist individual, for instance). D.

MORE: may be just as utterly untranslatable as the song "Intr-un cer violet" /On a violet sky -- I mean it's translatable at some level... "on a violet sky, if I could find the moon, it would be a silvery stain..." that's a perfectly translatable beginning but I doubt anyone could really explain the real meaning of the song -- you either feel it or you don't...

I'm trying to figure out what this is... it's tagged with "Crazy Loop" and it appears to be only on U-tube (no lyrics, no anything elsewhere on the web...); seems to be relatively recent (the instruments, guitar in particular give this away -- I think that's his Moldovan band he brought with him to the US); was this meant for his rock project or is it more recent than that? it was uploaded on U-tube 2 month ago...

Delia

The Power of shower -- Crazy Loop (aka Dan Balan) dancing

2008-10-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

I'm really not feeling this... (but that's just *me*)

Delia

P.S. maybe could take some ideas from Petrisor Ruge? D.

Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop: Johanna (shut up!): dissapointed...

2008-10-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

looks like the grown-up meaning of the song was intentionally obscured so he could get the kids interested, instead... (and market "Crazy loop" dolls to them)

Delia

P.S. I think it's a mistake -- he is alienating what could be a much larger market for his music D.

The Power of Shower: Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop, promotion in Germany

2008-10-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

whatever happened with his "crazy dancing"? -- it's very different... did that fall have something to do with it? (is this what th doctor recommended?) D.

it's worse than I though...

2008-10-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

MORE: during a live performance in Romania Dan asks the audience to imagine it's 1972 all over again...
..
how could people not get basic things such as the fact that the *Disco clothes* in the O-zone performances (e.g. Despre tine / About you) were meant as *props*? this is NOT a cultural issue, I'm afraid... unless we are talking looking down upon and assuming the worst of other cultures...

Delia

P.S. was quite disappointed with Abe Tran

re: (4th comment; #c131)

Hi, Abe!

hmmm... I don't particularly like the "Eurotrashy" reference (especially since you previously said you liked the song). Otherwise, not a bad entry... you made sense of what's been happening and put the phenomena in good perspective for your readers.

Delia

P.S. I believe the best translation of "Dragostea din tei" into English is "Romantic Love." Dan Balan took quite a bit of poetic license when he called it "Dragostea din tei" (it's a stretch, and a big one, even in Romanian). D.

(6th comment, #c138)

if you think it's trash... (Euro or not), I wouldn't waste my time with it if I were you. I mean, there are plenty of other things to do... doesn't seem like a very good choice.

Delia

P.S. I don't think it's trash... Not the song, not the outfits. I just think it's creative... it's art! (and not bad at all)

I suspect you are referring to the song "Johanna." The girls in the video wear, doll-like short dresses; I believe that was a very good choice given that the real message of the song -- as far as I see it -- is that the girl in the relationship that ended-up breaking up was acting like a demanding doll and that had driven Crazy Loop (aka Dan Balan) to exasperation.

http://thenumanumathing.blogspot.com/2008/02/power-of-shower-johanna-johanna-shut-up.html

P.P.S. I wouldn't be surprised if this was "inspired by real life" (actually happened to Dan Balan). D.

(10th comment; #c135)

"Eurotrash" is derogatory, Abe -- any way you spin it... And no, it does NOT mean merely metrosexual (which is *not* a derogatory term) and it definitely does NOT mean gay. Your personal interpretation is just incorrect...

I would not go around calling people "Eurotrash" any more than I would call Vietnamese people "gooks"... nor would I try to argue that the term "gooks" is NOT derogatory -- it *is*, even if you might be able to find someone who believes otherwise.

Delia

P.S. oh, and you appear to have completely missed the purpose of wearing the kind of cloths the O-zone members wore while performing songs that were *intended* to be a throw back to the Disco times (same idea as having the girls that were part of the performance of the song "Johanna" wear "doll dresses")

P.S. anyways, take care! D.

what would I do if I were Dan Balan

2008-09-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

EVEN MORE: please see comments
....
MORE: there was really a lot of depth to his Romanian songs (the slow ones, in particular); it's such a waste of talent to have the English-speakers think of him as the guy with the silly /crazy lyrics -- there should be no need for an alter-ego, especially not a "crazy" one... (re: Crazy Loop) D.
...
I'd drop everything for six moths to a year and focus on acquiring as good a command of English as possible, and not just the language, the cultural subtleties -- at this point, after having been in the U.S. for a couple of years, nobody should be wondering what on earth could he be meaning? -

Delia

P.S. this would significantly enlarge the market for his music D.

Dan balan aka Crazy Loop: the making of "Johanna/Shut Up!"

2008-09-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

well... this Mark guy may be great as a director but he's definitely missed the opportunity of clarifying the meaning of the song...

Dan Balan (aka Crazy Loop): my best summer

2008-09-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

song from upcoming album

Delia

P.S. not clear if Dan will release it under the "Crazy Loop" alter-ego D.

(blast from the past) Ozone, in the Dan-Petru formula: Timpul trece fara noi/Time passes in spite of us

2008-09-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

all that's left are memories that are now meaningless... sad but romantic song... D.

