The O-Zone Craze - Shedding Some Light

The O-Zone craze seems to have finally crossed the pond, selling nicely on Amazon.com. It even reached the blogging world. I picked it up from Seth's blog, but then Joi Ito has a nice piece on it, too. What caused the craze? A most amusing 'tipping point' in the shape of a small video :-).

So I think now's the time when bloggers could use some clarifying information from someone who literally speaks the same language with the O-Zone guys. Not that this information doesn't exist on the web already - it just needs some fresh exposure every now and then. Here it goes:

1. The funny-looking name Numanuma is actually a repetition of two Romanian words, 'nu ma' (or, to be correct, 'nu mă') that are part of the lyrics of O-Zone's smash hit 'Dragostea din tei' ('Love in the linden tree'). More precisely, they're part of 'nu mă iei', which translates into 'you don't take me [away with you]'. I know, I know, but I'm a namer and I'm obsessed with it :-)
2. O-Zone have long been a hugely successful act on the European dance scene. That is, since around AD 2003, if I recall correctly. They're from Moldova (a small ex-USSR republic), not the neighboring Romania. Due to the complicated history of this part of the world, both Romanian and Russian are spoken in Moldova. O-Zone had a choice to make and they went for singing in Romanian (and entering the showbiz in the same country, not in their own), as they correctly supposed it would help them promote their music all across Europe.
3. Starting out from Romania, they've come to be known as a Romanian act and have been quick to monetize on their growing brand awareness all across Europe. Think of all the paraphernalia you can, from ubiquitous (and annoying) ringtones onwards.
4. Yes, Seth, there's a point, although a very shallow one - it makes people laugh, on the cheap. The raw matter (that is, the original O-Zone music) is renown for its supremely dimwitted lyrics - they're all too obvious for native Romanians, but relevant translations abound on the web. At the same time, it is highly danceable (simple, repetitive, addictive sound patterns being involved), here and everywhere in the world and that's what seems to count for most people.

My 2 eurocents.

Comments

[madison]

well i love any site that talks about o zone they are the koolest band ever and ever since i started listening to them i am begining to hate all other bands but you should put more videos on here because i cant really affford it. but if someday i do i really cant get it around here where i live. i also have heard resently that they have broken up. sad but anyways i would someday like to meet the guys from ozone radu, dan and arsenie anyways thats all i have to say for today

[Katrina]

O-zone are the best! They're lyrics are NOT 'supremely dim-witted'. They're clever. And catchy. And the best in the world. BECAUSE O-ZONE ARWE THE BEST AND ALWAYS WILL BE! Even though they have broken up. I am deep mourning...

[Sam]

Would anyone happen to have a link to the English translation to "Numanuma"....I want to share it with my English class as my "happy song" but seeing as how I don't know what Ozone is actually saying, the teacher is afraid to play it. This will be greatly helpful.

[Carlos Moita]

Hi, guys! I'm Carlos from sunshinny Portugal. I heard that some members of the "O-Zone" romanian group died in a plane crash; that the band was dissolved for that reason. Is that true? If so, wasn't it a weird case?... this is, their hit single "Dragostea Din Tei" had a video-clip that had an airplane as background - some months from that some members would die in a PLANE crash?!... isn't that too much of a coincidence? Please, someone answer to me... I'm really curious to check out if the "Plane Crash/Death" information is true or not. Bye, bye. CARLOS

[carl p.]

this is the most overhyped thing i have seen in a long time. its popularity only speaks to the stupidity of this ridiculous "american idol"-ized sub culture. you are all dumber for liking it and encouraging it. the only thing this kid needs, more than the attention he is craving, is a life and a treadmill!

[Mr. Rubino]

Not that you guys probably don't know it already, but the American-made "Numa Numa Dance" video has hit the big time with a vengeance within the last few days. Prepare to have your friends in England, Germany, and Micronesia e-mailing you it nonstop as if they've found something you didn't already know about, heh.

