For the first time in the 53-year history of Eurovision - in fact, the European Pop Song Championship - an artist from our country won. Although on the eve of Dima Bilan’s trip to the competition there were plenty of skeptics.
In the final, Dima Bilan won with a clear advantage, drawing conclusions also from his not very convincing performance in the semi-final. Then, in particularly dramatic fragments, it was felt that the singer’s voice was trembling a little, which, however, also added sensuality and tragedy to the performance. And he sang on the ice (albeit plastic) barefoot... However, Bilan and his team did not waste the remaining time before the final: they discussed how to make the performance even more convincing. And all together: Dima, his producer Yana Rudkovskaya, figure skater Evgeni Plushenko and violinist Edvin Marton.
The role of the last two cannot be underestimated. Olympic champion Plushenko is a very popular person in Europe, and Zhenya added artistry and entertainment to the act. And the charming and virtuoso Hungarian, who was born in Western Ukraine and studied at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory, even plays stadiums with his music as a solo artist. In a word, someone voted for Bilan, and someone probably voted for Plushenko or Marton. In addition, the song Believe fits very well into the Eurovision format: it has a melody that immediately sticks to the ears, a hook chorus that you want to hum. Therefore, it is not surprising that with such a thoughtful production approach, Dima Bilan and his team at Eurovision 2008 had no equal.
Russia scored 272 points, ahead of Ukraine by a huge margin. Singer Ani Lorak and her current producer Philip Kirkorov, who walked on the sidelines with the Russian flag, took second place and 230 points. The advantage of the leaders was enormous. Third place went to the pretty Greek woman Kalomira (218 points). Fourth (199) - to a very original and melodious Armenian performer, singer Sirusho, who was let down by a not very expressive song and a too chaotic show.
Then there is almost an abyss: Norway was not very far away (172), but the lag of the subsequent ones is disappointing: Serbia - 160, Turkey - 138... Azerbaijan, which debuted at the competition (whose stage and very contrasting vocal duet "Elnur and Samir" was eighth - with 132 points) and Georgia (for which Diana Gurtskaya sang very proudly and artistically - 83 points and 11th place) can be proud of their results. But last place in the end they were divided: Germany, Poland and Great Britain - 14 points each. This gave the English commentator Sir Terry Wogan a reason to grin angrily: they say, from the very beginning everything was heading towards Russia becoming the “political winner of Eurovision” (Bilan received the highest scores from neighboring countries - Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia , and even from Israel). But here it’s time to remember the classic: “There’s no point in blaming the mirror...” After all, the singer from England Andy Abraham was so boring and unartistic that in Russia he probably wouldn’t even be included in the “Star Factory”. would take...
At a press conference, Dima Bilan said that he had a long and difficult path to victory. But first of all, he wants to say personal thanks to Evgeni Plushenko and the authors of the song. Questions immediately began to pour in about the singer’s future plans. He said that after Eurovision he would continue his usual career - go on tour, prepare for the presentation of the next album. And he clarified that at least three days must pass for him to realize what this victory means to him. They questioned both Zhenya and Edwin. The first explained that he remained a skater and was not going to sing from the stage. The second dismissed the suspicion that he was playing under plywood, clarifying that, probably, someone was simply hard of hearing. And he couldn’t help but take the chance to play the Stradivarius violin “live” again.
While the support group in Belgrade and the spectators in different countries cheered for our people, some artists and journalists spent a sleepless night in Moscow in the studio of the Rossiya channel on Shabolovka.
A stylish studio with a huge plasma screen was built right in the open air park. Let me remind you that on the night of May 24-25 in Moscow it was 5-7 degrees Celsius and it was raining non-stop. At the same time, guests and channel employees sat outdoors for five hours (three hours of broadcasting the competition and almost two hours of live broadcasting).
Everyone chose their own. Music critic Artemy Troitsky applauded the Englishman and the group from Croatia, jazzman Igor Butman - the representatives of Iceland and Poland. During commercial breaks, the chairman of the Eurovision 2008 selection committee, composer Vladimir Matetsky, asked Igor Butman about Cannes (the musician had just returned from there). And Nikolai Baskov, who was most inspired by the Spaniard’s song, sang “Chiki-Chiki” and predicted victory for him. However, at some point Nikolai could not resist and tried to hide his feelings, or perhaps show himself, at that moment when a channel employee came out to wipe the shiny floor in the studio before the live broadcast, Kolya snatched the mop from his hands and masterfully it's himself. One could consider this a good sign - as soon as Basque washes the floor, we are ahead. Gave us victory!
