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“Dragostea din tei”
Single by O-Zone from the album DiscO-Zone
B-side	Remix
Released	19 April 2004
Format	CD single CD maxi 12" maxi
Genre	Eurodance
Length	3:34
Label	Jive Records
Producer	Dan Bălan
O-Zone singles chronology
"Numai tu" (2003) "Dragostea din tei" (2003/2004) "Despre tine" (2004)

"Dragostea din tei" (pronounced /ˈdra.gos.te̯a din tei̯/), also known as "The Maya Hee," is the most successful single by the Moldovan pop group O-Zone. It shot to the #1 spot on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it remained for 12 weeks between June and early September 2004.^[1] It reached number 3 in the United Kingdom and 72 on the U.S. Pop 100, and it was number one for 15 weeks in France. A popular cover of the song was made by Haiducii, which also charted in many countries, especially Italy and Sweden where it topped the singles charts. The original song was made famous in the United States by the viral video of Gary Brolsma dancing to the song, calling it "Numa Numa". In 2008, the song's hook was sampled by T.I. / Rihanna in their hit "Live Your Life", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 2 in the UK.

Contents 1 O-Zone version 1.1 Title translation 1.2 Background and writing 1.3 English language version 1.4 Other languages 1.5 Track listings 1.6 Certifications 1.7 Charts 2 Haiducii version 2.1 Track listings 2.2 Certifications 2.3 Charts 3 Remixes, parodies and other cover versions 3.1 Charts by other versions 4 External links 5 References

[edit] O-Zone version

[edit] Title translation

"Dragostea din tei" is written in Romanian. 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. A strong link may be to Eminescu's actual linden tree from Iaşi, Copou park. Another interpretation of the title is a simple paraphrase of a popular Romanian children's book, "Pupăza din tei" by Ion Creangă, translated to English as "The Hoopoe in the linden tree".^[2]

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 youth 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.

Another probable translation is ”the first love”. That is because the words ”din tei” might be a in fact a deformation of the word ”dintâi” (it means ”the first one”, in Romanian).

[edit] Background and writing

The song was written and composed by Dan Bălan, and the original version was sung by 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. In as late as 2006, the song was still in the lower reaches of some Eastern European singles charts. It was written and produced by 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.

O-Zone's version was the most popular across Europe, with the exception of Italy, where it was only known by discogoers, and Sweden. A cover version of the song performed by the Romanian singer Haiducii, who released the song in Europe around the same time, was more popular in Italy and Sweden (it reached #1 in the singles charts). "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 in 2004. The "Numa Numa Dance", which first appeared 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 2004.^[3]

In addition to filming the music video in a recording studio, the group also shot footage on an actual plane's wing.

[edit] English language version

The American release of DiscO-Zone [7] features an English version of the song performed by Dan Bălan and Lucas Prata. This version 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 the English recording of "Dragostea din tei" entitled Ma Ya Hi on The Today Show on 22 February 2005. Unlike the original recording, however, this version was not as successful, charting at 72 on the Billboard Charts.

The original Romanian song and music video are also available on the iTunes Store in North America. The music video is somewhat edited, with visuals of the CGI plane replacing drawings depicting one member as Batman (likely fearing repercussions under stronger United States and European Union copyright laws) and a drawing at the end of their plane crashing (likely because of lingering feelings of September 11th).

T.I. recently took the opening lyrics and incorporated them into his song "Live Your Life" which was sung with Rihanna.

Basshunter & Alina have made a bass version of the version replacing "Your Duke" and "Its me, Picasso" with "Your babe" and "It's me, Alina" respectively.

[edit] Other languages

• Afrikaans language: South Africa's Nicholis Louw wrote Net die een vir my ("Just the one for me").^{[citation needed]}

The original 'ma-ia-hii' was kept.

• Argentinian Spanish Language: Argentinian's band Los Sultanes wrote Pluma Pluma Gay ("Feather feather gay", where the meaning of "feather" comes from the one that the argentinian vedettes uses on their shows) a song about homosexuality and party.

• Brazilian Portuguese language: Brazil's Latino wrote Festa no Apê ("Party at my Flat").