Akcent (O-zone's primary competitor back in the day) lost a member

2008-08-23T02:21:00.000-07:00

MORE: Marius Nedelcu's first song without Akcent: Rain (seems familiar... some comments claim he "borrowed" a lot from an existing song); Akcent's first song without Marius Nedelcu: umbrela ta / your umbrela (child-like, when compared with prior Akcent songs)

STILL MORE: apparently, this also split-up Morandi (the replacement had been one of the two singers of that band: Marius Moga)

EVEN MORE: English version (no relationship to the Romanian version, lyrics-wise)

MORE: their first song: Ti-ai promis (I promised [to take you with me]: it's a break-up song, the guy decides to break his promise because he realizes his girlfriend was in the relationship not because she cared but because of the advantages the relationship was bringing her)

... Marius Nedelcu

Arsenie Toderas (aka Arsenium): Rumadai

2008-08-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

MORE AGAIN: Arsenie explains his song to the German media

MORE: made the Romanian top hits 2008 (so did a couple of Dan's songs: "Take me higher" -- is this part of the Electro house project he did with that Italian DJ, DJ Ross, ; Crazy Loop; Johanna)

STILL MORE: live performance? (it *is* reminiscent of the numa numa song, as someone mentions in the comments-- 9th comment)

EVEN MORE: there is one line in Romanian" o.35 time mark: "Sa zburam cu toti pe luna" literal translation: "Let's all fly to the moon!"; meaningful translation: "Let's have a blast!"

MORE: definitely a "party song"... not bad... upbeat and somewhat funny -- the apparently non-sequitur parts (e.g. chorus: "everybody, lets dance in the Disco (...) I wanna take you from Paris to San Francisco" (...) "I feel so high" ... hmmm...now *that* might explain it:) just kidding...

looks like people already love it: fan video
...
another song from his upcoming album, to be released in the fall... D.

(Radu Sirbu: Mr.&Ms. ) His new project has taken off

2008-08-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

EVEN MORE: not in top 100 at this point (Crazy Loop, Dan's single is still hanging in...)

MORE: the songs on the album were inspired by the relationship with his wife and it is meant to be "rock influenced"
...
Romanian version :Dragostea-i o parte din noi=Love is a part of us [an integral part]

a couple of interviews: Maniacii, Antena

the making of

fan video: Astaire dancing? interesting idea...

(Radu Sirbu; Dan Balan) RadU is RadU no more...

2008-08-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

MORE: his new project
...
his last song (Daun-daha; 6:00 time stamp) as "RadU"...

Delia

P.S. bad blood between Dan and Radu (Radu was hurt and considers unfounded Dan's assertion to the Romanian media-- HappyHour, same tv show (.48 time mark) -- that Ozone could not have gone much further because his fellow band members just couldn't go through the growth process necessarily to continue to be successful as a band... "something like that"...) D.

Arsenie Toderas (aka Arsenium): Wake up

2008-07-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

well... he's certainly still out there... trying something "different"... D.

(more memories) Lambada...

2008-07-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

.. was huge... D.

Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop: Crazy Loop and Johanna Shut up! (The Power of Shower)

2008-06-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

relatively new promotion on Romanian TV

(upcoming performances) Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop: june 28th in Mamaia, Romania -- actually May 28th...

2008-06-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

... errata: oops... this was supposed to be on May 28th

(on the Back Sea Coast): Club Crush one hour for 5,000 Euros...

Delia

P.S. that should help with those doctor bills:)... D.

Dan Balan and Petru Jelihovschi: 1st O-zone incarnation

2008-05-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

In doi -- interesting play with sounds (predates the numa numa song) D.

Dan Balan sings with his mother, Ludmila Balan

2008-05-24T21:11:00.000-07:00

Te astept / I'm waiting for you

Radu Sarbu: the mystery female voice for his new project

2008-05-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

MORE
...
is that of his wife Ana...

Dan Balan (aka Crazy Loop): The power of shower (Tango)

2008-05-13T20:20:00.001-07:00

private performance... D.

(Romanian male dancers) Petrisor Ruge

2008-05-01T20:26:00.001-07:00

oops! looks like it's not all fun and games...

EVEN MORE: tango; paso doble, musical

MORE: free style, vals

gets even better!

Romanian traditional country music: some of it it's getting a new lease on life...

2008-04-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

MORE

... with some humor thrown in... D.

Dan Balan (aka Crazy Loop): world touring with dancers at least delayed...

2008-04-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

looks like a bad fall... D.

Dan Balan (aka Crazy Loop) fans

2008-04-22T10:37:00.001-07:00

Poland, Hungary, US (0.46 time mark) D.

Dan Balan: takes a trip down Memory Lane...

2008-04-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

MORE: Italian version: Mina and Adriano Celentano: "Parole, Parole," parody

STILL MORE: the French had quite a different sensibility at the time: e.g. early 70s: Dalida and Alain Delon: "Parole, Parole"/"Words, just words..."(Dan wasn't around when these songs first came out but they remained popular in Europe for much longer than hits tend to stay popular in the U.S.) D.

