The Numa Numa phenomenon began when internet celebrity, Gary Brolsma, a.k.a. The Numa Numa Guy, decided to make a YouTube video of himself lip syncing and contorting his face to the lyrics of “Ma-ia hii! Ma-ia huu! Ma-ia hoo! Ma-ia haha!” Since then, this catchy chorus has come back to haunt us in remakes by popular artists like Rihanna in the song “Live Your Life.” I came across a cute school girl Chinese version, as well as a schoolgirl-turned-seductress Korean version.
Then, to my dismay, I came across the Vietnamese version:
Now let’s get this straight, I am Vietnamese and I am proud to be Vietnamese. We have delicious food, beautiful people and renowned poker champions. However, when it comes to Vietnamese attempts to recreate Western songs, I have to admit, it is definitely not our forte. I am a huge fan of Vietnamese music and artists but every time I see a Vietnamese music video of an artist singing a “hip” song, I usually come across artists who look like they hired Derek Zoolander’s stylist and decided to use Adobe flash to create the so-called stunning visual effects. Let’s not forget the choreography, which is probably inspired by the original Numa Numa Guy himself.
While I will never understand the original appeal of the Numa Numa song, I will never quite make out whether this video scares me (see minute 3:17) or mildly entertains me.
Numa Numa-1, Vietnamese Numa Numa-0
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi! I like your srticle and I would like very much to read some more information on this issue. Will you post some more?
Very good performance. My note is 18 /20.
If you think that you perform this song better than him, please show us.
If not, please shut up and enjoy it.
This might be the worst thing I’ve ever seen. :S