O-Zone | |
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O-Zone performing at their final concert at the Golden Deer (Cerbul de Aur) musical festival in Romania. (September 2005)From left to right: Arsenie Todiraş, Dan Bălan, Radu Sîrbu O-Zone performing at their final concert at the Golden Deer (Cerbul de Aur) musical festival in Romania. (September 2005) From left to right: Arsenie Todiraş, Dan Bălan, Radu Sîrbu |
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Background information | |
Origin | Chişinău, Moldova |
Genres | Pop, eurodance, electronica |
Years active | 1998–2005 |
Labels | Cat (Romania) T.I.M.E. (Italy) Ultra Records (US) Avex Trax (Japan) Mushroom Records (Australia, former) |
Website | artists.universal-music.de/ozone |
Past members | |
Dan Bălan Petru Jelihovschi Radu Sîrbu Arsenie Todiraş |
O-Zone was a Moldovan[1] pop music trio that was active from 1998 to 2005 and consisted of Dan Bălan, Radu Sîrbu, and Arsenie Todiraş. The group gained global popularity with their song "Dragostea din tei" and their subsequent album DiscO-Zone.
Contents |
O-Zone was formed as a duo of Dan Bălan and Petru Jelihovschi in 1998.[2] They released their first album, Dar, unde eşti..., in 1999. However, Jelihovschi had not intended to make music his career, so he split from Bălan. Undaunted, Bălan held open auditions for new band members. At one such audition, he met Arsenie "Arsenium" Todiraş, who eventually won over the initially skeptical Bălan with his version of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender." Bălan and Arsenium would have proceeded as a duo act until Bălan received a call from Radu Sîrbu, who wanted a chance to audition for the group. Despite missing the auditions the first time around, Bălan agreed, and after a successful audition by Sîrbu, O-Zone officially became a trio.
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O-Zone's single "Dragostea din tei" enjoyed immense popularity around the world.
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In 2002, O-Zone moved from Chişinău to Romania, hoping to gain more recognition. There, the group became an instant hit band with their upbeat song "Despre tine" ("About you"), which held the top position on the Romanian Top 100 chart for three weeks in February 2003. Their second hit, which brought them worldwide attention, was "Dragostea din tei", translated roughly as "Love in the Linden Tree." It quickly became popular in Romania, where it also topped the Romanian singles chart for four weeks in September 2003, but faded from popularity by the end of 2003.[3] But the song gained popularity in Italy when the little-known duo Haiducii released a cover of "Dragostea din tei", which topped the Italian pop charts.[3] Arsenie Todiraş later said that at the time, while it was not illegal, the group's cover felt like a betrayal because Haiducii had not asked permission to make a cover.[3] However, the cover's success led to curiosity about the original artist, and led to Time Records, an Italian recording house, offering O-Zone a one-year contract.[3] Soon after the song's release in Italy, it was also released in various other countries in Europe under Polydor Records and became an instant hit.[3]
"Dragostea din tei" topped the singles charts of nearly a dozen European countries in 2004. It reached the top 10 in many other countries, including in the United Kingdom, where it reached the third position on the singles chart.[4] The re-release of "Despre Tine" in 2004 from the same album had similar success across Europe.
In contrast to their multi-platinum status in Europe, O-Zone never entered the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States,[5] although it did reach the 14th position on the Hot Dance Airplay chart.[6] The viral video Numa Numa Dance helped to slightly boost awareness of "Dragostea din tei" in the United States,[7] but while the song received moderate to major airplay, most Americans knew it simply as the "Numa Numa Song" and never knew the name of the original song or the group that performed it. "Dragostea din tei" was sampled in the song "Live Your Life" by T.I. and Rihanna, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in late 2008.[8]
On January 13, 2005, while still very popular, the members of O-Zone announced their disbandment,[2] citing personal reasons.[9] Their last European concert was held at the 2005 Golden Deer music festival in Romania.[10]
Also in 2005, the Japanese music label Avex Trax gained distribution rights for O-Zone music in Japan, and released the album DiscO-Zone in August 2005 in that country.[6] The album, which features the song "Dragostea din tei", became immensely successful in Japan. Topping the Oricon albums charts, it reached over 800,000 in sales in 2005 alone and became the 12th most popular album of 2005.[11] Partially because the album was re-released twice by Avex Trax, DiscO-Zone charted for over a year on the Oricon weekly albums chart[12] and sold over one million copies overall.[13]
Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUT [14] |
DE [15] |
FIN [16] |
FRA [17] |
GER [18] |
JA [19] |
NL [20] |
NOR [21] |
POL [18] |
POR [22] |
SWI [23] |
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1999 | Dar, unde eşti...