EVEN MORE: from the same period: Suzy Quatro (e.g. She's in love with you; If you can't give me love) ; Bee Gees (e.g. How deep is your love?)

MORE: more recently he has acquired an interest in Electro House (techno dance music) -- collaborated with DJ Ross in Italy (for a single?); DJ Ross also did a remix for Dragostea din tei
....
some music he grew up with in today's Republic of Moldova (formerly part of the USSR): Indian Bollywood movies, dance and music (e.g. I Am A Disco Dancer, Jimmy Adja), Smokie (e.g. Living next door to Alice; parody) , Chris Norman (e.g. Midnight Lady)

Delia

P.S. similar with what was popular in Romania at the time D.

Dan Balan: looking for four women...:)

2008-04-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

... dancers ! (to join him in performances around the world); he is hoping all four will end-up being Romanian but the selection process will take place in the U.S. also.

Delia

P.S. interested? you need to be in Bucharest at club Maxx on Apritl 7th, local time, at 10 -- good luck!:) ... D.

Romanian popular music before "pop dance"

2008-04-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

the 80s: 1
the 70s: 1, 2, 3

Arsenie Toderas: the French can't get enough...

2008-03-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

...of him! D.

"Loca" (one of Arsenie's songs) gets its own parody...

2008-03-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

MORE: the original (Loca)
...
... it's about a female boss (Sefa) D.

Arsenie sings "Love me tender"...

2008-03-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

he packs a lot of emotion in his voice! (more than Elvis -- a surprise to me...) D.

and so is Radu...

2008-03-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

MORE: this is part of an album (Mr. & Ms.) he is said to launch internationally (starting with Russia) this April, different in style and everything from his 2006 album called "Alone," which was meant for the Romanian market
...
Love is not a reason to cry D.

Arsenie is still out there trying something different...

2008-03-25T22:43:00.000-07:00

Leave me alone D.

other foreign influences: French

2008-03-19T20:34:00.001-07:00

Patricia Kass and Nana Mouskouri (Greek, just singing in French, also German and English) were both very popular.

Delia

P.S. also Julio Iglesias, Spanish (yeah, long long time...) D.

RadU Sirbu: the slow songs

2008-03-16T00:42:00.000-07:00

e.g. Leave me alone, Fly remind me of the style of some Italian singers that were popular in Romaina

80s Toto Cutugno: L'Italiano, Serenata

(much older although still around0: Adriano Celentano: Azzuro (for a much faster rhythm: La Dolce Vita)

(Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop) The Power of Shower: what's going on?

2008-03-07T18:10:00.001-08:00

well.. we are well into March and there is some activity on the internet (like people posting videos on you tube) but I don't see much of a traditional buzz from outside of Romania.

Delia

Morandi and 3 Sud Est

2008-03-03T21:12:00.001-08:00

2 Romanian bands Dan Balan was listening to (while in the U.S.) and his U.S. music contacts liked:

morandi ; 3 Sud Est

The Beach Boys: the ultimate feel-good music

2008-02-28T21:41:00.000-08:00

never quite made it in Romania...

Delia

P.S. hard to tell why...

P.P.S. wondering if TM prompted Brian's mental problems D.

(Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop) The Power of shower: Love is a simple thing

2008-02-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

pretty good tempo! (reminds me of energetic Beatles...)

"Romanian pop dance" music (started in late 90s): possible influences

2008-02-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

80s: Modern Talking,CC Catch (you see the same kind of "complaint comments" O-zone gets: "gay" for Modern Talking; and "playback" for CC Catch...)

70s: ABBA (just fun... doesn't need to make a whole lot of sense...),Boney M (just jump around and... don't worry about it...)

(Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop) The Power of Shower: includes three songs that don't seem to belong in it...

2008-02-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

MORE: a bit odd pronunciation for "roses," for instance (17): it's like he's attempting the British accent (not at all unusual for Europeans given that English teachers are much more likely to have been exposed to the British accent as part of their training then to American English)... still, with some exceptions, his accent is surprisingly good in these songs

very dissimilar to Crazy Loop or Johanna -- if I remember right, they were initially meant for Sugar Tunes (his "rock project"): they were available on Dan's MySpace page under "Sugar Tunes"(17, Tango and 24th letter)

Delia

some of them (especially performers) have had broad popularity

2008-02-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

e.g. Jean Constantin (Actor, drama and comedy, also stand-up comedy mostly making fun of being Roma -- "Hello, my dear discolored brothers..."); was in many popular Romanian movies, such as "The Immortals"

manele: what's with all those nasty comments?

2008-02-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

EVEN MORE: I don't know if it's actually true but a story was going around that a group of hungry Roma eat the famous black swans from a lake within a public park in Spain...

MORE: Roma were "early adopters" as far as moving West once it became an option. Quite a few Western countries (notably Germany, where Romanian immigration camps were at times set on fire and most recently Italy, which ended up deporting Romanians back to Romania apparently against EU policy after an Italian woman was killed by an ethnic Roma originally from Romania) weren't at all pleased that they found themselves in the position of having to deal with things like petty crimes (or much more severe crimes) and in-your-face begging. No doubt, some ethnic Romanians were probably also causing such problems but percentage-wise, the ethnic Roma group just brought a lot more of these problems.

