Dancing Lasha Tumbai

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“Dancing Lasha Tumbai”
“Dancing Lasha Tumbai” cover
Single by Verka Serduchka
from the album Dancing Europe
Released 2007
Format digital download
Genre Dance
Length 3:01
Label EMI
Writer(s) Andriy Danylko
Verka Serduchka singles chronology
"Dancing Lasha Tumbai"
(2007)		 Gop Gop Gop
(2007)

Dancing Lasha Tumbai (Ukrainian: Данцінґ Лаша Тумбай) is the song sung by Verka Serduchka (Andriy Danylko), chosen to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 held in Helsinki, Finland. The original title was simply «Danzing»[1], but it was changed due to lyrics controversy. The song includes lyrics in four languages: German, English, Russian and Ukrainian.

In the Eurovision Song Contest, Dancing Lasha Tumbai gained second place after Serbia's Molitva, with Russia's Song Number 1 in third.

Contents

[edit] Final performance

In the performance in the Eurovision Song Contest, Serduchka was accompanied by 5 back up singers and dancers, dressed in silver and gold clothing. Serduchka wore the number '69' on his back, with reference to the sexual position. The two main companion dancers either side of this wore the number '18', referring to the entry's position on the final, 18th to sing.

[edit] Controversies

The choice of a drag queen as Ukraine's representative at ESC was fiercely criticized by several media and politicians of different parties.[2] Taras Chornovil of Party of Regions was quoted saying:[3]

I guess some of our "experts" just saw those Finnish guys dressed as monsters, and mistook subculture with pseudoculture. Those monsters are part of their subculture that has the right of existence. But such hermaphrodites like this wouldn't be accepted anywhere by anyone. I'm sure we'll be shamed [by the performance], and we'll be watched as idiots all over the world.

Another subject of controversy was song's tittle and lyrics. According to Danilko, the phrase "Lasha Tumbai" is a Mongolian phrase for "whipped cream".[4] It was later proven, though, that there's no such words in Mongolian and the catchphrase bears no meaning at all. There have been allegiations that the words were chosen due to their phonetic resemblance to "Russia Goodbye", allegedly a reference to the 2004-2005 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the song is performed in the Russian language as well ("tantsevat' khorosho").


Flag of Ukraine Dancing Lasha Tumbai

At the ESC 2007 in Helsinki. Photo by Indrek Galetin.
Eurovision Song Contest 2007 entry
Country Ukraine
Artist(s) Verka Serduchka
Language Ukrainian, German, English
Composer(s) Andriy Danylko
Lyricist(s) Andriy Danylko
Place 2nd
Points 235
Lyrics Lyrics

◄ Show Me Your Love (2006)   
Shady Lady (2008) ►

[edit] Charts

The song has performed well on download charts in Ireland and the UK since the Final. On the Irish iTunes Download chart, it has outsold any other entry by more than double - including the winning entry.[5] On 2007-05-18 it entered the Irish singles chart, on downloads alone.

Chart (2007) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart 49[6]
French Singles Chart[7] 6
Finnish Singles Chart 2[8]
European Hot 100 Singles[9] 45
Irish Singles Chart 31[10]
Swedish Singles Chart 6[11]
UK Top 75 23[12]
Swiss Singles Chart 53[13]
Ukrainian Airplay[14]
Week 01 02 03
Position
15
13
19

[edit] Remixes

Verka Serduchka - Dancing lasha tumbai ( Tamerlane rmx ) - 6:00

Swedish DJ Basshunter remixed it that can be heard on Verkas official MySpace profile.

Serbian DJ and Producer Tamerlane created remix of this song. Remix is free for download.

[edit] Trivia

  • The words "Lasha Tumbai" later reappered in Serduchka's next song, "I am Eurovision Queen (also spelled ("I am Evro Vision Queen) altough in the video are writen as Lasha Tumbay.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Eurovision news:Ukrainian song title change
  2. ^ Украинские националисты хотят закрыть Верке Сердючке путь на Евровидение-2007
  3. ^ «ФРАЗА» - Новости - Чорновил: Сердючка опозорит Украину
  4. ^ "Dancing Lasha Tumbai. Ukrainian song title change" "Eurovision Song Contest Helsinki 2007". Retrieved on May 17, 2007.
  5. ^ iTunes Listing of ESC 2007 album Popularity column shows the number of recent sales (must be viewed with Irish store selected).
  6. ^ http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Verka+Serduchka&titel=Dancing+Lasha+Tumbai&cat=s
  7. ^ http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Verka+Serduchka&titel=Dancing+Lasha+Tumbai&cat=s
  8. ^ http://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Verka+Serduchka&titel=Dancing+Lasha+Tumbai&cat=s
  9. ^ BillBoard.com European Hot 100 Singles
  10. ^ Irish Singles Chart for Week ended 17 Apr 2007 from ChartTrack.co.uk
  11. ^ SwedishCharts.com Swedish Singles Chart
  12. ^ EveryHit.com UK Singles Chart
  13. ^ http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Verka+Serduchka&titel=Dancing+Lasha+Tumbai&cat=s
  14. ^ FDR Ukrainian Airplay


v • d • e
Songs of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Final
(by final results)
1. "Molitva"  · 2. "Dancing Lasha Tumbai"  · 3. "Song #1"  · 4. "Shake It Up Şekerim"  · 5. "Water"  · 6. "Work Your Magic"  · 7. "Yassou Maria"  · 8. "Anytime You Need"  · 9. "Unsubstantial Blues"  · 10. "Fight"  · 11. "Rijeka bez imena"  · 12. "Visionary Dream"  · 13. "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You"  · 14. "Mojot Svet"  · 15. "Cvet z juga"  · 16. "Questa Notte"  · 17. "Leave Me Alone"  · 18. "The Worrying Kind"  · 19. "Frauen regier'n die Welt"  · 20. "I Love You Mi Vida"  · 21. "Love Or Leave"  · 22. "L'amour à la française"  · 22. "Flying the Flag (for You)"  · 24. "They Can't Stop The Spring"
Semi-final only
(did not qualify
for the final)