• Chinese language: Singapore's Jocie Kok (郭美美) wrote "Bu Pa Bu Pa" (不怕不怕, "Not Afraid, Not Afraid")^[4]

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啦, translates to "I'm not afraid when I see a cockroach". This track was released as a single, which includes the original track and 8 different remixes. The song became a hit in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan as well as mainland China, launching Jocie Kok into stardom with her other single titled "Lao Shu Ai Da Mi" (老鼠爱大米, "Mice Love Rice").^{[citation needed]}

• Cambodian language: Nop Bayarith wrote "No Answer" ^{[5][citation needed]}

• Chinese language, Mandarin: Taiwan's 2moro wrote "Shabu, Shabu"^{[citation needed]}

• Finnish language: Finnish singer Frederik wrote "Kumimies" ("Rubberman").^{[citation needed]}

• Hebrew language: One was made in the Hebrew language^[6] and featured several well-known Israeli celebrities.^{[citation needed]}

• Hungarian language:Two versions were made. One is by Minisztár^[7]； another is Numerakirály by Irigy Hónaljmirigy.^[8]

• Indonesian language: A version was made by Barakatak and was called "Buka-bukaan".^{[citation needed]}

• Japanese language: Japan's Maeda Ken as Maeken Trance Project wrote "Koi no Buchiage Tengoku: Koi no Maiahi~Chiwawa~Banzai" ("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"), released 24 August 2005.^{[citation needed]}

The original song was fused with popular Japanese Eurobeat song Banzai and part of the 2002 ad Coca-Cola commercial-related hit by DJ Bobo titled "Chiwawa".^{[citation needed]} It should be noted that although this is a Japanese release, the "Dragostea din tei" section of the medley is sung in Romanian.^{[citation needed]}

• Korean language: Hyun Young has recorded the Korean version of this song, titled "누나의 꿈" (Sister's Dream); the "Numa Numa" lyrics are changed to "Nuna Nuna" (the Korean word for older sister). It is about how she is a professor at a university that falls in love with one of her students.

• Thai Language: Thailand's Yai wrote โอ้เจ้าหนี้ ("Oh Jao Nee", lit: "O debtor").^{[citation needed]}

In the melody of "Dragostea din tei", the penniless singer humorously pleads to his debtor to leave him alone.^{[citation needed]}

• Vietnamese language: Vietnam's Vu Ha, Vietnamese "Người Tình Mai Ya Hee" (Mai Ya Hee, The Lover).^[9]

[edit] Track listings

CD single

1. "Dragostea din tei" (original Romanian version) — 3:33
2. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross radio RMX) — 4:15

CD maxi

1. "Dragostea din tei" (original Romanian version) — 3:33
2. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross radio RMX) — 4:15
3. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross extended RMX) — 6:22
4. "Dragostea din tei" (original Italian version) — 3:35
5. "Dragostea din tei" (Unu' in the dub mix) — 3:39

[edit] Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
Austria[10]	Platinum	September 13, 2004	30,000
Belgium[11]	Gold	2004	20,000
Denmark[12]	Gold	September 22, 2004	4,000
France[13]	Diamond	September 15, 2004	750,000
Germany[14]	2 x Platinum	2005	600,000
Netherlands[15]	Platinum	2004	60,000
Sweden[16]	Gold	September 2, 2004	10,000
Swiss[17]	Platinum	2004	40,000

[edit] Charts

Chart (2004) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay[18] 14 U.S. Billboard Pop 100[19] 72 Austrian Singles Chart[20] 1 Belgian (Flanders) Ultratop 50 Singles Chart[20] 2 Belgian (Wallonia) Ultratop 40 Singles Chart[20] 1 Danish Singles Chart[20] 1 Dutch Top 40[20] 1 Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1 Finnish Singles Chart[20] 2 French SNEP Singles Chart[20] 1 German Singles Chart[21] 1 Irish Singles Chart[21] 1 Italian FIMI Singles Chart[20] 17 Japanese Single Chart[citation needed] 1 Mexican Dance Chart 1 Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart[20] 1 Portuguese Singles Chart 1 Romanian Singles Chart 1 Spanish Singles Chart 1 Swedish Singles Chart[20] 3 Swiss Singles Chart[20] 1 UK Singles Chart[21] 3

