For the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest Belarus
continued its rather bizarre selection process, despite the fact
that the country has failing on its three previous atempts to
qualify from the Eurovision semi-final. The Belarussian Semi-final
was held on December 15th when 15 songs competed for three places
in the final. One entry was chosen by the public and two by an
expert jury. By the time of the Belarus final on January 22nd, the
public's favourite, Dmitry Koldun had decided to perform a
different song believing that his original entry was not strong
enough for Eurovision. The song he performed in the final was
"Work That Magic" written by Russian superstar Philip
Kirkorov with lyrics by his compatriot Karen Kavaleryan. In an
entertaining final, with several foreign guests the jury chose
Dmitry Koldun and "Work That Magic" as the Belarus entry
for Helsinki.
Dmitry Koldum was born on June 11th 1985 in
Minsk. At an early age Dima wanted to become a doctor and he
graduated from the medical class of the Minsk High School,
graduating with a silver medal. However in 2002 at the age of
17 Dima entered the faculty of chemistry in the Belarusian State
University. Dima had chosen not to become a doctor and prepared to
become a professional chemist instead.
However
just two years later, the lure of show business ended up changing
the career and life of Dmitry Koldun when he entered and became a
finalists on the second series of "People's Star". In
2004 and 2005 Dmitry worked in the State Concert Orchestra of the
Republic of Belarus headed by Mikhail Finberg and in the
"Grand-Prix" studio headed by the composer Oleg
Eliseenkov who is still his business partner. In the same year
Dmitry took part in the concerts of the National Festival of
Belarusian sons and poetry "Molodechno-2005" and the
famous Arts Festival "Slavyansky Bazar" in
Vitebsk.
Returning to the casting show
environment in 2006 Koldun became the winner of the "Star
Factory" on the Russian Channel 1. Most famously during the
series Dmitry performed "Still Loving You" with the
legendary group Scorpions, after which he was invited by the
soloist Klaus Meine to perform this song on tour with the group.
His success brought him a high profile in Russia and other
ex-Soviet republics, where he still has a large following. and he
signed a contract with the "National Music Corporation"
and became the soloist of the group "K.G.B." (Koldun,
Gurkov, Barsukov).
Branching out from the
group Dmitry returned home and entered the Belarus Eurovision
selection, where he justified the favourite's tag, winning both
the public vote and becoming the choice of the jury. After its
selection, Dmitry Koldun and his song were caught up in a conflict
between Belarus television and his Russian management company
which at one stage looked like the lyrics of the song would have
to be changed, however the problem was resolved.
Since
being selected to represent Belarus at Eurovision, Dmitry Koldun
has taken part in the biggest promotional tour of any Eurovision
artist competing in Helsinki, visiting almost twenty countries and
performing his Eurovision entry. Among his performances was a
guest slot at the Irish Eurovision "Late Late Show"
special.
The songwriting team behind
"Work That Magic" comes with lots of Eurovision
experience. Composer Philip Kirkorov is one of the biggest stars
on the Russian music scene, and has won countless awards and
recognition for sales of his music. In 1995 he competed at the
Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, finishing 17th and he has been
a delegate and several recent contests.
The
lyrics of "Work That Magic" written by Russian
songwriter Karen Kavaleryan, who wrote the words for "Never
Let You Go", the Russian runner-up in the 2006 Eurovision
Song Contest in Athens and previously wrote "Northern
Girl", the Russian entry in Tallinn in 2002. Karen has also
co-written the Armenian entry in this year's contest.
Despite
the previously poor record of Belarus at Eurovision and an early
position in the running order in the semi-final, Kolden (the name
he will use for the contest) is one of the favourites to win the
contest. An impressive promotional video for "Work That
Magic" was filmed in Greece and for Helsinki, a dramatic
stage routine is planned which apparently will emphasise the
"magic" in the song's title that coincidently
"Koldun" translates as "magician.
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BELARUS @ EUROVISION