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
2002 | Number 1
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
2004 | DiscO-Zone
|
15 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 16 | 1 | 41 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 7 | Gold (CZ)[6] Gold (FR)[24] |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUT [14] |
B/FL [28] |
B/WA [28] |
DE [15] |
EU [29] |
FIN [16] |
FRA [17] |
GER [30] |
IRL [30] |
ITA [31] |
NL [20] |
NOR [21] |
RO | SP [32] |
SWE [33] |
SWI [23] |
UK [30] |
|||
2002 | "Numai tu" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ? | — | — | — | — | |
"Despre tine" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | ||
2004 | "Dragostea din tei" | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | Platinum (AUT)[34] Gold (BE)[35] |
2004 | "Despre tine" (re-release) | 4 | 35 | 9 | 4 | ? | 14 | 2 | 9 | — | 8 | 27 | 1 | — | 19 | 7 | 9 | — | Gold (FR)[42] |
"De ce plang chitarele" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
Year | Single | JA Peak positions[19] |
|
---|---|---|---|
2005 | "Koi no Maiahi" | 72 | |
"—" denotes releases that were not released in that territory. |
O-zone is a science fiction novel by the American author Paul Theroux published in 1986.
Missouri is a nuclear wasteland after leakage of stored radioactive waste, off limits to all but the very rich. Eight of them, referred to as 'Owners', visit this O-Zone as their personal playground. Some of them come to the disturbing realizations that the life-forms outside of their walled in cities, assumed to be just 'things', seem as human as the Owners themselves.
The O-Zone was a weekly music magazine show broadcast on BBC from 1989–2000. The First series was presented by Andy Crane on BBC One as a 10 min filler each weekday morning during the summer school holidays before switching to Sunday morning slot from September on wards. The series continued as a 5 to 15min filler shown during school holidays and Sunday mornings on CBBC throughout the year by CBBC presenters Andi Peters, Philippa Forrester, Toby Anstis and Zoë Ball by 1992.
The show was given an overhaul and makeover from 13 January 1995, with Jayne Middlemiss and Jamie Theakston as the new dual presenters. The series was moved to Friday evening with Sunday repeat. The series was extended to 20mims from September 1996.
There was also a spin-off series, The Pop Zone shown in 1998.
In October 2000, the show was replaced by Top of the Pops Plus, which had already been on UK Play. That programme was axed in 2001.
Sa nu ma-ntrebi de ce
Lumea din jur nu mai e,
In mintea mea acum
Traiesti doar tu.
In iernile tarzii, eu te voi incalzi
Iti voi sopti:
"Viata mea esti numai tu!"
Pana-n zori sa ramanem,
Sa gustam din dulceata,
Sa te-ntreb cu privirea,
Sa-mi raspunzi cu iubirea
Iar cand ne vom trezi
Iti voi reaminti,
Ca pentru mine esti
Numai tu.
Numai tu,
Inima mi-o frangi, doar tu
Numai tu.
Tu, tu, numai tu.
Atinge-ma usor,
Sa simt ca explodez, ca mor.
Si-apoi sa-mi spui
Ca-n gandul tau sant numai eu.
Sa adormim cu greu
Si-n somn sa spui numele meu,
Iar in visul tau,
Voi veni si vei sti ca esti doar tu.
Pana-n zori sa ramanem,
Sa gustam din dulceata,
Sa te-ntreb cu privirea,
Sa-mi raspunzi cu iubirea
Iar cand ne vom trezi
Iti voi reaminti,
Ca pentru mine esti
Numai tu.
Numai tu,
Inima mi-o frangi, doar tu
Numai tu.
Tu, tu, numai tu.
Don't ask me
Why the world is...
Only u with my mind
Like me with your mind
U shine my life
And I hear the whisper that in my life...
"There is only u"
One moment remains to us
To feel the taste
To ask with love
To answer with love
And this will wake up
That will seem to remind
That there is ONLY YOU for me
ONLY YOU
My soul is addicted to you
ONLY YOU
ONLY YOU
ONLY YOU
My soul is addicted to you
ONLY YOU
ONLY YOU
Show me easy
How is to express amor(iubirea)simply
And tell me that
In your thoughts only I AM
Wake me up....
...And tell me my name.... (Not sure here)
But in your dream
will come the sign that I am with u
One moment remains to us
to feel the taste
To ask with love
To answer with love
And this will wake up
That will seem to remind
That there is ONLY YOU for me
ONLY YOU
My soul is addicted to you
ONLY YOU
ONLY YOU
ONLY YOU
My soul is addicted to you
ONLY YOU