The kids who did such a great job singing “Still Alive” earlier this year (and then said “thanks for watching” with a rickroll) are back with an all-new song, this time turning their talents to the famous “Trololo” meme.
Back in March we met the Gifford Children’s Choir, an elementary school choir that blew us away with their version of “Still Alive,” the popular closing track to Portal. Then they rickrolled us, but we forgave them because that was pretty cool too. Now they’re back with “A Christmas Trololo,” a holiday rendition of the internet meme based on a Soviet pop song from the 60s.
“Trololo” doesn’t appear to be an overly complicated song but a surprising amount of work went into getting it ready for the kids. “We couldn’t find the print music so I contacted a guy from Russia that donated a couple dollars to our Paypal account after ‘Still Alive’,” choir director Jack Senzig explained. “He found the score and then translated some things into Russian for me.”
The net result is a rather bizarre yet undeniably hilarious bit of internet-fueled Christmas caroling with violins, brass, audience participation, a “Trololobot” and masks for everyone. I have no idea what the masks are all about; I was tempted to ask but ultimately decided that some mysteries are best left unsolved.
Senzig has more plans for the kids in the coming months, including a version of “Always” by Erasure, better known as the Robot Unicorn Attack song and, if they can swing it, some music from World of Warcraft as well. “I am focusing the choir on singing memes and music for specific online communities,” Senzig said. “This has been a fun ride for a guy who didn’t know what a meme was eight months ago!”
