This Duo Playing The _Hey Arnold!_ Theme Song is My New Favorite Future Funk Act

April 5, 2018


Saxophonist Lucia Sarmiento and her friend, composer Jemma Heigis, have combined a classic ’90s cartoon with lots of funk to create 58 seconds of toe-tapping, nostalgia-inducing harmony. 

In the clip below, which is racking up views by the hundreds of thousands, Sarmiento and Heigis groove out the theme song of Hey Arnold! and improvise a few killer riffs on both synth and sax. According to her website, Sarmiento is based in Minneapolis, Minn. and she’s a member of the jazz fusion/funk band New Sound Underground. Heigis, on the other hand, is from Trenton,  NJ. She’s currently studying composition at the McNally Smith College of Music in Saint Paul, Minn.

When it was on the air, Hey Arnold! often included jazz interludes, but this funk-ified take on its theme was the remix you never knew you needed. 

Watch the two up-and-comers jam out below. (Side note: If there’s snow on the ground, how are they not wearing coats?!)