Gellieman - Aicha (2002)

Pfffffffffffff…

In 2002, Belgian teen Jelle Buelens, AKA Gellieman, recorded a video of himself singing a cover of the song Aïcha, originally written by French singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman, popularized by Algerian Raï artist Khaled and first translated into English by the Danish group Outlandish.

• View the Khaled version
• View the Outlandish version

Gellieman uploaded his video to his personal (now defunct) website jellebuelens.nl.nu, as a downloadable WMV file. It went largely un-noticed until December of 2003.

She Moves How???

Early on, Gellieman’s video was re-posted to various European websites. On December 9th, 2003, the video was renamed OMFG.WMV on the Finnish surfnet.fi site.

By December 11th, 2003, Gellieman’s video was posted to AlbinoBlacksheep. Only five days later, Aicha was entered into Urbandictionary.com.

The video grew in popularity across many countries. In Italy, Gellieman was heralded as the next big Internet Star after The Star Wars Kid and Little Fatty.
Excerpt from Italian site Mabega.net, Google Translated:

after the unforgettable Star Wars Kid, after the missed Fat Kid, now all the spotlight will be on the young Gellieman, author of a sensational cover of Aisha (Khaled old hits). Potete vederla qui (in formato Windows Media). You can see it here (Windows Media). Il video, manco a dirlo, è stato già rimontato con un più degno finale, che potete scaricare da qui . The video, needless to say, has already been replaced with a more worthy end, which you can download from here.

Although the link for the “more worthy end” has died long ago, it is evidence that the video was already being remixed.

Excerpt from Italian site Macchianera.net

This is GellieMan, live from his bedroom, popstar who has succeeded in stealing the stage of the Web to the likes of “Star Wars Kid” and “Famous Fat Boy”.

By 2004, a Gellieman FAQ was created on an Angelfire account.

On July 7th, 2004, a re-post of Gellieman’s video (again named OMFG.WMV) was posted to the Epicgames.com forums, along with a link of a remake by another user. Unfortunately, the link is dead.

In early 2005, Gellieman shut down his website. A rumor that Gellieman had killed himself just following the filming of the video circulated through Ebaumsworld, although this was false since Gellieman maintained his website for three years following the creation of the video.

• A typical Ebaums Gellieman suicide rumormill thread.

Later that year, Youtube took off as the premeiere video-sharing platform, and many previously-filmed Gellieman remakes were uploaded to Youtube. In addition, the meme found a new audience, and new Gellieman remakes were made.

Here. Tears.