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O-Zone

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For the form of oxygen, see Ozone.
O-Zone
Years active1999 – 2005
MembersDan Bălan, Radu Sârbu, Arsenie Todiraş
WebsiteOfficial Website of O-Zone

O-Zone was a pop group made up of Dan Bălan, Radu Sârbu, and Arsenie Todiraş (aka Arsenium). Originally from Moldova, the band launched in Romania. They mainly play eurodance music and are famous for the single "Dragostea din Tei", which was also performed by Haiducii, a notable summer hit which reached Number 1 in the singles charts of many countries during 2003 and 2004, and Number 3 in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single "Despre Tine" had similar success across Europe.

Despite its multi-platinum status in Europe, O-Zone never even scraped the bottom of the charts in the United States. An English recording of "Dragostea din Tei" was released in early 2005, under the title "Ma Ya Hi". "Ma Ya Hi" was performed by Lucas Prata and Dan Bălan on the New York Today Show on February 22, 2005. Nevertheless, "Ma Ya Hi" did not prove to be a hit, peaking only at #72 in March on Billboard.

The group was also rumoured, in 2005, to be representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest. However, these rumours proved not to be true as the group didn't take part in the Moldovan pre-qualifiers (Arsenie Todiraş was, however, a co-representative of Moldova during the 2006 Eurovision contest, competing under his new moniker Arsenium).

In 2005 the group split up. All of the members went their separate ways and started their own solo careers. It is debated whether O-Zone is the original creator of the song. Another Romanian group named Haiducii (meaning "The Outlaws") claims the song as its own, as both groups released the song about the same time. However, Haiducii had claimed that the lyrics were written by Dan Bălan.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Dragostea din Tei (A.K.A. Numa Numa)

In the United States, O-Zone's music was popularized by the Numa Numa dance, which was made famous by Gary Brolsma of Saddle Brook, New Jersey.

In Japan, O-Zone's single "Dragostea din Tei" created a stir when it was released under the name "Koi no Maiahi" with a special Macromedia Flash style video featuring characters similar to the cat Mona, who is extremely well known in Japanese BBS circles. The entire song was phonetically translated into Japanese, and while not making very much sense, the DVD single became very popular and was sold in record stores all over Japan. One memorable line of the song sounds like 'noma noma yay' which basically means 'drink, drink, yay!' in Japanese (in the original Romanian version: "nu mă, nu mă iei" - which means (roughly) "you won't take, won't take me"). Merchandise for the cat in the video (named by O-Zone's label in Japan, Avex, as Noma neko) almost set off a fierce legal battle due to the obvious resemblance with the online cat Mona and its variants. Avex has since stopped production of the video merchandise.

A modified version of the single appeared in the Densha Otoko TV series. The song appeared in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, and it was also used in Mai A Hi in Avex Taiwan, and in [1] a trailer of Chicken Little (2005 film) although it did not appear in that movie.

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