What was going on in the studio, when it became clear that Russia’s lead was already such that we couldn’t catch up with ours, is impossible to convey - there was a groan over Shabolovka.
Producer entertainment programs channel "Russia" Gennady Gokhshtein did not have time to answer calls on mobile phone and give parting words to presenters Anton Komolov and Daria Subbotina. One can only imagine who called him, if the first thing Anton and Daria said was that the president was awake and congratulated him on his victory. Moreover, Dmitry Medvedev called Belgrade at night. And by the morning it had already been decided who would head the organizing committee for Eurovision 2009 in Moscow - Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov.
How do you like it?
Konstantin Orbelyan, composer, conductor, director of the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia:
It's always nice when Russia wins, no matter where or how. And Eurovision is a worthy competition. It’s nice that Dima Bilan won there and brought joy to our entire country. I have a different path in music, now we are preparing for concerts with Dmitry Hvorostovsky. But I also know Dima Bilan well - he sings well and moves wonderfully. And it brings joy to people, and this is the most important thing.
Igor Butman, jazz musician:
The group "t.A.t.u" after Bilan's victory stated that their producer Shapovalov had been offered to buy first place for them at the Eurovision Song Contest in past years, and gave rise to talk about the fact that one can pay for victory. Nonsense. My opinion is that no one bought the victory. This is impossible to do. Dima in the final, it seemed to me, was really great. I wouldn't say it was better or worse for me. He was on point. The song is good. I'm just glad that we won, that recognition came. I was surprised that some countries did not give Russia any points at all. So I think that if the victory had been bought, they would have given some points. If some countries did not give a single point, they could not have known that someone would give so many - 12 or 10...
By the way, if I were offered to participate in some number at Eurovision with a saxophone, like Marton with a violin, I would also agree. Firstly, there is a huge audience watching the competition. Whether I like it or not, everything in Belgrade was done very beautifully. I liked almost all the artists. Everything was original and colorful and in better side was different from many concerts that we show on TV. So there is a lot to learn from our Serbian brothers.
Oleg Nesterov, producer, composer, leader of the rock band "Megapolis":
To be honest, I didn’t expect victory, like maybe some others. But in my heart, of course, it’s always nice when your compatriot wins. This is something to be proud of. On the other hand, he didn’t expect anything other than the fact that Bilan would go for the second time; he believed that it was a big mistake for him to participate in the competition. Nevertheless, a miracle happened. I liked Bilan's last performance at Eurovision more.
And after this one, I wasn’t so much disappointed - interest in the act was fueled, and it’s clear what kind of work all this required to make an impression on Europe. But I myself did not expect such a reaction from Europe. Something in the world is changing...
Recipients were Dima Bilan, Olympic figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko and Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton, who played the Stradivarius violin.
25 countries took part in the Eurovision final - 10 semi-final winners and 5 countries that received the right to participate in the final without qualifying. IN live the final was broadcast by the Rossiya TV channel. The live broadcast on the Internet was carried out by the Vesti.Ru website and the website of the Rossiya channel. The Eurovision winner was determined by a vote of viewers from 43 participating countries using SMS and calls to special phone numbers.
Dima Bilan and his support group scored 272 points. They received 12 points each from Israel, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia. In second place - Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak, third - Greek Kalomira.
Bilan took part in Eurovision for the second time. The year before last he took 2nd place.
At a press conference in Moscow, when asked whether he was going to take part in Eurovision for the third time, Bilan promised to think about it. In turn, Plushenko said that he went to the competition in Belgrade with the intention of winning, since for him there is no second place.
Immediately after the victory, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called Bilan and congratulated the performer and his entire team. “It’s great that the prize will come to Russia,” noted the Russian President.
Now Bilan will be awarded the title " People's Artist Kabardino-Balkaria" (the artist is from this republic). The head of his press service, Jamilya Khagarova, informed the ITAR-TASS agency about this decision of the President of the Republic Arsen Kanokov. “Dima Bilan showed a real will to win, showed excellent strong-willed qualities,” Kanokov believes “Our young fellow countryman made a great contribution to a number of recent achievements in Russia, along with the country’s hockey team, which won the World Cup, and the Zenit football club, which won the UEFA Cup,” believes the president of the republic.
From the age of 6, Bilan lived with his parents in the city of Maisky (Kabardino-Balkaria). He finished here high school And vocal studio, where his abilities were first noticed. The future Eurovision winner was born in Karachay-Cherkessia, in the city of Ust-Dzhegut.
