Dmitry Koldun

Dmitry Aleksandrovich Koldun (Belarusian: Дзьмітры Аляксандравіч Калдун, Dzmitry Kaldun; Russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Колду́н; born 11 June 1985, in Minsk, Belarusian SSR, USSR) is a pop singer from Minsk, Belarus.

Koldun participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 and has been the most successful entrant from Belarus to date. His song "Work Your Magic" was the first Belarusian song to enter the Eurovision final which later achieved sixth place and top chart positions in Eastern Europe.

He starred as Joaquín in the rock opera "Звезда и Смерть Хоакина Мурьеты" (The Star and the Death of Joaquín Murety) staged at the Lenkom Theatre.

Since Koldun was four he aspired to be a doctor and went on to do medical studies at Minsk High School. His achievements in this class allowed him to graduate with a silver medal.

In 2002, Koldun studied chemistry at the Belarusian State University as his aspirations changed to becoming a chemist as opposed to a doctor. He did well in his chemistry course just as he had done with medical studies as he was said to be "enthusiastic".

Many people have compared Koldun's appearance to that of Diana. In Dmitry Koldun's biography he wrote that his mother was the head of the Princess Diana fan club in Belarus and admired her dearly. When pregnant with Koldun, Koldun's mother had wished for a baby girl but instead gave birth to Dmitry. She is not at all disappointed but notices the resemblance between Koldun and the late Princess as have other people such as Sir Terry Wogan who pointed this resemblance out while commenting on the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. The biography that comes with the Eurovision CD/DVD of Work Your Magic (concerning the look-alike situation) reads:

His mother, the founder of Princess Diana's Belarusian fan-club, had always dreamed of having a daughter who would look like Diana. Amazingly, her dream partly came true. She had a handsome little boy with a striking resemblance to the Princess, who from early childhood exhibited phenomenal abilities in music, literature and even science.

— Koldun, http://www.bebo.com/DimaKoldun

Koldun recently shocked fans by claiming that he is prone to "mutations". The singer revealed that he has experienced serious problems with his hair. Koldun puts these 'mutations' down to the Chernobyl disaster which left long-lasting, radiating effects across many of the Eastern European countries and notably Minsk, Belarus – Koldun's birthplace. Koldun says (translated from Russian): "Every year my hair colour changes...in my school years I had thick hair. But not now. I believe that that is the fault of the Chernobyl disaster." Koldun states his hair colour has changed from blonde, at an early age in school, gradually (sometimes overnight) becoming shades darker to the 'burning' brunette he is today (naturally).

In 2004, he tried out in the RTR show Narodnyi Artist 2, but did not qualify to the main stage. This did not deter him from his musical interest and in 2004/5 he 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 Koldun's business partner. In the same year Koldun took part in the concerts of the National Festival of Belarusian sons and poetry Molodechno-2005 and the Arts Festival Slavyansky Bazar in Vitebsk.

In 2006, Koldun won the sixth season of the Russian television show Star Factory on Channel One. During the show Koldun performed with several artists including the renowned Scorpions performing "Still Loving You" after which he was invited by the soloist Klaus Meine to perform this song on a joint tour. Due to his successes Koldun became popular in Russia and other past Soviet states. Koldun signed a contract with the National Music Corporation and became the soloist of the reformed group K.G.B. (Koldun, Gurkov, Barsukov).

2006

Koldun first took part in the national selection in 2006 with the song "Maybe". Koldun had written this song himself after his appearance in People's Artist in Russia and after touring with the Belarus state orchestra. Koldun lost the national final to Polina Smolova's song "Mum".

Eurofest 2007

After leaving the group Koldun returned to Belarus to take part in Eurofest 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. In the preliminary stage, Koldun performed "Angel Mechty" receiving 4412 votes, 32% of the public vote. The judges then chose two of their preferred artists to compete in a final alongside Koldun where he was eventually announced the winner with the song "Work Your Magic" on 22 January. He was the least popular (of three acts) of the professional judges but won due to the public vote.

Accusations of cheating

ESCKaz (Eurovision Song Contest Kazakhstan) discovered that the song "Get Up" submitted to Eurofest by Koldun and his producer Victor Drobysh had already been released commercially by Finnish band The Ratzz. The song, called "Aave" in Finnish, written by Jörgen Elofsson, Maki Kolehmainen and Tracy Lipp was included into the debut album of the band Hard Ratzz Hallelujah. As ESCKaz was told by a representative of the label Helsinki Music Centre: "We were not aware that Dmitry Koldun had been performing the song. The rights for both "Aave" and "Get Up, Get Down, Get Crazy" are possessed by HMC & BMG Music Publishing Scandinavia, song was already published by us on The Ratzz album".

