Content creator’s latest Gawai track inspired by German drinking song
KUCHING: Dutch-born content creator Nick Jansen has just released another Gawai-themed song set to bring joy to those celebrating the harvest festival this year.
Having premiered on YouTube on May 3, ‘Nyamai Nyamai’ has recorded more than 170,000 views, and garnered 7,600 ‘likes’.
Jansen, popularly known by his content-creator’s name ‘Global Gibbon’, said the latest Gawai track was inspired by an old German drinking song: ‘Im Himmel Gibt’s Kein Bier’ (In Heaven There Is No Beer).
The melody, however, has a Sarawakian twist, with the sounds of traditional instruments such as the ‘taboh’ (drum), ‘sape’ (lute) and ‘engkerumong’ (a set of small gongs) being weaved in.
“My first song ‘Anang Malu’ (Don’t Be Shy) was about my life story – about my first time going into the jungle in Sarawak, about how I met my wife, how I am still here and doing the things I do here today.
“Then the second, ‘Nyamai Nyamai’, was actually inspired by a song called ‘In Heaven There Is No Beer’ – an old German drinking song.
“As Sarawakians love our beer, so I thought: ‘Why don’t I remake that song? We need an Iban version of it’. So I came up with my own lyrics, and started working on it,” he told The Borneo Post here.
The music video for ‘Nyamai Nyamai’ describes how a person would celebrate any occasion by drinking beer: be it after a busy working week, having barbecue with friends and family, or going through heartbreak.
“The song is about enjoying and having fun with friends and family, very much like the German festival ‘Oktoberfest’,” said Jansen.
“By having a good time with friends, whatever situation you’re in; if you’re sad, your friends would always be there to take care of you.
“You know when you work hard, you don’t have so much fun at work maybe for the whole week, but in the end, it’s the weekend, so you get to enjoy good times with friends and family.”
When asked if ‘Nyamai Nyamai’ could repeat the success of, or be more popular than ‘Anang Malu’, Jansen said both should go along together.
“However, I think ‘Anang Malu’ is the stronger one because the chorus is so catchy. Still, ‘Nyamai Nyamai’ is a fun song, so maybe it could go further.
“With this new song, I’m just having fun with it,” he added.
Still on ‘Nyamai Nyamai’, Jansen said the idea came to him some time in November last year, and as he was penning the lyrics, he also wanted to incorporate traditional musical instruments as he wanted to make the song ‘Sarawakian’.
In March this year, the song was recorded and then, another three weeks were spent to shoot the music video, of which some of the recognisable locations were Damai Beach and Carpenter Street.
“By the end of April, everything was ready and the song was published,” said Jansen.