It didn't help that Western media didn't differentiate between ethnic Roma and ethnic Romanian. Pretty soon, Romanians were seen as persona non-grata in Western Europe and plenty of them were pretty pissed... (and never quite recovered). So for a vocal part of the population, the usual distrust of Roma has turned into an acute us-versus-them mentality. D.
...
you will probably still find those comments (especially the worst of them) reprehensible and they are but I think it helps if you understand the history and the present situation:

Roma have been pretty much the equivalent of blacks, except that they are of dark Caucasian ancestry and they weren't brought to Eastern Europe against their will, they came on their own accord from places like today's India and Bangladesh (some of them ended-up being indentured laborers in monasteries and private households until around 1850); although some of them are doctors and lawyers today, most of those who hold jobs still do menial work and a good portion of them do not hold actual jobs at all; as a group, their rate of incarceration, for instance, is much higher and their education level significantly lower than that of ethnic Romanians.

They have a long history of producing music for countryside and edge-of-town parties. Some of these "bands"/tarafe were very good, particularly when it came to playing instruments (e.g. Taraf de Haiduci - fragment from a movie filmed in a Roma community in Romania)

Although a high percentage of Romanians reportedly listens to "manele" (which is a relatively new form of mostly Roma performed music that can be crude like rap, but it can also be very romantic, like the old Romanian songs) at least occasionally, a vocal portion of the population considers it a disgrace (they charge that the lyrics are puerile and things like grammar are not given much importance).

I get the impression that this is due at least in part part to the belief that it gives foreigners an inaccurate image of Romania and of Romanians (some of these bands have been invited to perform abroad) -- I personally came across a number or relatively educated Americans (one of them was in law school) who were convinced that Romanian people and Roma people were the same...

Poor journalism seems to have given the world this impression and Romania actually passed a law seeking to impose a fine on "irresponsible journalists who damage Romania's image". I don't know how well it succeeded but I did see a number of "documentaries" on Romania that were the equivalent of descending on South Chicago, gathering a group of blacks (exclusively) and saying things like: "These... are the Americans!"

Delia

Dan Balan sings "Despre tine"

2008-02-19T04:37:00.000-08:00

not sure what happened there but... his live singing is dissapointing...D.

Dan Balan: possible influence (lyrics)

2008-02-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

MORE: the English translation can be a problem, especially since it was done a long time ago and some words have acquired very different primary meanings by now... it's actually hilarious, without meaning to be funny, in places...

some of the songs, such as Despre Tine Cant and Oriunde vei fi make me think he is influenced by Eminescu (the kind of romanticism and some specific themes)

Delia

P.S. Eminescu was one of the best and very much loved Romanian poets. D.

(Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop) The power of shower: Uhh -Ahh-Yeah

2008-02-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

he's definitely got the sound down right! (there were those who said he sounded odd in English and always will... not when he's singing) D.

Semantic Music Annotation and Retrieval

2008-02-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

not a bad idea, Doug... it's just that I don't think people can really put their finger on (and thus be able to articulate) what exactly it is that they like about a particular piece of music... and I doubt AI could really do that for them -- "mellow Beatles" may give an idea but I suspect quite a few songs that would fit that description (when you analyze the music) would be disappointing to quite a few of those searching using that criteria...

Delia

P.S. also, if you expect it to be a cross-cultural tool, I would think you'd run into quite a few translation/culture issues

P.P.S. I'd be really impressed if actual appeal of a song could be predicted (e.g. being able to say that "Dragostea din tei," for instance, would have huge appeal to so many people coming from so many different cultures just by analyzing the song...) D.

(Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop) The Power of Shower: Despre tine cant

2008-02-09T23:40:00.001-08:00

interesting... it's a theme that seems to run through quite of few of his songs, including Dragostea din Tei (the confusing -- to foreigners -- "vrei sa pleci dar nu ma nu ma iei, nu ma nu ma iei...": being left behind by somebody he loved deeply -- is this something that actually happened? (may well be...)

Delia

P.S. song is in Romanian (probably will not be included in albums sold outside of Romania) D.

talking about Romanian male dancers... (not necessarily crazy...)

2008-02-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

MORE: won the international equivalent to "Dancing with the Stars" in Mexico

Mihai Petre is hard to beat, but Petrisor Ruge (got his break on the Romanian equivalent to "Dancing with the Stars")is not bad, either... D.

(Dan Balan aka Crazy Loop) The Power of Shower: Famikon

2008-02-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

in Japanese...

Delia

P.S. hmmm... looks like it's the Ciao Bambina melody... and now that I think of it, I don't think Dan Balan came up with it in the first place (if I remember right it was a children's song in Romania...I remember something like "ma chiama Rino[my name is Reno]... Ciao, Bambino!" D.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert

2008-02-07T20:36:00.001-08:00

Romanian style... D

my favorite utterly untranslatable Romanian song...

