"Tribal Dance" is a song by Belgian/Dutch Eurodance band

2 Unlimited 2 Unlimited are a Belgian/Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the ...

. It was their sixth single, released in April 1993 from the band's second album, '' No Limits!'' (1993). The UK release omitted the main rap, but left in more vocals from

Ray Slijngaard Raymond Lothar Slijngaard (born 28 June 1971) is a Dutch rapper and musician best known as one half of the Eurodance duo 2 Unlimited. Music career 2 Unlimited (1991–1996) 2 Unlimited is an electronic music project founded in 1991 by Belgian ...

than any of their previous releases. The single scored chart success in many European countries topping the charts in Finland, Portugal and Spain. Outside Europe, the song topped the chart in Israel and the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Dance/Urban chart, while peaking at number seven on the US '' Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart. "Tribal Dance" also peaked within the top 5 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Zimbabwe. In 1994, the song received an award in the category for "Best Techno 12-inch" at the WMC International Dance Music Awards in the US. In 2004, a new version of the song, titled "Tribal Dance 2.4" was released. It charted in both Austria and Germany, peaking at number 58 and 78.

Composition

The track features a trumpet riff and different kinds of drums throughout the song and the "''Say that again''" lyric at the start of the track was sampled from the film ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

''.

Chart performance

"Tribal Dance" was a huge hit on the charts in several continents. In Europe, the song peaked at number one in Finland, Portugal and Spain, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100 and the

European Dance Radio Chart The European Dance Radio Chart (also known as European Dance Radio Top 25) was a weekly chart compiled by pan-European magazine '' Music & Media''. After dance music had played a more dominant role on the magazine's Eurochart Hot 100 in the beginn ...

in June 1993. In addition, the single entered the top 10 also in Austria (3), Belgium (2), Denmark (3), France (4), Germany (2), Ireland (2), Italy (2), the Netherlands (10), Norway (4), Sweden (2), Switzerland (2) and the United Kingdom. In the latter, it peaked at number four on 2 May 1993, in its first week at the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It stayed at that position for two weeks, and also peaked at number seven on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record ...

. Outside Europe, the song scored chart success in Israel, peaking at number-one, spending two weeks at the top. In Canada, it also topped the ''

'' Dance/Urban chart. In the US, the song peaked at number seven on the '' Billboard''

chart. On the African continent, "Tribal Dance" peaked at number four in Zimbabwe. In Australia and New Zealand, it reached number seven and 38, respectively. "Tribal Dance" was awarded with a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

in Germany, after 250,000 singles were sold.

Critical reception

Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave the song four out of five, writing, "This is the usual high-octane, careering dance contender in rave/

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

mould. It could hardly be as big as "

No Limit No Limit may refer to: Music Record labels *No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P * No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P Albums * ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977 * ''No Limit'' ...

", and is probably a little too similar, albeit with some ethnic sounding wailing, presumably to justify the title." He added, "Instant smash, of course". Wendi Cermak from ''The Network Forty'' noted that here,

"hits the dance floor with another tribal trancer". A reviewer from ''

Newcastle Evening Chronicle The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to as ''The Comical'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Comical'' is published by ...

'' described it as a "brash, action packed pounder". Gail Heritage of ''

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'' declared it "a mix of rhythmic beat, almost changing at every eight bars, centring around the harmonic voice of Anita, before looming into a jungle of rap by Ray." She added, "'Tribal Dance' was one of my favourites on the album — those jungle drums just seem to be calling me to the dance floor." James Hamilton from the '' RM'' Dance Update viewed it as a "jungle drummed simple chanting galloper".

Toby Anstis Toby Anstis (born 14 December 1970) is an English radio and television presenter. He is a presenter on Heart (radio network), Heart and spin-off station Heart Dance. Early life Originally from Northampton, Anstis was educated at Desborough Co ...

, reviewing songs for '' Smash Hits'', stated that the song is "a nice bit of pop". An editor, Leesa Daniels, said it will "probably be number one for weeks." Australian student newspaper ''

Woroni ''Woroni'' is the student newspaper of the Australian National University (ANU), based in Canberra, ACT, Australia. The name "Woroni" derives from an Indigenous Australian word meaning "mouthpiece". ''Woroni'' is published bi-monthly in full ...

'' called it a "thumping, driven dance track", naming it an "obvious highlight" of the '' No Limits!'' album.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Tribal Dance" was directed by British director Nick Burgess-Jones. He had previously directed the video for "

". "Tribal Dance" is set in a jungle using blue screen in order to create the appearance of members of the band swinging across a jungle backdrop. A

picture-in-picture Picture-in-picture (PiP) is a feature that can be found in television receivers, personal computers and smartphones, consisting of a video stream playing within an inset window, freeing the rest of the screen for other tasks. For televisions, pic ...

screen showing a video game is also used. There are two versions; the rap version and the no rap version. "Tribal Dance" received

heavy rotation In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely ...

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...

in June 1993 and the no rap version was later published on 2 Unlimited's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel in March 2014. As of December 2022, the video had generated more than 4,1 million views.

Track listings

* 7-inch single (1993) # "Tribal Dance" (Edit) — 3:43 # "Tribal Dance" (Rap Edit) — 3:41 * 12-inch maxi, Belgium (1993) # "Tribal Dance" (Extended) — 5:11 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended Rap) — 5:11 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic African Remix) — 4:35 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic Breakbeat Remix) — 4:48 * 12-inch maxi, US (1993) # "Tribal Dance" (Extended Mix) — 5:14 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended Rap Mix) — 5:10 # "Tribal Dance" (Radio Version) — 3:41 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic African Remix) — 4:35 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic Breakbeat Remix) — 4:49 # "Tribal Dance" (No No Rap Edit) — 3:45 * CD single, Belgium and Germany (1993) # "Tribal Dance" (Rap Edit) — 3:41 # "Tribal Dance" (Edit) — 3:41 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended) — 5:11 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended Rap) — 5:11 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic African Remix) — 4:35 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic Breakbeat Remix) — 4:48 * CD single, France (1993) # "Tribal Dance" (Radio Edit) — 3:40 # "Tribal Dance" (Radio Rap Edit) — 3:40 * CD single, UK (1993) # "Tribal Dance" (Edit) — 3:43 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic African Remix) — 4:38 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended 12" Mix) — 5:13 # "Tribal Dance" (Automatic Breakbeat Mix) — 4:50 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended Rap) — 5:11 * CD maxi, France (1993) # "Tribal Dance" (Radio Edit) — 3:40 # "Tribal Dance" (Radio Rap Edit) — 3:40 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended) — 5:10 # "Tribal Dance" (Extended Rap) — 5:10 * 12-inch maxi (2004) # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Long Version) — 5:48 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Revil O. Remix) — 7:33 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (2 Chains Club Mix) — 5:09 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Original Extended Mix) — 5:11 * CD single (2004) # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Xtreme Sound Radio Edit) — 3:23 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Revil O. Short Mix) — 3:40 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (2 Chains Radio Cut) — 3:46 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Original Radio Mix) — 3:42 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Long Version) — 5:51 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Revil O. Remix) — 7:35 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (2 Chains Club Mix) — 5:09 # "Tribal Dance" 2.4 (Original Extended Mix) — 5:07

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1993 songs 1993 singles 2004 singles 2 Unlimited songs English-language Dutch songs European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Israel Number-one singles in Portugal Number-one singles in Spain Byte Records singles Pete Waterman Entertainment singles Songs written by Phil Wilde Songs written by Ray Slijngaard Music videos directed by Nick Burgess-Jones