According to the application form for participation in the national Belarus pre-selection, songs and their elements music and lyrics, taking part in any stage of the contest should comply with the Rules for the National Musical Project Eurofest and Rules of ESC 2007. Rules of Eurofest state: "Songs should not be anyhow used by the participant or organizers before the selection show". BTRC has also notified that this provision is first of all related to distribution and sharing the rights for the competing songs. It is clear that the song, which already had been released by another performer, prior to the date of Belarus pre-selection concert, is breaking this rule.

ESCKaz also learned that Koldun was regularly performing the song "Get Up" on a Star Factory 6 tour including the series of commercial concerts in Belarus at the beginning of September. The song was also available since mid-September on the internet. Both are prohibited by "Eurovision Song Contest 2007" regulations that do not allow competing songs to be publicly performed before 1 October 2006. This same rule is repeated in the "Eurofest" rules in following variant, paragraph 2.1: "The songs for contest ("entries") (lyrics and music) must not have been commercially released and/or publicly performed before 1 October 2006. The entry as a copyright object must not have been released through the Internet or any other media".

Angelica Agurbash was also accused of cheating in the same competition and, unlike Koldun, she was disqualified.

Eurovision Song Contest 2007

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 performing his Eurovision entry.

As Belarus had not finished the 2006 Contest in the top 10, the song was performed in the semi-final. Here, it was performed fourth (following Cyprus' Evridiki with "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" and preceding Iceland's Eiríkur Hauksson with Valentine Lost). The song received 176 points in the semi-final on 10 May, placing 4th in a field of 28 and qualifying Belarus for the final.

In the final on 12 May, the song was performed third (following Spain's D'NASH with "I Love You Mi Vida" and preceding Ireland's Dervish with "They Can't Stop The Spring"). Koldun received the maximum 12 points from Israel, Russia and Ukraine and in total receiving 145 points earning 6th place in a field of 24, the highest position ever achieved by Belarus.

While touring in Israel, Koldun expressed an interest in entering the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009. Since Koldun's participation in the 2007 a common question asked of Koldun is about future participation because of his success (Belarus' only success) in the contest. Koldun has said that he will only participate with the 'right' song and is currently unsure as to which country to represent – the likely choices being Russia or Belarus. If failing to enter the 2009 contest Koldun has stated he would still like to participate again in the future. This would be the third time Koldun would become actively involved in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Magic Works in Europe

Magic Works in Europe is a documentary film following Koldun's experiences including his Eurovision tour, rehearsals for Eurovision and other interesting material including one of Koldun's first ever performances as a 13-year-old boy at his school in Minsk. The documentary was shown on 21 May 2007, First TV Channel (Russia). It was then broadcast (or available to watch) throughout most of Eastern Europe – Belarus, Ukraine, etc. The documentary can be seen in several parts online (like YouTube).

Topics (chapters) include:

• Koldun as a child (performances at 13, school life, etc.)
• Reality TV experiences in Narodnyi Artist (2) & Fabrika Zvezd
• Participation in Eurofest! Belarus
• Music video for "Work Your Magic"
• European tour prior to Eurovision Song Contest
• Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Reflection (of Koldun) of the contest
• Interviews throughout (Koldun, Kirkorov, team, etc.)

After Koldun's successful performance in Eurovision and after "Work Your Magic" became a big hit, there were arguments over who would become Koldun's producer. The two out-spoken producers who wanted to work with Koldun were Philipp Kirkorov (producer of "Work Your Magic") and Victor Drobysh (producer of controversial "Get Up") who both spoke out against each other in the media. However it was Alexander Lunyov, famous for the song "Never Let You Go" by Dima Bilan, who became Koldun's producer. Lunev would then go on to produce Koldun's debut album.

In 2008, Koldun stopped working with Lunev due to conflicting opinions. Lunev did not want songs written by Koldun on the debut album. Since the dispute Koldun is now his own producer and the album release has been postponed again. In 2009 Koldun founded his own label with Alexander Astashenok (a Russian musician, member of Russian band Корни (Roots)) named Lizard (Ящерица or Yasheritsa in Russian).

In 2008, Koldun revealed he would star in "Russia's very first rock opera". Koldun was originally asked just to perform the songs but popular Russian composer Alexey Rybnikov insisted Koldun to play the star of the opera named "Звезда и Смерть Хоакина Мурьеты" (The Star and the Death of Joaquín Murety) alongside Svetlana Svetikova and Igor Sandler also, to which Koldun agreed. The opera received support from Dmitry Chetvergova's rock band as well as financial support from the government of Moscow.

The opera is based on the life of Joaquin Murrieta, a semi-legendary figure in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. Murrietta was partly the inspiration for the fictional character of Zorro, Zorro themes are used in the opera. Svetikova played Murrieta's love interest in the opera. The opera follows one famous story of Murrieta as several exist some describing Murrieta a hero, others a villain. The Russian opera depicts Murrieta as a hero who has to prove his innocence despite his "Wanted" status.

Albums

• 2009 – Колдун
• 2012 – Nochnoy Pilot (Ночной Пилот, Night Pilot)
• 2013 – Город больших огней
• 2014 – Maneken

Singles