[Zach]

Katrina how can you say that they are clever? i've just read a translation and that has to be the most bland song ever written. link: http://www.catteacorner.com/dragosteadintei.htm thats worse than britney spear or all of the boy bands in the US put together.

[licorice pirate]

hoo cares about tha "dim witted lyrics." it's a cute song.

[thomas]

o-zone has split up subsequently of Dan Balan's departure. He plans to do a solo career. Radu and Arsenie are very angry at him.

[Pyrro]

This may be a stupid post- but what does the band think of all this? I mean, afterall, they have some guy dancing to their music and we really dont know what the song is saying. Its at least got some popularity in the states- so i guess it cant be all bad right?

[jennifer]

ok im confused. every single english translation of dragostea din tei i have found do not match what they are singing in english on the cd....on the cd, dan balan, is singing "when you leave my colors fade to gray blah blah blah all my colors fade away every word of love i used to say now i paint it every day" what i want is to find the words to what they are really singing in the english version on the cd. does anyone know what he says after all my colrs fade to gray? it sounds like "a little honest day" but that dont make sense. please email me cause this is driving me nuts and it is faster than trying to figure out how to come back here....so email me if anyone knows anything. thank you in advance thanks you jennifer

[George Lopez]

Its the funniest thing i have ever seen

[iina]

O-ZONE IS THE BEST 4-EVER!!! I LOVE <3 RADU SARBU <3 4-EVER!!!! O-ZONE ON MAAILMAN PARAS NYT AINA JA IKUISESTI!!!! MINÄ RAKASTAN <3 RADUA <3 NYT AINA JA IKUISESTI!!!!!!!!!!! T:Maailman suurin o-zone/radu fani

[Sarah]

There's a free website with song lyrics called Metrolyrics.com. I went there to find the Romanian and English lyrics which are, as far as I know, correct. There's also a great video on the web to "Dragostea Din Tei" made by some college guys at http://homepage.mac.com/preppie4south/iMovieTheater2.html. It appeals to me, but then again, I am a college girl.... Enjoy!!!

[Eve]

I liked O-zone because: a) Romanian has a certain niceness to it and it reminded me of Latin, it's just a beautiful language b) Radu is really cute Didn't click to the song until everyone else I knew thought it was "so last month" and ended up knowing 12 song texts by heart. You never know for what it's good to know a few words of Romanian...

[Jim]

First, I saw the Numa Numa flash video made by a 19 year old from New Jersey. I thought the video was hilarious, but I really liked the song. Without much effort, I discovered the song was Dragostea Din Tei. So then I tried to find information on the band that made it. I then discovered "Despre Tine". I also discovered the original videos to both songs and in each video it looked like the band were having a great time. I wanted to learn more and I did... only to disvoer that the band broke up! It will be like the Beatles. On their own, the Beatles did all right for themselves, but it was when they were together that the magic happened.

[Johanna]

I LOVE RADU!!!!!!! I love their music too. I saw the fake music video, and fell in love with the song, then Radu....

[Jamie]

Hey, I am looking for english translations to 'Dragostea Din Tei'. The only ones I've found have something about Dukes, and I'm pretty sure 'Haiduch' doesn't mean duke. Can anybody e-mail me the translation? j_j_m2004@yahoo.com Thanks!

[madison]

well people who are looking for translations visit my sight....www.radu-dan-arsenie-ozone.piczo.com there is a page that has only english translations there are comments are there that i hope none of you all dont get affended by i didnt not make them up other person have i love ozone. well anyways to jamie it haiduic and it means "outlaw" and the only say your duke on the english version cuz it rhyms with haiduc i love that song adn also despre tine...orundi ai fi i love it and i have no idea what they are talking about...roamnian language is a very nice language....well anyways i am laving now so bye bye

[Price]