End of year chart (2004) Position Austrian Singles Chart[22] 1 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[23] 7 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[24] 1 French Club Chart[25] 17 French Singles Chart[26] 1 Irish Singles Chart[27] 9 Swiss Singles Chart[28] 1

Preceded by "Rise & Fall" by Craig David featuring Sting	Romanian Singles Chart number-one single September 1, 2003 - September 22, 2003 (4 weeks)	Succeeded by "I Know What You Want" by Busta Rhymes featuring Mariah Carey
Preceded by "Yeah!" by Usher featiuring Lil Jon and Ludacris	French SNEP number-one single April 18, 2004 - July 27, 2004 (15 weeks)	Succeeded by "Femme Like U" by K-Maro
	Belgian (Wallonia) number-one single May 15, 2004 - July 24, 2004 (11 weeks)
Preceded by "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" by Eamon	German number-one single June 4, 2004 - September 3, 2004 (14 weeks)	Succeeded by "Obsesión" by Aventura
	Swiss number-one single June 20, 2004 - September 19, 2004 (14 weeks)	Succeeded by "Femme Like U" by K-Maro
	Austrian number-one single June 20, 2004 - September 12, 2004 (13 weeks)	Succeeded by "Obsesión" by Aventura
Preceded by "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" by Eamon	Eurochart Hot 100 number-one single June 26, 2004 - September 11, 2004 (12 weeks)	Succeeded by "Obsesión" by Aventura
Preceded by "Standing Tall" by Kjartan Salvesen	Norwegian VG-Lista number-one single 27/2004 - 35/2004 (9 weeks)	Succeeded by "Despre Tine" by O-Zone
Preceded by "Holiday in Spain" by Counting Crows and Bløf	Dutch Top 40 number-one single July 10, 2004 - September 18, 2004 (11 weeks)	Succeeded by "Wat Zou je Doen" by Marco Borsato and Ali B
Preceded by "Dry Your Eyes" by The Streets	Irish IRMA number-one single August 12, 2004 (1 week)	Succeeded by "These Words" by Natasha Bedingfield
Preceded by "Team Easy on" by Drengene Fra Angora	Danish number-one single August 27, 2004 (1 week)	Succeeded by "City of Dreams" by The Loft

[edit] Haiducii version

“Dragostea din tei”
Single by Haiducii
B-side	Remixes + "Spring"
Released	9 February 2004
Format	CD single CD maxi
Genre	Electronic
Length	3:33
Label	Digidance, Muve
Writer(s)	Dan Bălan

A cover version by Haiducii, with a strong dance impact, was charted at the same time as the original version by O-Zone. Although it had a great success in many countries, including Sweden, Austria and Italy, where it topped the chart, it was less successful than O-Zone's version. Haiducii was later sued by O-Zone for copyright infringement, since she had neither obtained permission from O-Zone to record the single nor given due credit to Dan Bălan for being the original writer of the song.

[edit] Track listings

CD single

1. "Dragostea din tei" (original mix) — 3:35
2. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiducii vs. Gabry Ponte radio version) — 3:42
3. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 the radio RMX) — 4:15
4. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiducii vs. Gabry Ponte extended version) — 6:30
5. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 The Club RMX) — 6:22

CD maxi

1. "Dragostea din tei" (original mix) — 3:33
2. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiducii vs Gabry Ponte radio version) — 3:43
3. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 Radio Mix) — 4:16
4. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiduccii vs Gabry Ponte extended version) — 6:32
5. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 club mix) — 6:20
6. "Dragostea din tei" (Potatoheadz club mix) — 6:58
7. "Spring" — 7:16

[edit] Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
Austria[10]	Platinum	July 20, 2004	30,000
Belgium[29]	Gold	June 26, 2004	25,000
France[30]	Silver	December 8, 2004	125,000
Sweden[16]	Gold	August 11, 2004	10,000
Swiss[17]	Gold	2004	20,000

