Zenga Zenga is an

auto-tuned Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles from the vocoder ...

song and viral

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video that parodied the Libyan leader

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

. The song, released on February 22, 2011, quickly became popular among the

Libyan opposition Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearboo ...

active in the

2011 Libyan civil war The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

. 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

On February 22, 2011, Gaddafi gave a televised speech amidst violent

social unrest Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, civil strife, or turmoil, are situations when law enforcement and security forces struggle to Public order policing, maintain public order or tranquility. Causes Any number of thin ...

against his government. In the speech (in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

), Gaddafi vowed to hunt down protesters "inch by inch, house by house, home by home, ''alleyway by alleyway'' rabic: زنقة زنقة pronounced in Libyan dialect as ''Zenga Zenga''" 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 Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

party. Using the natural beat of Gaddafi's words, Alooshe spent a few hours at his computer and using

Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and Pitch correction, correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles ...

technology set the speech to the music of " Hey Baby," a song by American rapper Pitbull featuring another American rap artist,

T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...

. 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 , Arabic for

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

way in the Libyan dialect. American comedian

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...

ostensibly first popularized the transformation of into "zenga zenga" and Alooshe named the clip accordingly. By early Wednesday morning in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, Alooshe had uploaded the "electro hip hop remix" to YouTube. By Sunday night, through promotion on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', at a speech given by Gaddafi's daughter, Ayesha Gaddafi, "Zenga Zenga" blared in the background. The original video has more than 6 million views on YouTube. The edited version without the girl has over 1 million hits.

References

External links

* * * * {{2011 Libyan civil war Libyan civil war (2011) 2011 singles Cultural depictions of Muammar Gaddafi Novelty songs Satirical songs Songs about politicians Songs about military officers Songs based on actual events Songs about Libya Viral videos 2011 YouTube videos he:תופעת אינטרנט#זנגה זנגה