Verka Serduchka
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| Andriy Danylko | |
|---|---|
| Image:Andriy Danylko.jpg |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko |
| Also known as | Verka Serduchka |
| Born | October 2, 1973 |
| Origin |  Poltava, Ukraine |
| Genre(s) | Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instrument(s) | Singing |
| Years active | 1998 – present |
| Label(s) | CD Land |
| Website | http://www.serduchka.com |
Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko (Ukrainian: Андрій Михайлович Данилко) (born 2 October 1973 in Poltava, Ukraine), better known as his drag character Verka Serduchka (Ukrainian: Вєрка Сердючка), is a Ukrainian comedian and pop and dance singer. In the role of Serduchka, he represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 and finished in second place.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early career
In 1990, Andriy Danylko started to create the character Verka Serduchka, a flamboyant middle aged woman and train conductor. At a humor contest in Poltava on 1991-04-01, he presented Verka Serduchka publically for the first time. He invented the character's name by combining the randomly picked first name Verka and the real last name of a former school classmate, Anya Serduk.[1][2] Apart from pop and dance numbers, Danylko has also appeared under his real name, performing ambient musical compositions. His popularity, however, is firmly established on the stage personality of Verka Serduchka and most of his performances are done under this stage name.
Following Verka Serduchka, Andriy Danylko created other characters, such as a policeman, a soldier and a female ballet dancer. In such a fashion, the Danilko Theater was established, touring the cities of Russia and Ukraine. In 2002, Andriy Danylko, along with his group, toured in the CIS and Baltic countries, showing the program “I am a Revolution” for the whole year. The next year, soon after the Danylko Theater’s concert tour “I Was Born for Love,” Andriy Danylko received the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s he hosted a talk show called "SV-show" ("SV" is an abbreviation for Russian: Спальный Вагон, "Spalniy Vagon", which means sleeping car) on various Ukrainian television channels.[3]
[edit] Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Verka Serduchka was chosen to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland, with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" [4], and finished in second place. Ukraine was guaranteed an appearance in the final, thanks to the top-ten finish of the previous year's Ukrainian representative Tina Karol with the song "Show Me Your Love".
The participation of Andriy Danylko in Eurovision was not without controversy in Ukraine. One of the nationwide FM radio stations organized a protest action in February 2007 to express their disapproval with the selection of Serduchka to represent the country [5]. Some Ukrainians and even members of the Ukrainian Parliament expressed their disapproval with Serduchka's participation in the contest, which they saw as "grotesque and vulgar."[6][7]
Serduchka's song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" was sung in 5 languages: German, English, Ukrainian, Russian and the invented words "lasha tumbai". In early publicity, Serduchka claimed that "lasha tumbai" was an expression in the Mongolian language for "whipped cream". However, several Mongols on a talk show by Channel One (Russia), which was shown just before the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 stated that there is no phrase "lasha tumbai" in their language and one of them pronounced the correct Mongolian phrase for "whipped cream".[8] The Mongolian embassy in Moscow also said that "lasha tumbai" was total gibberish.[9]
The single for Dancing Lasha Tumbai reached #6 in the French charts and went on to be #28 on The Official UK Singles Chart on 20 May 2007. This was the first time a non-UK non-winning Eurovision entry charted in the UK since 1974.
Danylko then made a brief phone-in appearance on the BBCs The Graham Norton Show, in which his comments made no sense whatsoever. Another call was made, but with a translator in the audience, who told guest Andrew Lloyd Webber he was "rubbish". However, in an interview with Andrew Williams in the 60 Seconds column of metro.co.uk (30 July 2007), Danylko clarified his meaning:
AW: Why did you call Andrew Lloyd Webber ‘rubbish’ on The Graham Norton Show? AD: Someone interpreted Serduchka wrongly. I meant I watched Cats the musical on TV. It was boring. You should watch a musical on the stage. Don’t watch Cats on TV.[10]
In the same interview, he admitted that "lasha tumbai" was a somewhat made-up phrase that sounds like the Mongolian phrase for "milkshake" and that many Russians nevertheless managed to interpret it as saying "Russia goodbye!", which caused somewhat of a controversy in Russia as well.