2008-02-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

Sfinx: Intr-un Cer violet

Delia

P.S. I love the feeling it conveys

Phoenix: possibly the liveliest Romanian band

2008-02-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

MORE: one of their songs (using an old Romanian incantation) arranged specifically for the Romanian movie "The Immortals"

MORE: impressive solo violin (Manfred Neumann; nickname: Mani), solo drums...(Ovidiu Lipan, nickname: Tandarica) and solo guitar

STILL MORE: they made some pretty interesting innovations, such as adding the traditional Romanian violin to customary rock instruments: Baba Novak

EVEN MORE: Pasarea Pheonix (Pheonix, the bird -- its rebirth from ashes): original version

MORE: original version, same band (better sound quality; came out during Communism)

... it's been around about as long as The Rolling Stones... Andrii Popa (one of their
early songs)

Delia

P.S. they got their inspiration from old (pre Christian) Romanian songs D.

The Power of shower: Johanna (Shut Up!)

2008-02-03T23:03:00.000-08:00

MORE: you have to be flexible but in the end I don't think the lyrics are bad at all... I like this part in particular (it conveys a very common situation when someone tells you they got it and that they will stop annoying you and he/she in fact wants to do so ... but it's just a brief stop and then... he/she starts all over again...):

And when she tries to stop
She just stops to start

STILL MORE: just to clarify: the way it is it starts with him frustrated and telling her to shut up, then it goes back in time to tell the story of how it got there and it does that by singing her part, then switches to him briefly talking to the audience and then him talking to her back at the break up scene that started the song

what I'm proposing is: don't change anything in terms of lyrics but have a woman sing the woman's part, then have him sing to the audience and then him sing addressing her...

Him to her:

Shut Up
Shut Up
Shut Up
Shut Up

Her:

Feel me
Touch me
Gimme some more

Please me, please me
stop at the store
And make me nicer, brighter, wiser
Buy me some more, more, more

Feel me, touch me, gimme some more
Call me, text me, answer the phone
And make it faster, faster, listen
Talk to me more, more, mo mo more

Him to the audience:

And when she tries to stop
She just stops to start

Him to her:

Big love needs time, shut up

You better save Big love
For the linden trees
And let me live my life
Shut Up
Shut Up
Shut Up
Shut Up

Johanna, why don’t
Pop, shut it Up
Why don’t you kill me
Pop, shut up
Why don’t you feel me
Pop, shut up
Pop-pop, shut up
Pop-pop, shut up

Shut you Up
Shut you Up
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru
Shut you up
Shut you up
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru

Her:

Feel me
Touch me
Gimme some more

Please me, please me
stop at the store
And make me nicer, brighter, wiser
Buy me some more, more, more

Feel me, touch me, gimme some more
Call me, text me, answer the phone
And make it faster, faster, listen
Talk to me more, more, mo mo more

Him to the audience:

And when she tries to stop
She just stops to start

Him to her:

Big love needs time, shut up

You better save Big love
For the linden trees
And let me live my life
Shut Up
Shut Up
Shut Up
Shut Up

Johanna, why don’t
Pop, shut it Up
Why don’t you kill me
Pop, shut up
Why don’t you feel me
Pop, shut up
Pop-pop, shut up
Pop-pop, shut up

Shut you Up
Shut you Up
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru
Shut you up
Shut you up
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru
Tup-tu-ru-ru-ru

EVEN MORE: best way to make it clear (as far as I can see): have a woman sing the woman's part (there would be no confusion, then) D.

MORE: why is it so difficult to understand what he means? -- not maintaing the same voice throughout (switching from him-talking to her-talking with no clue given is probably most confusing... again, this is *common* for Romanian songs... but if you are not at all familiar with them or with the culture (3rd paragraph, my "creative translation")... it *seems* to not make any sense...) D.
....
cultural issues, again... (the thing is that... it *does* make sense! but, you have to know *how* to find the meaning)

re: befuddled reactions to the lyrics

Persian1010 (19th comment)

yea i love him but oh my god this song doesnt make any sense. first he says feel me touch me give me some more..then please me stop at the store!?? what does that mean. then buy some more lol. then text me answer the phone and make it faster?? that definitely makes no sense. he tells her to talk to him more, then he says shut up. and his cd name is dumb the power of shower????....

Delia

P.S. as I was saying, it *does* make sense... it's about getting frustrated with somebody you used to like very much, somebody that has just become impossibly demanding so you end up having a bad fight and breaking-up... (pretty common situation, regardless of culture) D.

Dan Balan: why nothing in Russian?

2008-01-27T22:03:00.000-08:00

seems like a missed opportunity...

Delia

P.S. looks like Radu released Russian versions for at least some of his songs (e.g. You loved/Doi Straini)

P.P.S. an older song in Russian (appearently very sad, I don't understand Russian...) D.

781 Utube entries

2008-01-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

MORE: 786??? this is just seconds apart... not bad:)... D.

MORE: 782, now...

for "Crazy Loop" and it's not even February yet(when the album will be released outside of Romania) D.

why??? Dan sings "the Ma Ya Hi song" aka "Dragostea din tei" with Lucas Prata

2008-01-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

live at Whitehouse in NY, in the Hamptons

bad idea! it would never match the original version... (Arsenie and Radu DID bring a lot to the interpretation -- they both have very unusual voices and the Romanian version was just so much better to boot....)

