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(Written by Irena Bay)

Once upon a time, there was a boy who had a dream of making people smile. A dream of telling them a story with his song. His dream came true!

It was May 16th, 2009, in the Russian capital Moscow when Alexander Rybak’s song, smile and fiddle enchanted the heart of the whole Europe. And it rewarded him for that with the trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and gave him the highest number of points in the history of this contest: 387! Since that day, all the mobile phones in the whole Europe (and in the rest of the world, too) keep ringing his “Fairytale” out into the outer space! :)

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is to love and to be loved in return!”

Alexander Rybak was born as a cute, stubborn and talented baby on May 13th 1986, in Minsk (Belarus, which was part of the Soviet Union back then) to the pianist Natalia and the violinist Igor. When Alexander was three years old, his father Igor went touring with a musical ensemble, and before he knew what hit him, he “left his heart in Norway”! He decided to stay. Strange times began for the little family: the mother Natalia was in Belarus alone with the little boy, while the father Igor was working very hard in Olso for some years to save some money, so he could bring his beloved ones to this Scandinavian country. It must have been a lonely and difficult time for all of them.

But then the BIG day came! Alexander, who was five years old, and his mother took a train to Oslo. They  traveled for two days through the whole Europe to be greeted by Alex’s father and the fresh Norwegian air. Soon, they found a house in Nesodden – a district on the peninsula Nesoddtangen in the Osloer fjord (which is like a lake, but has salty water). (They still live in Nesodden , by the way).

Around this time, Alexander was taught piano, and when they arrived in Norway, his father started to teach him to play the violin. Very soon, Igor realized that his son had talent for music and they started to focus on the violin.

While the Norwegian kids were playing outside, Alexander had to stay in and to practice on the violin for several hours a day. “That stinks!”, he thought. “I don’t want to!”, he said to his parents. It did not help! Alex could get really angry, so he got angry. To calm him down, his parents bought him LEGOs. That made it a bit better! :)

It was not easy for the young fiddler: He did not speak Norwegian, so he could not understand the kids in his school and they did not understand him. That made the little boy sad, at times. Some of the kids weren’t nice to him either: He looked different, wore cloths that were “out” and he played violin aaaaall theeee tiiiime! So he got bullied sometimes. Luckily, he had one or two good friends, so that was fine.

Later, when he got ten years old and went into the musical school in Olso called “The Barrat Due Academy”, he made a lot of friends. And how did he do it? By cracking jokes. That’s why he is so funny today: He started to goof around very early! ;) (And that is one thing, what we like about him: his sense of humor!)

But cracking jokes still did not make the girls like him. He thought about that a lot! So, he decided to become a singer! (Well, you know, ’cause the girls like singers! ;)) But how to do that? He thought some more. ;)

Meanwhile, being a student in the music school, the fiddler started to notice that his teachers and his parents wanted him to do music in a conventional manner. But it did not always sound the best it could to him. So, he fought with them, trying to play the music how it supposed to sound like – and how it was supposed to sound like, that, he felt in his heart. Sometimes he won the fights; at other times, he was not heard.

Alexander slowly started to see three important things which would change his life forever:

1.

When he did manage to make people listen to his music, the surprise on their faces – the eyes sparkling with dreams and the smiles illuminating the whole room for some few precious moments – that was the greatest thing he had ever seen! The feeling he had when he made them smile like that was “fantastisk” (that is Norwegian for “fantastic”)! They usually did not believe him or did not let him do music his way – so, the surprise was even greater, when he managed to make them listen to him! He came to the conclusion that he always must try to do what he thinks is best – even though people don’t believe in him! (“Someday, you all will see it!” And he was right: we all see it now! :))

2.

Things are very complicated in life! For example: He was born in Belarus, but lived most of his life in Norway. Is he Belarusian or Norwegian? What are his roots? He would always be  Norwegian to the Belarusians and he would always be Belarusian to the Norwegians. Very confusing, as you see. There are no right or easy answers, sometimes – so why trying to answer them? The trick is to keep it simple!  (“My roots are human!”) Alexander realized that the most beautiful things in the world are simple: The air up there in the mountains of  the Norwegian island Giske, for instance! Or the Norwegian folk songs and the old Soviet movie soundtracks: their melodies are beautiful, because they are simple. Or girls smiling: Just a smile, a simple smile, and he lost his head again! Yes, yes – he thought a looooot about girls!

3.

When you always try to do new things, you are bound to make mistakes – ’cause you have never done it before! That makes sense. He will make mistakes, and learn from them. It should never happen that he looses his faith in himself, tries to be someone who he is not or says things that other people told him to say. It’s better to make some mistakes than to stop being honest.

So years passed by and the desire to fulfill his dream became stronger (while the interest in girls became bigger – LOL, I am sticking to my theory here, people – why? See point nr. 3).  Alex was very lucky, ’cause he turned out to have grown into a really cute teenage-boy. (Well, yes, he had pimples, too, but he still was really handsome). And he started to be really interested in singing and jazz music. Since he was a little boy, he has been composing songs and it was only natural that one day, he would want to share his music with the world. He wanted to be seen! He wanted to be on stage! So he decided to try himself out in pop music.

