Zenga Zenga
{{Infobox song
| name = Zenga Zenga
| cover = ZengaZengaYouTubeClip.png
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| type = single
| artist = Noy Alooshe
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| released = {{Start date|2011|03|06}}
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| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=10}}
| label =
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Zenga Zenga is an auto-tuned song and viral YouTube video that parodied the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The song, released on February 22, 2011, quickly became popular among the Libyan opposition active in the 2011 Libyan civil war.
The song was created by Noy Alooshe, an Israeli journalist and musician. The original video has more than 6 million views and the edited "clean" version has surpassed 1 million hits.
Background
File:Muammar al-Gaddafi at the AU summit.jpg
On February 22, 2011, Gaddafi gave a televised speech amidst violent social unrest against his government. In the speech (in Arabic), Gaddafi vowed to hunt down protesters "inch by inch, house by house, home by home, alleyway by alleyway [Arabic: زنقة زنقة pronounced in Libyan dialect as Zenga Zenga]."{{cite news |title=Qaddafi YouTube Spoof by Israeli Gets Arab Fans |author=Isabel Kershner |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/world/middleeast/28youtube.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=28 February 2011 |page=A10 |access-date=1 March 2011}}
An Israeli journalist and musician, Noy Alooshe, was watching the speech and saw Gaddafi's strange dress and gesticulations as something out of a trance party. Using the natural beat of Gaddafi's words, Alooshe spent a few hours at his computer and using Auto-Tune technology set the speech to the music of "Hey Baby," a song by American rapper Pitbull featuring another American rap artist, T-Pain. The original video features clips from Gaddafi's speech alongside mirror images of a scantily clad woman dancing.
Alooshe titled the new song "Zenga Zenga," based on Gaddafi's repetition in his speech of the word {{Transliteration|ar|zanqa}}, Arabic for alleyway in the Libyan dialect. American comedian Conan O'Brien ostensibly first popularized the transformation of {{Transliteration|ar|zanqa}} into "zenga zenga" and Alooshe named the clip accordingly.{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Israeli_behind_Zenga_Zenga_2-Mar-2011.htm |title=The Israeli behind 'Zenga Zenga' |author=Avigayil Kadesh |date=2 March 2011|publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs |access-date=2 March 2011}} By early Wednesday morning in Israel, Alooshe had uploaded the "electro hip hop remix" to YouTube. By Sunday night, through promotion on Twitter and Facebook, the video had gone viral, receiving nearly 500,000 hits.
Reception
Reactions were largely positive, presumably from members of the Libyan opposition who embraced it for its mockery of Gaddafi. Some also found the video distasteful, not only because it contains a woman provocatively dancing, but also because the creator of the video, Alooshe, is an Israeli Jew. At the request of web users who wanted to be able to share the video with their more conservative parents, Alooshe created another version without the clips of the dancer.
However, Gaddafi and his loyalist supporters apparently co-opted the song for their own purposes. As reported by The Guardian, at a speech given by Gaddafi's daughter, Ayesha Gaddafi, "Zenga Zenga" blared in the background.{{cite news |title=Gaddafi's daughter whips supporters into a frenzy with speech in Tripoli |author=Harriet Sherwood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/15/gaddafi-daughter-supporters-tripoli |newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 April 2011 |access-date=16 April 2011}}
The original video has more than 6 million views on YouTube.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBY-0n4esNY |title = Zenga Zenga | author = Noy Alooshe | date=22 February 2011 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=28 February 2011}} The edited version without the girl has over 1 million hits.{{cite web |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GcUutnU2gk |title=Zenga Zenga (no girl edit version) |author=Noy Alooshe |date=24 February 2011 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2 March 2011}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{youTube|cBY-0n4esNY|Zenga Zenga}}
- {{youTube|6GcUutnU2gk|Zenga Zenga (without the dancer)|link= no}}
- {{youTube|j72QREzwMas|Zenga Zenga (only the dancer)|link= no}}
- {{youTube|UzIa_dt_BK0|Zenga Zenga (English remix "They Love Me All My People"|link= no}}
{{2011 Libyan civil war}}
Category:Libyan civil war (2011)
Category:Cultural depictions of Muammar Gaddafi
Category:Songs about politicians
Category:Songs about military officers