O-zone's Dragostea Din Tea rocks. I heard it in italy. IMPORTANT: But does anybody know how i could contact them? Yeah, that sounds stupid but I found the translated lyrics (a friend sent them to me) and liked them. After that they had a english version on itunes and o-zone is sining with some people who speak english. O-zone barely gets to sing! ALso they completely changed the lyrics. Where (in english) the REAL things is suppossed to say "its me, and outlaw" they say "It's me, your duke" and at the part with picasso and the cell phone they changed it to "I will paint (beep noise) my words of love with your name on every wall" and the chorus is "When you leave me colors fade to grey ooh ah ooh ah ay ooh ah ooh ah ooh ah ay every word of love i used to say now i paint it every day when you leave my colors fade to grey a little lot to say all my colors fade away....etc" they changed it from god to mushy and gushy. I want them to know they've been taken for a ride. Also, there's a guy online who lip-synced to it and everybody acts like experts they call it The Numa Numa/ Mia-hee song. One person even said MILA-HEE! I hate that. please reply and send me an email (ollie1360@hotmail.com) thanks!

[Catothegorilla]

Dan got married and he's leaving Romania. He's moving to USA. Maybe some of you could see him there. But it's a big country... Anyway, did u guys know that Radu is the oldest(25 or 26) while Arsenie is the youngest (20 or 21). B4 I thought that Arsenie was the oldest. Dunno why, probably because he's more mature than Dan and Radu. Arsenie is my favourite of the trio. He's the coolest, looks great and has the best voice. When I bought the CD, I listened it a couple of times with the volume at 100%, and I noticed that the others put Arsenie sing the most difficult parts in the songs. Another thing: did u guys know that Dragostea din tei came out in summer 2003, but in Finland it appeared on the market only in september 2004. They must be really slow up there. Has any1 of you listened to Fiesta de la Noche and Numai Tu? These songs are on the Ozone Cd, and they're much better IMHO that Dragostea din tei and De ce plang chitarele.

[nobody]

WHA?!?! how the h*** does everyone know that they broke up?!?!?! I'm so surprised!!! Also, I need to know where to find more info on them (as you can tell, I don't know jack about them :( ....) and, if possible, some contact info...I would very much like to send them...god, who knows what....this would be helpful. Multumesc! (which, of course, in Romamian, means "thank you")

[Mimi]

Have you got a video of music group O-zone?Do you know something for them?I am from Bulgaria and my favourite music group is O zone , but I do not know anything for them.Please, tell me something for them or send to my e-mail video .My e - mail is janei@abv.bg

[linda]

Haiducii is not very good but O zone is the best!!!!!I love O zone, I love themm!!!!

[mary]

Have you got a picture of O zone?I and my cousin are fans of O zone!!!And we want to send us some picture of them.Pleaseeee!!!

[Ian and Chacho]

WE LOVE OZONE!! did they really die?? Are they really gay?? Is Dan Balan starting a career in the US??? Do we love them as much as we think we do?? Which one IS dan, which is Radu and which is Arsenie??Is Radu Bulgarian??

[Ticin]

I live in San Diego, California. Only now has O-ZONE been popular here (though they may have been known here earlier, they are only now popular.) In the part of San Diego that I live, there is a community called "Hillcrest." The majority of people here in Hillcrest are homosexual (including myself.) Now, rumor has it that some (if not all) of the members of O-ZONE are gay. After having seen the video, I too am lead to believe that... and of course I mean no insult by that, just an observation. Anywayz, just a few questions... Are they gay? Did the band really break up? Is one of them getting married and moving to the United States? I just signed up for their mailing list, however, its in Romanian which I clearly do not speak. Do they have any contact info (either for the band, or individually?) If anyone knows.. please e-mail me. ticinmep@yahoo.com

[KEVIN]

EMAIL ME IF U WANNA KNOW ALL THE VERSIONS OF DRAGOSTEA DIN TEI AND I U WANT ME TO SEND THEM TO U

[zellen]

hehehe yay ozone ^.^ ya i love these guys .. my buddy went to europ over the summer and found the wonderful niss that is ozone over there he showed me a bit of it but i didnt truly fall in love untill i went to greece this march where i jacked a buddys mp3 and gess what numanuma was on it hehe im addited if enny of you can tell me where i can fin there cds in canada ill have your babys hehe ya im a sad fan gir and its evin worse i lissen to there stuff nearly every day .. well every day i have my comp around lol ty guys

