Rap sheet: Ian Paynton stars in the popular youtube clip for his song Oi Gioi Oi.

HA NOI — "Oi Gioi oi"(Oh my God!) is an habitual phrase that Ha Noi's people say when they are upset or want to complain about something.

It is also the name of a song written by Englishman Ian Paynton that has become popular on the internet since it was launched on www.youtube.com last week.

Only a week after the rap song was posted on the internet, it attracted more than 300,000 viewers. Many of them left comments and pressed the button "like".

Paynton, an independent journalist who worked as an editor for the English magazine Word Ha Noi, said it was simple for him to compose the song because Oi Gioi oi was an interesting phrase.

He loved hearing people say it, from the old woman that lives near his house, the moto-taxi driver, to children.

The song written in both English and Vietnamese is mixed with Vietnamese traditional music and hip hop.

The two-minute video was filmed on the streets of Ha Noi, including Hang Ma and Ta Hien. Many Vietnamese people, including pedestrians and the street-sellers, took part in the video.

The video is the result of collaboration between Paynton and a Ha Noi Sessions, including Ha Noi Funkmaster, from Japan, and JC Smith, from the UK. It shows the good-humoured attitude of foreigners to Vietnamese daily life, including the traffic, gastronomy, urban life and Ha Noi women.

The lyrics go:

"When your pho's too hot, you say oi gioi oi

When the stress is a lot, you say oi gioi oi

Turn your left blinker off, oi gioi oi

It's been on for ages, oi gioi oi

You're like oi gioi oi"

Paynton and the Ha Noi Sessions decided to make the video because they wanted to amuse people and understand the love and the strong attachment of foreigners to Viet Nam. For Paynton, joy and the stress were two emotions he felt at the same time when living in Ha Noi, a beautiful but changing city whose charm seduced him more than other regions.

He said he was attracted by the rich culture, the history and the feeling of expectation about the future. He now is back in England but when he was in Ha Noi and had free time, he enjoyed taking coffee at a street shop, eating grilled chicken in Ngo Gach Street and listening to music at Ha Noi Rock City. — VNS