Hello Friends:
Happy New Year! 
Whether we liked or disliked it, 2012 is now a history. And 2013 has already taken control. Thank you all for your moral support, constructive comments and Likes that encourage me to blog more.
A lot of happy, sad, disturbing, weird, shocking and exciting things happened around the world in 2012. One that has earned a place in the global culture scene is Korea’s popular music Gangnam Style. And today’s guestpost, by Kaleb from Ethiopia, looks at Gangnam’s worldwide influence and what that means in terms of globalization.
Kaleb writes:
Gangnam Style’s cultural phenomenon is yet another clear indication of how the usual stereotypes are being shattered. Also it shows us how effects of one cultural event, in one corner of the world, really impact places and communities on the other side.
Gangnam Style didn’t come from New York or perhaps London as most previous chart busting pop music productions originate. Though the beats, the choreography and the music video look like uniquely western, they are brainchild of a South Korean pop star called PSY. The music is primarily written in Korean and clearly the dancers also appear Korean.
I wonder if people on the other side of the highly militarized and heavily mined border of the two Koreas think about it.
Enjoy!
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Year 2012—Year of the Gangnam
By Kaleb H.
I first listened to the now most famous Gangnam Style several months ago, played on numerous FM stations I tune in while driving my car. Little did I know it even has an urbane and somehow goofy group dance clip to complete it. Indeed the music together with the trademark dance move has become so famous that it is now the most watched video on YouTube—more than 1.1 billion individual watches of the official video. This count doesn’t include the several other counts coming from unofficial uploads of the video on YouTube and other video sharing sites such as Vimeo. It is an astonishing figure.
Since then the single has been number one on more than 30 countries’ charts all the way from Australia to Canada and USA. It has inspired flash mobs of up to 20,000 active participants in Italy, France and Indonesia. We have so far seen Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of UN (he is a fellow South Korean to the Singer), David Cameroon, UK’s Prime Minister, and several other prominent world leaders were seen and heard to have danced to it.
To a lesser degree we have previously seen music releases and dance moves that captivated and swept the world in the pre YouTube era; albeit at a considerably slow pace. Michael Jackson’s highly sophisticated moonwalk and MC Hammer’s flamboyant performance are some prime examples. The speed and level at which Gangnam Style has become popular, however, is of course a new phenomenon that goes straight to the record books.
Gangnam Style even further caught billion others’ imagination after a mock up version of the invisible-horse-ride superimposed with the original music started to crop up on YouTube and other video sharing sites. Citizens from North America to Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Arab world have uploaded their shot at the goofy dance moves. These are for the most part self-initiated often times less choreographed trials emulating the original clip. The writer of this article has so far seen university students, employees of NASA’s JPL, wedding partiers and several others trying the Gangnam Style, and of course, with various degrees of success.
Back in 2005 the famous US comedian Chris Rock in one of his comedy shticks uttered this funny line:
You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, and Germany doesn’t want to go to war… Need I say more?
The statement was true in every sense at the time. Eminem was a chart busting rapper, Tiger Woods was on top of his game and Yao Ming was the tallest player in the NBA. It was a simple observational joke. It was a very keen observation, nonetheless, at how the age old stereotypes are fast chipping away so much as Chris called it a crazy.
Gangnam Style didn’t come from New York or perhaps London as most previous chart busting pop music productions originate. Though the beats, the choreography and the music video look like uniquely western, they are brainchild of a South Korean pop star called PSY. The music is primarily written in Korean and clearly the dancers also appear Korean.
Who disputes if there is a very important lesson to be learnt here? We have been told how flat the world is becoming—to use the catchy phrase coined by New York Times famous journalist Thomas Friedman. Until a few years ago, globalization has been a cliché used by the learned and informed to opine on the growing trend of interconnectedness in the world. Now it seems what has been an abstruse concept a few years ago is fast becoming self-evident. Yes, Gangnam Style’s cultural phenomenon is yet another clear indication of how the usual stereotypes are being shattered. Also it shows us how effects of one cultural event, in one corner of the world, really impact places and communities on the other side.
As we begin the New Year it is instructive to take stoke of what Gangnam Style has done in near and far away places and communities over the last several months. Yes, to put it figuratively, the world has sung and danced at the same time. Gangnam Style has affected us all in a small ways and has taught those willing to take notice what music and dance could do in a big way.
Here are some sample Gangnam Style videos I stumbled up on YouTube:
- The official video by PSY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
- Flash mob Sydney, Australia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqX–Mx4hnM
- Nasa Johnson Space Centre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sar5WT76kE
- Malaysia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMGfsWgIujk
- Obama Style, US: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwh8kWuire8
- MIT, Massachusetts, USA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJtHNEDnrnY
- Farmers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX153eYcVrY
- London: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMmyeXeXeK0
- Huruta Style (It is ok Ethiopia!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT17Di5e1zc
- Arab Style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X38WU1J9ito
I imagine the two Koreans speak the same language and North Koreans have the added advantage of singing with it. I wonder if people on the other side of the highly militarized and heavily mined border of the two Koreas think about it. If and when I see North Koreans shaking and goofing with Gangnam Style, I would come back again to appreciate and opine how flat the world is becoming and how easy it is for cultural influences to flow into and permeate other societies and communities.
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Gangnam Style – Ethiopian Version
It’s funny to see the Ethiopian version here. I wrote about Gangnam style too, posted it a couple months ago.
Subhan Zein
Thank you, Subhan!
Yes, Gangnam’s parody versions r very funny.
Hehe. that’s true.