Delia

Cazy Loop: performance in Romania

2008-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

MORE: I'd stay away from playback if at all possible... D.

pretty lively!

Delia

P.S. wondering if the performance would have been different in the West (it would probably help to take different expectations into account) D.

thanks, Crazy Loop! :)

2008-01-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

thanks for the correction!

Delia

P.S. feel free to email! (dperiod@comcast.net) I checked-out your blogger profile but it was empty...D.

some classic Romanian ballads

2008-01-12T21:31:00.000-08:00

MORE: and it wasn't just ballads, there was even some hard rock... e.g. Iris:Trenul fara nas/ The free train...(alusion at the common practice -- during communism -- of not buying a train ticket and bribing the conductor instead)

sung during Communism (live versions, not always best sound quality --> people really knew the lyrics to the songs and was part of the performance,Cenaclu Flacare concerts were extremely popular)

La o cana cu vin/ If all you want to do is have a glass of wine, I won't be there...(full length)

Pustioaico: hmmm... hard to translate, it's close to the French "gamine" but I don't think terms like the English "gal" come close to it... and those who attempt to discribe the character are misleading -- in Romanian it's really and endearing term, it does denote a younger age but not in a negative way like attempted translations turn out...

Si totusi exista iubire/ In spite of all, love hasn't disappeared... (full length)

Delia

yes, they could sing...: O-zone a capella

2008-01-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Oriunde ai fi/Wherever you will be

Delia

P.S. as I was saying, Dan can sing D.

opening the road for other Romanian bands

2007-12-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

STILL MORE: Jokero (I like this combination of English and Spanish; also, Romanian and English)

EVEN MORE: Dragoste de inchiriat/(Romanian version): romantic guy gets dumped... very, very different from the crude English version (Kylie), probably not all that crude compared with what else is out there -- a lot of the rap songs, for instance... I'm not familiar with them so I just don't know how crude songs really get -- anyways, looks like it had plenty of success with the French, the Polish / live and... probably plenty of others

MORE: French kiss / 9 Mai (the Romanian version)/ in concert (in Poland); lyrics-wise, the Romanian and English version are very different

...
Akcent, for instance, has had some success in Europe: King of Disco/Romanian version (parody) / The Making of King of Disco

Romanian viral videos

2007-12-19T23:07:00.000-08:00

STILL MORE: interesting comments, the Romanians had a very mixed reaction to what Radio 21 came up with: some of them thought it was awful... the thing is that it was as much a parody of those foreign songs as it was a parody of Romanian folk songs (it had the themes, character etc. but the words were off the cuff and bordering on profanity -- something that would never happen in traditional "broadcastable" Romanian folk songs) but most people loved it! -- they thought it was fun and entertaining...

The reaction to learning these were not original songs was also varied: some people though it didn't matter..."their song was good... but ours was delicious!"; others thought it was a lousy thing to do and studio 21 should knock it off! (gives Romanians a bad name by appropriating other peoples' songs)

EVEN MORE: Radio 21's parody of a number of Western hits: Wassabi - Have Some Fun With Radio 21

EVEN MORE: another one: Rita Rita (the term "Rita Rita" is used in this Romanian version as slang for sex -- doesn't really mean that in Romanian but the video makes it obvious; this is actually a "fan response" to the Radio 21 version; the original version... the one that Radio 21 used for its parody was Leva's Polka)

MORE: the original/Russian version was about a love triangle (the Romanian version was about a woman not being satisfied by her lover) D.

interesting story: Radio 21 (Romanian) decided to parody a number of international songs -- Jaja jaga (which appears to be Russian slang for sex) ended up very popular with Romanians, kind of a party/ drinking song...and plenty of people had no clue the song wasn't exactly "Romanian, original" (the interpretation had all the bells and whistles... figuratively AND literally of authentic Romania folk songs)

Delia

Crazy Loop on UTube: will it go viral?

2007-12-19T23:01:00.000-08:00

there are some "fan videos" already, will it pick up even more to help promote the song on the world market? we'll see...D.

Johanna (Shut Up)

2007-12-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

MORE: live performance (but not the singing... couldn't possibly, he appears exhousted from all that jumping around...) D.

another one of Dan's new songs: interesting! was it a good decision to sing falsetto? hard to tell... there were some big successes, such as the Bee Gees but they didn't fare well for the long run -- people ended-up being embarrassed by having *ever* liked them; the lyrics are still... an acquired taste... for Westerners, I would think... D.

Dan Balan: looks like he's done it again!

2007-12-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

EVEN MORE

MORE: #1 in Romania

at least in Romania... looks like Crazy Loop has been received very well... surprise, surprise... or not? I thought it would be cool if it happened but... I didn't exactly see it coming:) ... hmmm... he certainly seems to have done a lot of promotion work!

Delia

P.S. we'll see what happens when "The Power of Shower" (The album which includes the single Crazy Loop) is released in Europe, Japan and America in January-February (25 countries! looks likes he's got the business side of this under control...) D.

I suppose it makes for a more perfect rhyme

2007-11-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

Radu seems to have maxed out this idea, by using successive repetition: Tu nu/You don't...