President of Karachay-Cherkessia Mustafa Batdyev said that now one of the streets of Ust-Dzhegut will be named after Bilan. In turn, the head of the administration of the Ust-Dzhegutinsky district Anzor Laipanov told Interfax that a children's school will be named after Bilan in the city of Ust-Dzhegut music school.
Already on May 28, Bilan will leave Moscow and go on a week-long tour of European countries. He will perform in Finland, Norway, Ireland, Great Britain, Belgium, France and San Marino.
The famous Russian producer, husband of singer Valeria Iosif Prigozhin, called Bilan’s victory “the unconditional surrender of Eurovision 53 years later to the Russian delegation and Russia as a whole.” He expressed this opinion in an interview with RIA Novosti. “He took upon himself the responsibility to take this step a second time. For Valeria and me, he won back then, so today he won twice,” Prigozhin said, recalling Bilan’s performance at Eurovision 2006, when the singer took second place. “In addition, not only Bilan won, but also Ani Lorak (the Ukrainian singer who took second place) with the song of Philip Kirkorov, so this is already a triple victory,” Prigozhin added. “It is very important that it (the competition) will now be held in Moscow, and the attention of millions of people will be focused on Russia. And there is no doubt about the hospitality of our country. Russia is a spiritually rich and generous country.”
Bilan "performed good song with a good production and an excellent team" and deservedly took first place," says Russian State Prize laureate, saxophonist Igor Butman. According to him, he watched how the skill of the 25-year-old artist strengthened from the Russian qualifying round to the first semi-final in Belgrade and the final. “In my opinion, in the final Bilan simply brilliantly performed the song Belive me, and the fact that he received high scores from a number of countries is quite natural,” Butman said. "I am especially pleased that our pop music is being released on world stage and gains strong creative positions,” the saxophonist noted.
However, not everyone shares this point of view. Thus, TV presenter Vladimir Pozner believes that there are few talented and original performers at Eurovision, and Dima Bilan’s victory will not remain in memory for long. However, in an interview with RIA Novosti, Pozner said that Bilan is one of those talents who, extremely rarely, make it to Eurovision. “If major Western producers began to work with Bilan, then, it seems to me, he would have a chance to become a major phenomenon in modern music", the TV presenter added. He congratulated Bilan, but admitted that he does not feel great joy about his victory. “When our hockey players won in a difficult match against their strongest rivals - the Canadians, I was happy when Zenit won - too. But it’s not so honorable to win in a series of tasteless and identical performers,” Posner explained. The TV presenter also drew attention to the politicization of Eurovision: “Unfortunately, in modern world Almost all competitions, both music and sports, have political elements. Victory on them seems to be
confirmation of the correctness of the political or party course."
Fans of Dima Bilan are constantly interested in his health. The singer is touched by the concern of devoted viewers. And he assures that he does not have any terrible illnesses, he is healthy and full of creative plans.
Biography of Dima Bilan is interesting story about how an ordinary Kabardian boy from a small town achieved unprecedented heights in Russian show business. The main breakthrough in the performer’s career was the victory at Eurovision 2008, which no Russian performer had been able to achieve until that moment.
Dima Bilan was born on December 24, 1981 in the family of an engineer and a social worker. The future idol was born in the small town of Ust-Dzhegut (Karachay-Cherkessia). Dima Bilan's real name is Viktor Nikolaevich Belan. In addition to Victor, the Belan family had two daughters - Anna and Elena. Later family future star moved to Kabardino-Balkaria and settled in the city of Maisky.
Dima had a passion for music since childhood. From the 5th grade, the future singer attended music school, graduating educational institution accordion class. Even then, the talented guy participated in various competitions, and in 1999 he even went to Moscow to children's festival“Chunga-Changa”, where he received a diploma from Joseph Kobzon himself.
The singer's career began with an acquaintance with producer Yuri Aizenshpis. It was this famous music manager who recommended the young man to take the pseudonym Dima Bilan. In collaboration with Aizenshpis, Bilan tried his hand at the “New Wave”, where he took 4th place. In 2003, Bilan’s first album “I am a night hooligan” was released. Videos and songs from this disc soon became popular in Russia. Fans especially remember the song “Baby”. The artist's subsequent albums become equally interesting to the public.
The brightest moment and peak in creative biography Dima Bilan's long-awaited victory at Eurovision 2008, which was so difficult for the artist. In tandem with the famous musician Edvin Marton and Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko Dima Bilan in the final of the competition gave the whole world an amazing performance on ice to the song Believe. Dima became the first Russian in history to win the competition.