[Clara]

I LOVE OZONE SO MUCH!!!!!! I am officially completely and totally obsessed. There isn't a single minute in the day where my friends don't hear me humming one of there songs or randomly blurting out phrases from the music(si sunt voinic, even though I am not at all strong) Personally I like the english translated version, however the Romanian one is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better. Anyway if anyone knows where I can find and listen to there other music without downloading it or if you know where any of their other music videos are please post it on here. I don't have an email so I'll check on here every day! I can't wait until I get the C.D.(long story) but for now I just need to hear their music! So if you know where any music videos are please help me!!!!!! Oh and also I am trying to prove to my friend that they aren't gay but I really don't know. Are they gay? I hope not but please be honest. Thanks!

[Catothegorilla]

The O-zone guys are not gay. How can you guys even think that such bullshit can be true? Arsenie is definatly not gay. Has any1 seen his new video? He sings solo now, and his new name is Arsenium. The name of the song is Love Me, love me. Nice, huh? and he sings it in english and russian. You guys must see the video, the girls there are so hot. I think I'll emigrate to Russia. I'll post the full O-zone album and maybe a video also on my new site. Coming up soon.

[stephanie *]

OMG !!! IS DAN REALLY MARRIED ?? wtf. Dan is the hottest guy i have ever seen in my entire life ! = ) im absolutly crazy for him... so someone please post a comment back and tell me if the guy of my dreams really is married .:. thank you .:.

[Paddy]

I love O-Zone so much it is not true, I've even ordered their first album, number one from Romania just so I can have all their songs! On the subject of their supposed gayness, their dragostea din tei video was very gay (what with the rainbow and the hugging etc..) and de ce plang chitarele was also gay themed in parts. Maybe they're bi, nothing wrong with that though!

[River]

From USA: I just found out about this great song through that lip-sync video. The only reason that 19 yr old is famous is because this song is so catchy. People need these kind of songs to make them cheerful in desparate times. Ofcourse I didn't understand the language at first but after some researching I do now. It's very clean, and the language itself sounds very beautiful. I'm sorry the guys broke up, that means they won't do any more concerts or appearances...happens to most bands. The bad news is that their breaking up makes them One-Hit-Wonders because "Dragostea Din Tei" made the world notice them. But the good news is that their legacy will live through this song. :-) P.S: I hope to meet Dan someday, if it's true that he has moved to USA.

[shielda]

Hi.Does anybody know about x-O-Zone future plans?

[psycopathic-ryda]

o-zone sucks they're just a quer forign band

[Summer&Danielle]

O-Zone is awesome! Their song dragostea Din Tei is our favorite song ever and it's awesome. Does anybody know if you can buy the CD's in the US?? If so, where?? Apparently, we're not the only ones that think one of them is gay... Viva La Dan Balan, Radu Sarbu, and Arsenie Toderas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mona]

its not a lime tree.. we dont have lime trees in romania. its a tree that has a sweet smelling yellow flower however.

[Perkdog]

The title translates roughly to "love among the Linden Trees" a tree that has some history with the Slavic peoples, I am told. It's obvious thet the song would suffer if they used different lyrics in the english version. The song was written in Romanian, and rhymed that way. Catothegorilla, can you tell me which band member was which from the video? The tall black haired one? The one thatdoes most of the singing? And the one that says"picasso"? Also I am trying , just for wasted time and giggles, to find out what kind of plane they ised in that video..was it all cgi, or cgi enhanced on a real plane? I was leaning toward the Antonovs, but I don't know. Also they should have gone with the original version over here, plus they should have stayed together if they wanted it to be a hit.

[Clara]

The tall one with the black hair is Dan. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure it's Dan. Does anyone know where he's moving to in the U.S.? Which state?

