Cat Vibing to Street Musician's Ievan Polkka

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Part of a series on CatJAM / Vibing Cat. [View Related Entries]

About

Cat Vibing to Street Musician's Ievan Polkka refers to a viral instance of the Vibing Cat meme which has gained popularity as an object labeling meme and a reaction video. Originally posted on Twitter in mid-October 2020, it gained recognition as a meme format on Reddit later that month.

Origin

On June 17th, 2019, YouTube^[1] user Dejan Petrovski uploaded a video of blind Turkish street musician Bilal Göregen performing Ievan Polka on a tambourine. The video received over 1.9 million views in one year (mirror below).

The video did not see viral spread until between October 16th, Twitter^[2] user @babyodw posted a video in which a dancing anime girl was edited onto the bench next to Göregen. On October 18th, Twitter^[3] user @wonamaewa replied with an edit in which Vibing Cat was edited in, with the post gaining over 220 retweets, 1,800 likes and 45,400 views in three weeks (original post no longer available, higher quality remake below).

Spread

On October 19th, Twitter^[4] user @Noble_Batman posted the earliest meme based on the video, labeling the cat "me" and the drummer "silly things." The tweet did not receive traction.

On October 19th, Twitter^[5] user @giantcat9 reposted the video, with the tweet gaining over 1,100 retweets, 3,100 likes and 124,700 views in three weeks. On October 20th, Twitter^[6] user @HackingThings reposted the video, with the post gaining over 5,800 retweets, 13,000 likes and 247,000 views in the same period.

That day, Facebook user A-t-a-r-i-s-107165640645645 ^[13] made a version of the video that received more than 10.8 million views, 316,000 likes and 51,000 shares in less than two months.

The video did not see viral popularity as meme template until on October 21st, 2020, Instagram^[7] account brightsideofig posted a Dad and the Dog meme based on the edit that received over 631,500 likes in three weeks (shown below). The meme received viral spread online in the following days; for example, an October 24th, 2020, repost^[8] in /r/dankmemes subreddit gained over 25,500 upvotes prior to being deleted.

Following the repost in /r/dankmemes, the edit gained popularity on Reddit as an object labeling meme and a reaction video. For example, on October 25th, Redditor^[9] TheReal_Seek posted a meme that gained over 4,600 upvotes in /r/memes subreddit. On October 26th, Redditor^[10] IlluBillu69 posted an edit that received over 3,500 upvotes in /r/PiratedGames.

On November 1st, 2020, Bilal Göregen^[11] reuploaded @wonamaewa's meme to YouTube, with the video gaining over 1.3 million views in one week. On October 2nd, novelty Twitter account Cat Vibes To (@CatVibesTo) reuploaded^[12] the meme, with the post gaining over 1.1 million views in one week.

CatJam / Vibing Cat

CatJAM is a BetterTTV custom Twitch emote of a white cat rhythmically bobbing its head as if to the beat of a song. Originating from a viral video, the emote gained major success on Twitch after being enabled by multiple popular streamers, later gaining popularity as source material for memes in which the cat "vibes" to various music. The cat is also known as Vibing Cat.

Leekspin

Leekspin, also known as Loituma Girl, is a flash animation loop of a female anime character twirling a stock of spring onion, often referred to as a leek or a negi, while set to the Finnish folk song "Ievan Polkka" (Eva's Polka). This simple animation and it's catchy song managed to make a massive impact on the English and Japanese internet during the mid-2000s, spawning many parodies and remixes.