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Numanuma is a Internet meme based around the Romanian techno song Dragostea Din Tei by O-Zone. Translated in English it would be: The Outlaws - Love among the linden trees.
"Numanuma" specifically refers to a Flash-based video of 19-year-old American Gary Brolsma lip-synching the song energetically on his webcam. All traces found so far seem to be clipped and out-of-sync near the end of the song.
The word "numanuma" comes from the words from a refrain of the song" "nu ma, nu ma iei" that mean roughly "(you) won't take, won't take me".
Brolsma first posted his "Numa Numa Dance" on Newgrounds.com on December 12, 2004. Since then it has had over 2,300,000 hits, popped up hundreds of websites and blogs and made appearances on ABC's Good Morning America, CNN, and VH1's "Best Week Ever".
Brolsma is a teenager from the New York City suburb of Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Reportedly, he is not happy with his fame. According to The New York Times, Brolsma has become an "unwilling and embarrassed web celebrity." Brolsma has stopped taking phone calls from the media; he canceled an appearance on NBC's Today Show on February 17, 2005 and he did not cooperate with the The New York Times for their February 26 article about him.
Gary Brolsma's Numanuma video has arguably become one of the most famous online video clips since the birth of the World Wide Web. Even Gary Brolsma's own name has become known in many coutries throughout the world, and his video clip is also responsible for popularizing many of O-Zone's songs, which were not well known outside Europe prior to Brolsma's Numanuma video.
There are a number of other videos using the song, including several Japanese cartoons based on 2ch Japanese ASCII art and a Lego dancing video.
Joi Ito has a good post discussing this current and growing meme.
See also: Internet phenomenon
External links
- Gman250.Net Gary Brolsma's personal site.
- Gary's Numanuma video (main site)
Press coverage
Other versions
- Lyrics (Romanian and English translation)
- Music Video of O-Zone doing their song.
- Original Numanuma video
- Joi Ito: O-Zone madness
- Japanese cartoon video
- Lego dancing video