[edit] Charts

Chart (2004) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales 24 U.S. Billboard Hot Singles Sales 60 Austrian Singles Chart[31] 1 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[31] 5 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[31] 2 Danish Singles Chart[31] 7 Dutch Singles Chart[31] 4 French SNEP Singles Chart[31] 2 German Singles Chart[32] 2 Italian Singles Chart[31] 1 Norwegian Singles Chart[31] 4 Swedish Singles Chart[31] 1 Swiss Singles Chart[31] 2

End of year chart (2004) Position Austrian Singles Chart[22] 3 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[23] 14 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[24] 22 French Singles Chart[26] 39 Swiss Singles Chart[28] 9

Preceded by "Shut Up" by The Black Eyed Peas "Amazing" by George Michael	Italian (FIMI) number-one single January 29, 2004 - February 26, 2004 (5 weeks) March 11, 2004 (1 week)	Succeeded by "Amazing" by George Michael "Left Outside Alone" by Anastacia
Preceded by "Yeah!" by Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris	Austrian number-one single May 9, 2004 (1 week)	Succeeded by "Vorbei" by Christina Stürmer
Preceded by "Ingen vill veta var du köpt din tröja" by Raymond & Maria	Swedish number-one single August 20, 2004 - September 17, 2004 (5 weeks)	Succeeded by "Elegi" by Lars Winnerbäck

[edit] Remixes, parodies and other cover versions

This article may contain excessive, poor or irrelevant examples. You can improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions.

• Dan Balan's latest song ever created with a reference on this song was "Sugar Tunes Numa Numa". In this song, he replaced all the techno music into a gothic doom rock like components.

• The Spanish humorists "Los Morancos de Triana" parodied the song in one of their TV programs. The parody, formally known as "Pluma Gay" (Gay Mannerisms) but commonly known as "Marica tú"[8]("Faggot you", parodying the 'ma-ia-hii' refrain), features audaciously pro-gay lyrics. This version has become more popular than O-Zone's in Chile, Argentina, Perú (where its success virtually eclipsed that of the original song) and other Latin American countries.

• In Panama, the humoristic TV Program La Cascara for the 2005 Carnival made a parody (named also Marica tú) in reggaeton, while Mala Fe, a Dominican merengue comedic soloist recorded a merengue version.

• Regional Mexicano artist Montez de Durango took out a version of the song titled "El Amor en un Arbol de Tilo". The lyrics meaning are very close to the original Moldovian song.

• "Marica Tú" has earned a cultural significance similar to that of Macarena (by Spanish duo Los del Río), to the point of being frequently played at weddings and gay clubs.

• A spoof of the song was released by the Romanian metal band "Trooper" under the name of "Zorzon", as a bonus track on one of their albums. The track is unique in Trooper's repertoire not only because of the clearly awkward melodic line for a metal song, but also because it features distinctly foul language and racist remarks towards the Moldovan singers.

• Hyun Young, a Korean model/actress/singer, released a Korean version of the song, titled “누나의 꿈 (Nuna-ui Kkum; Sister's Dream)”, which ranked among the top on various Korean charts in March 2006, within weeks from release.^[33]  The song preserves the “ma-ia-hii” and “nu mă, nu mă iei” choruses from the original; however, while the “ma-ia-hii” does not carry any meaning, but is merely used as a rhythmic interjection, the “nu mă iei” is approximated as "누나의" (nuna-ui, often pronounced nuna-e), which means "sister's". [9] "Nuna" is also an affectionate title a Korean man calls a woman who is older than he is. The lyrics of Sister's Dream are about a romance between a younger man and an older woman.

• In Japanese, the song's refrain sounds similar to the phrase noma noma (飲ま飲ま "drink! drink!") giving it currency as a popular drinking/party/karaoke song in Japan. It has served as the basis of numerous parodies, most notably Maiyahi, made by substituting similar-sounding but ultimately nonsensical Japanese words for the original Romanian lyric. The resulting bizarre interpretations became well-known in Japan in the song's heyday. However, it was later revealed that avex cribbed from a 2channel character and registed the character the trademark. avex claimed the character is just a "INSPIRED" one. This remark made not only 2channel users but many internet users lose their temper because many internet users thought they themselves growed 2channel characters up on the internet so the characters would have public-rights, and they thought registing the trademark on the duplicated characters is a immoral behavior. Despite internet users did demonstration parades against the company's immorality, in some reasons it became just a small social problem in Japan.^[34]

• 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 [10] [www.antonia.at]. It was topping the Austrian charts quickly after the release. The Austrian version is called "Wenn der Hafer sticht."