You can imagine the shock he gave his parents, the classical instrumentalists, and his music teachers with this decision! They all started to persuade him to stick to the path of a classically schooled musician, especially because he was such a gifted violinist. (He won many competitions in classical music. One of them in 2004: the “Annual Anders Culture Prize). They tried to talk him out of it. But it was a good thing that he had already figured out his three-point-theory in his heart, by then – at least, that is what I believe. ;)

First, he went to the audition in the Norwegian TV show “Idol”  and sang “My song”. He stank and was rejected. (Maybe he was rejected, because it was not really “his” song?) Anyway, he knew that he stank, so he practiced and went to the Norwegian TV competition “Kjempesjansen” in 2006 which means something like “This is THE freaking chance of your life,  Alexander Rybak! Show now what you are  really made of – it’s now or never!” By then, Alexander’s Norwegian was really really good, so he understood the meaning of “Kjempesjansen”. He went home and composed his jazzy song “Foolin’” This time, he listened into his heart and wrote a song about that. Point nr. 4 was added to the list: Tell people a story! A story about yourself! On “Humongous Chance”, he accompanied himself on several instruments and sang a song which was “his” song- and he won gloriously!

Things started to look good! He was becoming famous for his own, unique music (points 1, 2, 3 & 4). He impressed some folks in the musical business over there in Norway and was invited to perform in the musical “The Fiddler on the Roof”, but this is not all: He was considered such a talent that the producers of the musical wrote a part for the musical especially for him! A part that was not in the original production!  He gained a lot of experience at the theater (97 performances) and could show that he is not bad in acting, either. His performance in the musical was awarded with the “Hedda Prize” in 2007, and that led to the offer of a supporting role in the children’s movie “Yohann – Barnevanderen” where he played a gypsy.

After that, the fiddler took his fiddle and went “loffen” (or something like that) on the island Giske again – he likes to do that  in the summer time. “Loffen” is a Norwegian tradition in that area: The wanderers knock at people’s doors and, in exchange for some help around the house, they can spend the night in their house, get something to eat and get to know the hosts. This is where the fiddler learned that flirting with the girls in front of their fathers is not such a good idea. Anyway, ’cause the fiddler can’t really build cupboards and is not so good in doing the dishes, he played his violin and sang for the hosts. By then, he was quite popular in Norway, so after some time on his trip, people started to follow him like in the movie “Forrest Gump”. :)

One day, the fiddler stopped to rest from hiking on a mountain. The view from it was unbelievably! The nature was overwhelming! The warmth of the sun made you feel alive! (LOL, I am talking like I was there! FYI: I wasn’t). Alex took his fiddle out of its black case and let his hands do whatever they want. After some time of playing and drifting off into a little daydream, he heard himself playing a melody. “That’s pretty! What is it again?” It was only later that he realized that the melody was his own creation! The following days, he walked and hummed it. Bit by bit, word by word, a song was born. A song about a lost first love and a song about the faith in love! A fairytale! How in the world should he call it? He went through his four-point-plan of “Fulfilling Your Dreams” project and stopped at number 2.

It was clear to him very early on that this song must be shown at some place that the song deserved: The Eurovision Song Contest!

It was like the destiny laid the path out for him: This very year, the contest should take place in Moscow! He, who was born in the Soviet Union, should participate in a contest in front of the people who are connected to him by history, culture and language! So much destiny can freak you out, to be honest, so he sweat blood and tears practicing non-stop during those six months before contest.

There was another wondrous, “written in the stars” thing about the Eurovision fairytale. The part of him – the part that has grown in him in the new home-country, gradually and not without pain – the part of him that made what he is today complete was going not only to be heard, but also seen in “Fairytale” as well: His path was crossed by a group of dancers who keep up the tradition of the Norwegian folk dances, “The Frikar Dance Company”. Their presence on the stage behind this boy who was once strange and is now enchanted by the world – while he, himself, has the power to enchant the world – would lift up the simple melody that swings the chords of magic.

The rest is history, my friends! :)

He came.  He saw. He won.

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is to love and be loved in return.”

“What’s up with the quote, Irena?”, you’re asking me. Well, life goes on …  after some time, the three-point program of the project “Live Your Dreams” becomes a four-point program … then, with new dreams, a six-point project … you get the idea.

So, this is not the end of a fairytale …

… THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING !

***

CURRICULUM VITAE

* date of birth: May 13th, 1986
* place of birth:  in Minsk (Belarus)
* mother: Natalia Gurina
* father: Igor Rybak

* immigration to Norway: 1991/1992

* student of classical music and violin at “Barrat Due Academy” in Oslo
* concert director of the “Ung Symfoni” orchestra in Bergen (Norway)
* “Anders Award” 2004
* participation in the TV show “Idol” in 2005
* “Kjempesjansen” 2006 with the self-composed song “Foolin’”
* “Heddaprisen” for “Fiddler on the Roof” 2007
* supporting role in the movie “Yohan” (released in 2010)

* ESC 2009: 387 points of a total 2436 points which is a record in the history of Eurovision Song Contest … 15,89% voted for him
* For ESC.today: Best Male Performance Award 2009 at ESC … he got 47,8% of the votes.
* “Marcel Bezencon Award: Press Award 2009″ at the ESC
* The video of his performance of “Fairytale” in ESC on youtube  has over 10 Mio. viewers
* On May 18th, “Fairytale” got # 1 on the i-tunes charts

* leading role in the opera-musical “Some Sunny Nights” in 2009
* lend his voice for the animated movie “How to Train a Dragon” (DreamWorks) in 2010

Special Talents
languages: Russian, Norwegian, English
instruments: violin, piano, guitar, violin as banjo ;)
singing
face acrobatics
girl-flirting :)))
attracts freaking talented and funny people (!) :P