After winning the Eurovision Song Contest, the ladies went on a real hunt for the eligible groom. But Dima promised reporters that he would marry his girlfriend. According to rumors, his chosen one, model Lena Kuletskaya, had been waiting for a marriage proposal for a long time, and it was promised to her if she won Eurovision. But time passed, and no offer was received.
Their common path diverged into different paths; more and more often at social events, Lena was noticed in the company of other men. Soon Dima and Lena announced their breakup. And then it turned out that the romance was not real: the couple only portrayed the relationship and everything that happened was nothing more than a PR stunt. After this, Dima began to carefully hide his personal life. This did not stop journalists: they wrote with all their might about his wedding and even put up photographs of the couple in the attire of the bride and groom. It turned out that it was a duck again: in this form, pseudo-wife Yulia Sarkisova starred in Bilan’s video “The Hours”. In fact, she has a billionaire husband and children.
There are many beauties hanging around who work with him, star in his videos, and Dima is credited with an affair with almost every one of them. And he even supposedly has a wife - Anna Moshkovich. But he shrugs it off and insists that his heart is free. He seems to enjoy the role of being the favorite of women.
Information quickly spreads online that singer Dima Bilan has died. Other sources report the imminent death of the performer, as he is near death, reports News in the World
As you know, Dima Bilan, who has lost weight, really lately worried his fans tired appearance. And a few months ago, on his Instagram, he published pictures in which he completely shaved his head. For months, the singer's fans could not find a place for themselves, wondering what happened. Various diseases appeared as options - from anorexia to cancer.
And then the other day, unexpected news about the singer’s death began to spread across the Internet. Moreover, in a pop-up Google ad you can see information that he died in a car accident.
The concern of fans only provoked the spread of information. Bilan himself does not comment on what is happening, but now he is alive and well, in any case, his posts on Instagram speak about this.
The performer's producer, Yana Rudkovskaya, previously explained that the artist shaved for a new project, and not due to illnesses.
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Ask any music lover in what year Russia won the Eurovision Song Contest, and without hesitation he will tell you the only, and therefore especially memorable, year when, from the second take, Dima Bilan with the song “Believe” defended the honor of the country at the popular pan-European song competition and took the victorious 1st place. Thanks to this victory, for the first time in the history of Eurovision, Russia hosted participants and guests of next year’s competition in Moscow. Unfortunately, neither before nor after Dima Bilan, none of Russian singers never achieved such success again. Let's remember how it was.
Russia's participation in Eurovision
For a long time, Russia as part of the USSR was behind the “Iron Curtain” separating Soviet Union from the rest of the world. Therefore, cultural events such as the Eurovision Song Contest did not influence or affect Russians in any way from the time the song competition was founded in 1956 until 1994, when for the first time Russian Maria Katz performed at the competition and took a fairly high place for a debutant country - 9- oh.
Since then, relations between Russia and Eurovision have developed sometimes dramatically, and sometimes very successfully. The most successful year was 2008, when Russia won Eurovision for the first and only time in the history of its participation in this competition - the victory was then brought by Dima Bilan.
There were then and before that quite successful performances:
- Competitors from Russia took an honorable 2nd place 4 times. Alsou was the first to rise so high, then Dima Bilan consolidated this result, and then the unforgettable Buranovsky Babushki pulled up, Polina Gagarina brought up the rear.
- The Tatu and Serebro groups were awarded 3rd place, and later Sergey Lazarev was among the “bronze winners”.
How Russia was not allowed into Eurovision because of Alla and Philip
But it must be said that not everything went so smoothly at this hyper-popular competition. There were two disastrous performances - both failures were associated with the performance of the “royal” couple Russian stage Philip Kirkorov and Alla Pugacheva. Philip took 17th place, and Alla slightly improved this result and took only 15th place. These events not only showed the failure of the Russian stage and its lack of competitiveness, but also did a disservice to new contenders. Russia was not allowed to participate in the competition in 1998, as there was a lack of passing points due to the low rating of previous performers. Russia (represented by the leadership of the Ostankino TV and Radio Broadcasting Company) was offended and did not broadcast the competition, for which it lost the right to participate the following year.
The future of Russia is in the next competition
Of course, there is no harm in dreaming. And it’s not such a pipe dream. England, Luxembourg and France, for example, have won this competition 5 times. Ireland - 7 times, Sweden - 6 times. As you can see, there is nothing impossible in this.
In 2017, Kyiv will host the Eurovision Song Contest, following last year's victory by Jamala. I would very much like this not to have any impact on Russia’s participation in the competition. After all, there should be “flies separately, and cutlets separately.” The guns should fall silent when the music plays, and we hope that it will.