Delia

P.S. among the three of them, they probably tried all the permutations by now...

Could the choice of sounds be part of it?

2007-11-20T06:39:00.001-08:00

EVEN MORE: "Ciao Bambina!" means "Bye-bye, girl!" in Italian (only Italian words used; well, he also uses "Ciao, bambino!" at one point-- the masculine form of "bambina," as something the girl used to tell him...)

MORE: e.g. "Ciao Bambina!" has sounds added at the end of words (not unusual in Romanian singing) that convey more emotion than the plain words would have: "bambina" --> bambina -aaa; "plec departe" --> plec departe-ehe; "stiu ca ma vei astepta"--> stiu ca ma vei astepta-aaa; "acum e rindul meu" --> acum e rindul me-heu; "voi lipsi in viata ta" --> voi lipsi in viata ta-aaa; "vreau sa-ti spun adio" --> vreau sa-ti spun adio-ho...
......
there are a lot of expressive sounds in these songs that come across regardless of what language one speaks... D.

More: Ciao Bambina!

2007-11-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

overcoming unrequited love... (Japanese anime?)

more from the 1st O-zone incarnation (Dan Balan and Petru Jelihovschi)

2007-11-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

Nu ma las the limba noastra/ I will never forsake our Romanian language

(old Romanian song; background: parts of Romania have been under foreign control at different times in history, so the official language was not Romanian)

Dar unde esti?

2007-11-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

EVEN MORE: this was a prior incarnation of O-zone with Dan Balan and Petru Jelihovschi (as the lead singer)

MORE: backwards

Where *are* you?

key idea: you are haunting my dreams, I keep looking for you but I can't find you...

Crede-ma

2007-11-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

MORE: live version

(Believe me)

key idea: believe me you will be the only thing on my mind when I will pass away...

Romanian comments: there are plenty of positive ones...

2007-11-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

as far as the negative ones... they are really bad! (it's like curses... English just doesn't have that much detail in this respect... but languages/cultures like French or Romanian... ohhh... it's hard to describe it and probably hard to understand if you didn't grow up with those things) D.

the making of Dan's "Crazy Loop"

2007-11-09T11:37:00.000-08:00

not bad... :) D.

among the clouds

2007-11-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

MORE: similar theme, it's just that it's the Sea this time, long long standing popular Romanian song
...
basic idea: my love, let's get away from this flawed world: let's go up in the sky and build our own world up there, among the clouds, so we can have the perfect love that we deserve (a very alien idea for Westerners, I would think...) D.

Radu's last name

2007-11-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

MORE: for those who need more details on this: aside from the "i" you find in most Latin based languages, Romanian has a variation of it which has a sign that looks like the roof of a house on top instead of the normal little dot; the letter "a" also has such a variation (the "roof top" instead of the dot). To make things even more confusing, what is considered correct spelling (spelled with "i" and roof top versus "a" and "roof top") has changed -- back and forth -- for arbitrary reasons in the past. Romanians are more like the French this way (they don't just allow the language to naturally change and go with it...: there is an Academia Romana -- you can see the "roof-top-a"-spelling on that page -- like there is an Academie Francaise)
...
He says it's "Sirbu" (means nothing in Romanian). A lot of people (including me) were confused and though it must have been "Sarbu" (which means "the Serb") and may well still be the truth...ultimately... not that Radu is lying -- I'm pretty sure the name in his documents is spelled "Sirbu" but... it's not at all uncommon for mistakes to change one's name in time; actually many of the differences in spelling of words in the different Latin-based languages, for instance, were just that: mistakes that became the norm in a particular part of the world...

Delia

RandomXBoredom: "Its WAY diferent (and better in my opinion) from the crap we get here in the states...

2007-11-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

...this is a real fun-sounding fast-paced song and I LOVE IT!!! none of the singers over here sound like this and its very unique to my ears." (9th comment) D.

urasil: "i love this language even if i dont understand any word."

2007-11-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

that's sweet... (18th comment) D.

Luxor100: "I just love how they look like they are having so much fun..."

2007-10-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

Luxor100 (21st comment): "I don't care if they're gay or not (though I doubt it, since Romania's culture is drastically different from America's). I just love how they look like they're having so much fun in that video. It makes me wish I could go dancing on the wing of an airplane with my friends. :-( "

Delia

the comments to the O-zone videos

2007-10-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

EVEN MORE: the "studio version"
...
MORE: here's the difference: Sarbatoarea Noptilor de Vara = Summer Nights Celebration (this appears to be sung live -- noticeably lower quality for the sound, rhythm etc...)
...
seem to give good hints to people's varied reactions to the band...

there are definitely detractors but that's going to happen with pretty much anything... and not all the negative comments are just mean, some of them are valid criticism (e.g. do they lipsing in those videos? Yes! is that bad? again, the cultural standard -- and the implicit value judgment -- seems to play a big role... lipsinging is not seen as a mortal sin in Romania -- it's basically the choice to have the best performance of a song presented even if it's not happening right then...)

Delia

Arsenie deserves props...

