YouTube artist’s all-marimba cover of “Dance Monkey” earns her 17M+ views on YouTube
You may not have heard the marimba played very often, but it sounds beautiful—and she makes it sound even better by covering Tones and I's biggest hit!
Johndel Callora
11.24.20

Most people have probably lost count of how many times they’ve listened to “Dance Monkey.”

The song got so famous around the world that you can almost always hear it playing on the radio, or see people dancing to it on social media. Furthermore, some musicians jumped on the hype train to give their unique take on the song.

Along with the long list of instrumental renditions you could hear on YouTube, one particular video stands out.

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YouTube Screenshot

The original song is by Australian singer-songwriter, Tones and I.

Even so, it has become so popular that countless other artists have tried their hand at covering it as well—including the performer in the video we’re discussing today.

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YouTube Screenshot

As the clip begins, a woman with mallets can be seen standing behind a giant instrument that looks like a xylophone.

Even if you’ve never seen it before, the giant instrument is called a marimba, and the sounds it produces are uniquely beautiful.

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YouTube Screenshot

We rarely see this ancient piece of the instrument in action!

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YouTube Screenshot

A marimba is a percussion instrument that functions similar to a xylophone, where you hit its bars with mallets to produce a sound.

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YouTube Screenshot

The bars are made of wood and the mallet heads are usually covered with yarn or rubber.

There are cylinders underneath each bar called resonators, each with varying lengths, with the shorter bars giving off higher-pitched sounds. It is an interesting choice of instrument, and watching someone play it so well is a unique pleasure!

We’ve obviously seen a lot of piano and guitar covers of the song, but this may just be the first marimba one on the entire internet.

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YouTube Screenshot

The woman’s name is Yuni, and she calls herself “the marimba fairy.”

As this video proves, she loves to create arrangements of popular songs for the marimba.

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YouTube Screenshot

Even so, it’s hard to do this arrangement alone because it requires so much moving from side to side just to reach all of the notes.

That’s why she had to up her level of creativity to perform the song. To do that, she recorded layers of her playing different parts of the song specifically the vocals, bass, melody and harmonies. The result is that it looks like many people playing at once, but it’s all her!

After watching, you’re sure to be impressed with just how precise it all sounds!

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YouTube Screenshot

The whole time, she has a very satisfied smile on her face.

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YouTube Screenshot

Although we can’t deny that she is insanely good with the instrument, we have to admit that it was her smile that captivated us the most.

Throughout the cover, she never failed to keep her smile intact as she happily struck the marimba keys, making everybody feel the rhythm on their bones.

For those who want to dig a little deeper, Yuni shares that same contagious energy in all of her work.

If you browse through her channel, you can see her always setting the right mood with a light atmosphere as she performs her music. After watching a bunch of her videos, we have to say: her title of “marimba fairy” fits her perfectly! Go visit her on YouTube to see more of her musical stylings.

To watch the full cover, click the link below:

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