Jožin z bažin – English subtitles
This song is by Ivan Mládek, and it comes from the former Czechoslovakia.
I’ve heard that this is a popular song among children in the Czech Republic even today.
I don’t know how I could categorize this post as anything but “Absolute Piffle.”
Almost as good as the Wiggles and hot potato.
This was a viral video in Poland about two years ago; a friend of mine in Krakow sent it to me, along with this article from the Warsaw Business Journal:
The creators of online sensation “Jozin z Bazin” are to perform in Warsaw this month
Ivan Mládek and Banjo Band, the stars of the online sensation “Jozin z Bazin,” are coming to Warsaw for a one-night concert on February 23. The Czech cabaret group’s live concert will take place at the Świt Cultural Center.
Ivan Mládek is a Czech musician, actor and cabaret-performer. His career began in the 1960s when he started performing with his Banjo Band. In 1978 the group recorded “Jozin z Bazin” (“Joseph of the Swamps”), the weird story of a bog-dwelling monster that “eats mostly citizens of Prague” and can only be defeated by a crop duster.
Some 30 years after the band recorded the song, a video of it appeared online and became an overnight hit. The clip quickly became the most popular movie on the Polish net, garnering over a million views on YouTube. “Jozin z Bazin” fever has seen the song lyrics translated into Polish, English and Chinese, while mobile ring tones and remixes have also appeared.
Ivan Mládek and Banjo Band’s popularity in the Czech Republic faded some time ago, however. Asked why the group is coming to Poland, Jacek Białek, the director of the Świt Cultural Center, said, “I do not have to state the obvious … I see ‘Jozin z Bazin’ craziness in Poland.”
“In the beginning I was afraid that Poland’s interest in the song was just online,” Białek told WBJ. “But after the concert was announced, it took three hours to sell half of the tickets. Normally that takes two weeks, even if it is the best cabaret group in Poland.”
Białek explained that his venue was a natural choice to host the concert. “The cabaret scene has existed in our center always. We have contacts with most cabaret groups’ managers. So when anything happens in the cabaret world we are asked to host the group,” he said.