[edit] Personal life
Danylko is known to be not too talkative about his personal life, but he stated that he has lived with a woman for 8 years, though that it was a hard experience for him, and after the breakup he became more creative again.[11]
[edit] Political life
Danylko announced in 2007 that he would front a new political party, "For Ours!", to compete in that year's Ukrainian parliamentary election, but later abandoned the idea. A public opinion poll in July 2007 placed 'For Ours! Verka Serduchka' at 2% overall support. [12][13]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Я рождена для любви (Ya rozhdena dlya lyubvi, I was born for love) (1998)
- Гоп-гоп (Gop-gop) (2002)
- Чита дрита (Chita drita) (2003)
- Ха-ра-шо (Kha-ra-sho - Good) (2003)
- Жениха хотела (Zhenija khotela - I want a boyfriend) (2004)
- После тебя (Posle tebya - After you) (2005) (released under the name Danylko: instrumental music)
- Новые песни Верки Сердючки (Novye pesni Verki Serdyuchki - The new songs of Verka Serduchka) (2006)
- Tralli-Valli (2006)
- Dancing Europe (2007)
- TBA (2008-09)
[edit] Singles
- Всё будет хорошо (Vse budet horosho, Everything will be fine) (2003)
- Гоп гоп (Hop hop[14], Jump jump) (2003)
- Пирожок (Pyrozhok, Pie) (2003)
- горилка (Horilka) (2003)
- Контролер (Kontroler, Ticket collector) (2003)
- Чита Дрита (Chyta-dryta) (2004)
- Попала На Любовь (Ya popala na lubov, Loving hurts me) (2004)
- Тук тук тук (Tuk tuk tuk, Bang bang bang) (2004)
- Horosho krasavitsam (2006)
- Tralli-valli (2006)
- A ja smejus' (2006)
- Dancing Lasha Tumbai (2007)
- Kiss please (2007)
- I am Eurovision Queen (2008)
- До-ре-ми (Do Re Mi) (2008)
[edit] Dancing Lasha Tumbai Chart position
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE | FI | UK | IE | FR | GER | AUT | CH | PL | EU | |||
| 2007 | "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" | 6 | 2 | 28 | 31 | 6 | 74 | 49 | 53 | 48 | 45 | Dancing Europe |
[edit] Other Songs
- Переполох (Perepoloh) with Philip Kirkorov (2007)
- Горбачев (Gorbachev) (2008)
- Kafeshka (Café) with Philip Kirkorov
- Kerubino (As Andriy Danylko)
- Новогодняя (Novogodnyaya, (happy) new year). As Andriy Danylko, with Alla Pugacheva and various artists
- Danylko Tango (As Verka Serduchka & Andriy Danylko)
[edit] References
- ^ Danylko become Serduchka because of school girlfriend (Russian). kp.ru (2003-12-04).
- ^ Ryzancheva, Elena. Interview with Verka Serduchka-Danylko (Russian).
- ^ Danylko's biogrpahy (Russian).
- ^ Verka Serduchka went to the Eurovision-2007 song contest (Russian). Podrobnosti.ua. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
- ^ «No to Euroserduchka!» - protest action of an FM radio station (Ukrainian). Retrieved on May 10, 2007.
- ^ Eurovision act angers Ukrainians (English). BBC News. Retrieved on May 11, 2007.
- ^ Eurovision: Verka Serduchka will disgrace Ukraine (Ukrainian). Korrespondent. Retrieved on May 11, 2007.
- ^ Russian Channel One Takes Offence at Verka Serduchka (Ukrainian). Ukrainian Newspaper. Retrieved on May 21, 2007.
- ^ "Ukrainian drag queen a front-runner at Eurovision" Retrieved on May 21, 2007.
- ^ 60 SECONDS: Verka Serduchka. metro.co.uk.
- ^ Andriy Danylko: "I had a difficult experience living together with a woman..." (Russian). Gay.ru. Retrieved on May 13, 2007.
- ^ Socialists Lose Their Rating (English). Ukrayinska Pravda (2007-07-31).
- ^ Ukraine’s election campaign: mired in scandal (English). Russia Today (2007-08-25).
- ^ Also spelled Gop gop
[edit] See also
- Video of song "Dancing lasha tumbai"
- Andriy Danylko's official website (English/Russian).
- Biography (Ukrainian). KM Studio.
| Preceded by Tina Karol |
Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 |
Succeeded by Ani Lorak |
