About

Epic Sax Guy is viral video originating from the song “Run Away” as performed by the Moldovan dance/pop trio SunStroke Project. The viral nature of the video surrounds saxophonist Sergei Stepanov and his eccentric instrumental and dance skills on stage during a performance representing Moldova at Eurovision 2010.

The performance has spawned numerous remixes as well as the practice of “Sax Rolling”, a bait and switch prank in the same vein as Rickrolling.

Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition among European nations who are tasked with presenting a song representing their country. Originally starting in 1956, it stands as the 10th longest running TV program in history and is watched by more than 140 countries^[1].

Historically, songs featured in Eurovision fall into the Pop category and the performances are notably over the top and bizarre in efforts to gain more votes in order to win.

Origin

The Moldova Foundation has recognized the fame of Epic Sax Guy over multiple blog posts and appear to be rather proud about an internet phenomenon originating from Moldova^[2]:

Epic Sax Guy fever started in Europe, creating a new Moldovan phenomenon. His fan pages and groups on Facebook gathered over 10 000 members in less than a week. The fever hit YouTube where his loop has 45, 50 and even 190 thousand views. There even are sites where the melody is played over and over again. The page managed to get over 83 thousand hits.

The Moldova Foundation has also gone as far as posting a mini FAQ about Stepanov including facts such as his ping-pong hobby and dentophobia^[3].

The articles also detail some of the politics behind smaller countries entering the Eurovision contest:

Talking about Eurovision saxophonist Sergei Stepanov noted that European song contest depends largely on the political nuances. “It’s hard to get on in the leaders, because Moldova has a weak position in the political arena. Do not forget about the journalists who make ratings of artists. Reporters are being distributed in their country assessment of parties that holds each member country of the competition. This is more and affects the occupied space in the competition.”

At Eurovision 2010, Moldova took 22nd place from a total of 25 countries only beating out Ireland, Belarus, and the United Kingdom.

Insight

Moldova debuted at Eurovision in 2005 and has participated every year since, however they failed to qualify for the finals in 2008. As evidenced by the timing of the Moldova Foundation articles, Epic Sax Guy began to spread in the beginning of June 2010, shortly after SunStroke Project’s performance on May 25th at Eurovision.

Videos

Eurovision also produced a music video version of “Run Away” which predates the live performance:

Remixes

Miscellaneous Web Presence

• Endless Epic Sax Guy
• Facebook Group
• Epic Sax Guy for Android
• Saxrolled

^[1] Wikipedia – List of Longest Running TV Shows

^[2] The Moldova Foundation – New Moldovan Internet Bomb

^[3] The Moldova Foundation – Epic Sax Guy FAQ