• 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.

• On 11 November 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". [11] 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.

• A Dutch version by the Belgian trio De Feestridders (The Partyknights), which criticizes the use of speed cameras also exists. Other Dutch parodies include "Muggen Hier, Muggen Daar" (Mosquitoes Here, Mosquitoes There) by Gebroeders Ko, "Lekker Lekker" (Nice, Nice) by Ome Henk (Uncle Henk), and "Duitsers Hier, Duitsers Daar" (Germans Here, Germans There), by Edwin Evers.

• A clip from the 2005 Walt Disney's animated movie Chicken Little has 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).It can be found here [12]^[35]

• A Taiwanese version (怒罵怒罵) depicts the legislative violence in the Taiwanese parliament.

• Dan Truong, a popular Vietnamese singer, also featured a remixed version of the song in his 2006 album 'Bai ca Mi Ya Hee' (The Mi Ya Hee song). [13]

• Professor Lebedinsky (Профессор Лебединский), Russkij Razmer (Русский размер) and Dmitri Nagiev (Дмитрий Нагиев) released a Russian single "Ya yeyo hoy!" ("Я её хой!") mixing drunken slur, mocking gay-like intonations, out-of-context foreign language and utterly meaningless lyrics.

• The Swedish comedian Svullo made his own version of Dragostea Din Tei, and in the song, he sings off-key.

• The crew of the United States naval vessel USS Enterprise made a spoof of the original video that swept across the world as an internet viral video.

• The English version has been parodied by an Elmo Numa Numa song. It features Sesame Street characters Elmo and Grover, as well as a few toys, such as R2D2, Robosapien, American Godzilla and more.

• The song was also covered / parodied by Massimo Gargia under the title "Ma cé ki? Massimo", by the French host Cauet under the title "Argent Argent", and by Le 6/9 under the title "Le Poulailler". These versions were charted in 2004 in France, Belgium and Switzerland, at the same time as the original version (see Charts by other versions).

• The Hungarian parody-musician group Irigy Hónaljmirigy made a parody song "Nummerakirály". They also feature in a movie clip[14].

• Victoria's Secret model Alina Puscau covered the song with slight variation in her single "When You Leave (Numa Numa)", which was remixed by Basshunter.^[36].

• American beatmaker Just Blaze sampled this for the song Live Your Life he produced for rapper T.I. and singer Rihanna on T.I.'s new album Paper Trail. The song has been successful in the United States, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. However the refrain is in a slightly different order due to copyright issues.

• Alina and Basshunter made a song called "When You Leave" which is an english cover of the song.

• A video in Youtube features the a 90-second version of the original song, sung word for word with amazing accuracy by Hatsune Miku, the mascot character of Yamaha's Vocaloid singing program.^[37].

• Popular Portuguese Internet comedian Dr. Vitominas made a flash animation parodying the music video, retaining the original audio track with Portuguese subtitles with a supposed translation. The subtitles, freely translated, label the song as bad and the Portuguese as "Bimbos with no musical culture whatsoever", among other things, criticizing the fact that Dragostea din tei topped nr. 1 in the Portuguese singles chart. The animation itself depicts the group's members as homosexual (reinforced by the subtitles mentioned previously), including two of them engaging in frottage. The introduction to the "translation" also implies that the song is disgusting.^[38]

[edit] Charts by other versions

"Ma cé ki? Massimo" by Massimo Gargia Chart (2004)[39] Peak position Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart 13 French Singles Chart 9 Swiss Singles Chart 38

"Le Poulailler" by Le 6/9 Chart (2004)[40] Peak position Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart 8 French Singles Chart 2 Swiss Singles Chart 30

"Argent Argent" by Cauet featuring Mopral Chart (2004)[41] Peak position French Singles Chart 14

[edit] External links

• The "Dragostea din tei" music video (in the RealMedia format)
• O-zone official website
• Side-by-side English translation of the song

[edit] References