Five months after his victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, Alexander Rybak returns to Moscow to continue his “Fairytale” with a concert Saturday at club B1 Maximum.
Rybak became a star after a stunning victory in Eurovision 2009 in May, where he got the highest ever score in the history of the contest with his self-penned song, “Fairytale.”
The song was a huge hit in Europe, reaching No. 1 on pop charts in Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Russia and getting more than 10 million views on YouTube. Despite Rybak’s Norwegian nationality, he was claimed by many in Russia as another victory for the country following Dima Bilan’s success in 2008.
However, Rybak’s fairytale has not always been a good thing, he said at a news conference this week, complaining that the paparazzi were stalking him looking for compromising material.
“I am an ordinary lad,” Rybak said. “My mom wakes me up in the morning, gives me something to eat, then I play computer games or play the violin. That’s usually how my day goes.”
For his visit to Moscow, Rybak, who was born in Belarus but immigrated to Norway as a young boy, has rerecorded his hit in Russian.
“I like old Soviet songs very much. I like singing in Russian very much,” he said. “There is also a Russian variant of the song ‘If You Were Gone.’”
Rybak has done a lot of touring since his victory. “I wish I could visit every country that gave me 12 points during Eurovision 2009,” he said.
Apart from his singing career, he said he hopes to become a professional composer and an actor.
He has already played the fiddler in Oslo’s Nye Theater’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof” and would like to put on his own musical.
“I’m able to write a plot, songs for it. My favorite musical is ‘Singing in the Rain’ and Gene Kelly is an idol for me, because he worked a lot and sang songs very sincerely,” Rybak said.
Rybak also promised to work with local pop star Filipp Kirkorov, who also took part in Eurovision.
“I really like Kirkorov. He looks like Michael Jackson,” Rybak said.
Alexander Rybak plays club B1 Maximum on Nov. 28 at 9 p.m. 11 Ulitsa Ordzhonikidze. Metro Leninsky Prospekt. Tickets are from 2,200 rubles ($76) to 50,000 rubles.
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