KUCHING: Dutch content creator Nick Jansen has released a new song ‘Nyamai Nyamai’ about having fun, being silly and spending time with your loved ones and treating yourself with fun after a hard day’s work.
Jansen, 33, told New Sarawak Tribune that his message in all his content is: enjoy your life as much as you can.
“Have fun as much as you can and spend time with your friends and family.
“The same goes for ‘Nyamai Nyamai’. It’s about having fun and being silly, it’s about spending time with your loved ones and treating yourself with fun after a hard day’s work.”
When asked who inspired the making of the song, Jansen said he was planning a new Gawai song in November 2023 and thought about what would be a good theme.
He says that Sarawakians love hanging out together and drinking beer after a hard day’s work, or on the weekend, or during Gawai.
“I then remembered an old German song called ‘Im Himmel Gibt’s Kein Beer’ (In Heaven There Is No Beer).
“I listened to it and thought this would be a great inspiration for a drinking song.
“That song from the 1950s was my inspiration, in combo with the fun, beer drinking, family and friend times we all cherish so much.”
Jansen shared that the most fun part about filming the music video was filming it in full Iban warrior gear on Carpenter Street.
“That street is my favourite place in all of Sarawak. I have my office there and our newly opened Jak Ma’an Cafe.
“It’s always fun to work together with friends and my team, and my wife who’s also in my team!,”
Jansen, known by his online name ‘Global Gibbon’, said his previous Iban song ‘Anang Malu’ which was released last year was unexpectedly popular and he can only hope for a similar outcome for ‘Nyamai Nyamai’.
Sharing upon the duration of time taken to prepare the song in terms of its lyrics and production, he said that he started thinking about the song in November 2023.
“I wrote the basic lyrics and had my friend Emilio help me with some translations to Iban. I met with my producer and composer Farouk from AOK records in December to plan the whole song.
“By January/February we started recording and in March we started planning the music video. The MV we shot in April took 2-3 days and the editing took about 1-2 weeks. So all in all it took about 5-6 months.”
Additionally, Jansen is getting the hang of making songs and he feels this new creativity has grown inside him.
“Even though I never see myself as a singer or artist, I do enjoy these kinds of projects.
“I have another song written already and I am working on a song for Chinese New Year and one for Hari Raya. More to come!”
At the time of writing, Nyamai Nyamai released on May 3 has around 276,000 viewers and 8,900 likes which includes locations such as Damai Beach and Carpenter Street.