2020 started with some unpleasant news, such as the cancellation of the Tomorrowland (we talked about it here), but also with lighter and more sarcastic ones as the Coffin Dance Meme.
If you recently opened Facebook or Instagram you will surely have noticed this meme characterized by a video showing a funeral procession and 4 people dancing to the rhythm of Astronomia while carrying a coffin.
In today’s article we will see together the origins of this meme and one of its key points, the use of the historical song initially published by Tony Igy.
It’s March 13, 2010, Astronomia is out under disco:wax a sub-label of Sony. The song is immediately appreciated by the audience, but its destiny is to remain in the story for a long time.
After the first publication the song is uploaded with an official video on YouTube on 21 December 2015, to be reissued on the same platform on 9 February 2018.
Many of you had surely already heard that particular melody coming from another song, more precisely from “Welcome To Ibiza” by Tiesto, published on YouTube on March 29, 2013.
Dispelling a myth, we inform you that the track was illegally uploaded under the name of the Dutch superstar, since it is not an official publication and at the time it was an ID of Vicetone, who produced a remake of Tony Igy. The song was officially released on July 9 on YouTube, then distributed on streaming platforms in September 2016.
The release, that had already received quite a bit of support in the past, comes back to life in February 2020, when it finally explode on Tik Tok thanks to the Dancing Pallbearers meme later known as Coffin Dance Meme. From then on, Astronomia became so viral that it reached the top positions of the Global Chart top 100.
In musical terms we can learn a great lesson: the web is really unpredictable, it’s incredible how a “forgotten” song can shine again with its own light thanks to the random use of the same in a video that portrays an aspect of Ghanaian culture.
In fact, as you can well guess, the audio of the original video does not feature Astronomia as background music. Although it may seem strange to us, in Ghana, that of dancing pallbearers is a fairly widespread practice, designed to bring joy to funerals: families are increasingly paying their services to greet loved ones with style and affection.
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