2007-10-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

... for trying and trying and trying...(he never seems to stop searching for something different...)
D.

language trouble for Radu...

2007-10-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Perfect body

... again, to bring them to Western cultural standards, the lyrics need a lot of work but the bigger problem here is that the poor fan (thestupidcarrie) seems to get disgusted by something that Radu is very likely completely unaware of..."let me feel you tonight..." --> say, what? :(... yeah, that's the normal reaction: how rude! how gross! how horrible..."nasty song," to quote Carrie above: it's just that that phrase never means those things in Romanian and Radu appears to have simply translated from Romanian into English without being aware of such differences...

and it goes both ways: e.g. calling a woman a bitch (in Romanian) is really asking for trouble... (the word means whore in that context, although it means the same thing as in English when talking about dogs)

Delia

P.S. Word for word is really a terrible way of translating things (I actually failed a translation test once, because the dummies wanted a word for word translation and I refused to come up with that sort of nonsense... those people should have known better, they were supposed to use that stuff for analysis purposes -- couldn't possibly understand even basic things the way the wanted to go about it...) D.

Again, best of luck...

2007-10-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

to Dan! plenty of people seem to like it...so what if it's not "the numa numa thing"... I hope he makes it big! D.

More from Arsenie...

2007-10-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

"My heart is empty" (or something like that)

Delia

P.S. he doesn't sound bad at all in English, it's just that he could use some pointers (e.g. the difference in pronunciation between "here" and "hear")

P.P.S. may favorite joke in this line: Berlitz ad

the lyrics (and pronunciation) are still a bit unusual

2007-10-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

but they are easy going about that too: I remember an interview where the French asked O-zone if the lyrics for their then new song (Despre Tine, About you) were... well, better! than those for the numa numa song that made them famous but confused the heck out of foreigners lyrics-wise.

O-zone told the interviewer they were going to let her in on a little secret: the lyrics for the O-zone songs *never* change... only the title does.../joke

Delia

Radu and Arsenie, togehter, seem to have a better chance...

2007-10-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

at recapturing "the numa numa thing": they have the easy going happiness going for them...

it appears that Dan wanted to leave the O-zone experience behind

2007-09-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

and I think that he lost "the numa numa thing" in the process... Sugar Tunes Numa Numa (part of the album that will be released next year) seems to be his farewell song to those times: you can hear all the songs on that album and see the Balan band live in Washington D.C. on October 3rd but I don't think this new band (which if I remember right features Dan as a soloist and a couple of Moldavian instrument players that, together with Dan, moved to the US shortly after the break up of O-zone and are currently living in LA) has much to do with "the numa numa thing"... Good luck, anyways!

Delia

Yes, they do speak Russian...

2007-09-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

quite confortably... so why didn't Dan go after the Russian speaking market instead? (much larger than the Romanian speaking one...)? I guess he just didn't! and it may not have turned-out nearly as good for O-zone (Romanian is pretty close to Italian -- it's really the only Latin based language in Eastern Europe --> this may have made the sound of it more appealing to Western Europe).

Delia

some of the parodies were hilarious (without even knowing it...)

2007-09-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

like this French one that centers on "poulailler" and its video clip features poultry -- all nice and dandy... it's just that... by pure chance in Romanian the sounds used by the French for their cutzy chorus mean: "the dick... the dick it is!" (2.24 time mark)

Delia

P.S. I can see the three O-zone guys stifling some serious laughter during that portion of the interview (just watch Arsenie) and graciously not mentioning what it means in Romanian... D.

Arsenie (Arsenium) keeps reinventing himself!

2007-09-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

and he remains fairly successful (in Europe) : a "remake" of "Love me, Love me -- actually a blend with the Russian song "Kalinka," Latin-blues-rap "Loca" and ... mostly rap??? "Professional hartbreakers" (so far...)

Delia

more recognizable...

2007-09-22T09:05:00.001-07:00

Te-am visat/Radio (I dreamed of you/Radio)

Delia

P.S. and no, "radio" has nothing to do with the rest of the song! does it still work? I think so... D.

The video clips for his songs can be quite good!

2007-09-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

Doi straini (Two strangers) D.

But he's missing...

2007-09-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

... the party atmosphere... D.

after the break...

2007-09-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

MORE: A different performance of Dulce/Sweet (interesting comments, in English)
......
Radu seems to be the one that best continued the happy-happy-and-let-everybody-know-about-it quality of the O-zone songs...

Delia

P.S. not that he didn't try something "different" at one point: a somewhat bizarre combination disco-rap song he recorded with a Romanian DJ around the time O-zone was splitting up:Dulce (Sweet)

the spirit of O-zone lives on...

2007-09-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

unbelievable how years after it disbanded, so many people are still on U-tube watching it, posting their own videos (whether they are tributes or parodies... who cares... as long as it keeps going on?) posting comments... D.

why did it only barely make the pops in the US?

2007-09-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

errata! the song was not officially released in the US... (from one of Dan's interviews) sorry, sorry...

I think the English version was just not very good...(and you just don't change the version so many people fell in love with on the internet... -- that's always a bad idea but it may have been the price Dan had to pay for getting the song on the US charts and it was there... briefly...) D.