[bridgette]

does ne1 kno the whole story about ozone breaking up and if dan is moving to the us? i live in fl and me and my best friend looooooooooooooooooove dan! i cant believe they are breaking up..... pleaseeeee if u kno nething about where hes moving to or if he really is married and why theyr really breaking, dont hesitate to let me kno!!! email me!!!!!

[Diana]

Oh bugger... I though there would be a lot of, "O-ZONE IS THE BEST 4-EVER!!! I <3 O-ZONE!!! LOLZ!!!" Sort of things around, but this has been the worst I've seen in forever. ._.; I'll make a few points that I know of. 1) O-Zone broke up some time ago when Dan Balan left. "I'm going back to my rock roots," he said and is in New York in the USA now, I believe. 2) I bloody hate "Numa Numa" with Gary Brolsma. 3) There is definitely more than just "Dragostea Din Tei" by them, so if you would, stop saying like it's their best and only thing ever. I rather like "Numai Tu" and "Despre Tine". 4) They're gay? I really want to know where the idea started, because that's not true. An interview with Arsenie clarifies that one. 5) When you know what the lyrics really mean, they do seem tasteless, agreed. But some songs just can't be measured by what they say. The tune is catchy, well executed, and that is all that really matters. I mean, I don't go and hate Bright Eyes for some of the lyrics they have in their songs. 6) Arsenie Toderas is now Arsenium with "Love Me, Love Me" in English and German. 7) I can't think up questions to answer... E-mail me and I'll see if I can find the answer. X_x; But no noobish questions please. For example: "DO YOU LYKE KNOW THE BAND??? CAN YOU GIVE ME THERE NUMBERS PLZ??? LOLZ!! KTHNX!!!111one!" No, I don't know them, they broke up, and also, don't talk in all capitals, leet, or chat speak (ex. thnx, plz, k). If you want to find out more about them yourself, just Google them up. Simple as that. Also, I hear LimeWire does miracles for the curious on O-Zone songs.

[Diana]

Right. "6) Arsenie Toderas is now Arsenium with "Love Me, Love Me" in English and German." German should be Russian, I believe. I was talking to a friend of mine that was German, we were talking about it, and that happened. Much like "happy" became "hungry" in another post I made elsewhere. ***Also, O-Zone never made an official statement about the split. But it occurred back in January of this year (2005). Sorry about the mix-up, I hope the new information made up for that.

[AMy]

I lo0ve o-zone pleese mail me 9524 birch ave mokena illinois 60448 Amy carrig or call at 708 478 1033

[IRA]

THEY ARE SO HOT... I LOVE RADU!!! I LOVE ARSENIE!!! I LOVE DAN!!!

[Someone]

It's actually "Love From the Linden Trees", thank you. And no, not one member of O-Zone is gay. Radu is married, Dan has gone through several girlfriends as well as Arsenie, and they're all rather average males, living out their lives almost as anyone else would. (Despite the added on point that they're celebrities and known all across the world (or almost) now). If you actually looked into this band and didn't just judge it by the first glance, I believe you'd think differently. I'm disgusted by society's shallowness, and I feel sorry for people who judge things firsthand. Oh, and I know all this for...eh... Many reasons, actually. Don't question me, please and thank you. Thank you, ~ Someone that knows a lot of information. (;

[Someone again]

Oh, and the O-Zone split thing. This happened mostly because of Radu's baby. He and Ana wanted to settle down a bit, and I guess that was the best thing to decide to do on Radu's part. Also, Dan and Arsenie wanted to get onto their own careers and there was a lot of arguments and splitting helped this. Hope this helps.

[IRA]

O-ZONE is the best!!! Radu is not Bulgarian, he was born in Peresecina in Moldova, Arsenie was born in Chisinau (it`s the capital of Moldova) and Dan was born in Chisinau too! I love Radu... His daughter`s name is Anastasia Dalia. O-ZONE 4EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IRA]

I know a lot of informations about O-ZONE! I´M FROM CROATIA!

[Imogen]

seevgnjdfk.xnlb;bkbkcfjbgmdlfkxmjblkfmvcmfbkmvlkmb,v. fu fu