1.
Eastern Slavic naming customs
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They are also featured in the non-Slavic Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan as a result of the expansion of Russia and the result of Russification. As with most cultures, a person has a name chosen by the parents. First names in East Slavic languages mostly originate from two sources, Orthodox church tradition and native pre-Christian Slavic lexicons, all first names are single, non-doubled. Doubled first names are a very rare foreign-influenced instance, most doubled first names are spelled with the dash. Being highly synthetic, Eastern Slavic languages treat personal names as grammatical nouns and this auxiliary stem may be identical to the word stem of the full name while most names have it derived unproductively. Most commonly, Russian philologists distinguish the forms of given names, The short name, historically also half-name, is the most simple. Some names, such as Zhanna, Mark, etc. do not possess short forms, in the latter case, one form is usually more informal than the other. Diminutive forms are produced from the name by means of various suffixes. Unlike the full name, a diminutive name carries a particular emotional attitude, depending on the nature of this attitude, nameforms can be subdivided in three broad groups, affectionate, familiar and slang. Typically formed by suffixes -еньк-, -оньк-, -ечк-, -ушк and it is often used to address children or intimate friends. Within a more official context, this form may be combined with honorific plural to address a female colleague. Colloquial diminutives are derived from short names by means of -к- suffix, expressing a highly familiar attitude, it may be considered rude or even pejorative outside of friendly context. Slang forms mostly exist for male names, being produced though suffixes -ян, -он and these suffixes give off the sense of male brotherhood once expressed by patronymic-only form of address in Soviet Union. Originating in criminal communities, these came into wide usage in Russia in the 1990s. During the days of revolutionary enthusiasm, as part of the campaign to rid Russia of bourgeois culture, there was a drive to invent new, as a result, a large number of Soviet children were given unusual or atypical names. The patronymic name is based on the first name of the father and is written in all legal, if used with the first name, the patronymic always follows it. The patronymic is formed by a combination of the fathers name, the suffix -ович is used for son, suffix -овна - for daughter. For example, if the name was Иван, then the patronymic will be Иванович for a son
2.
Minsk
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Minsk (Belarusian, Мінск pronounced, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers. It is the centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States. As the national capital, Minsk has an administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region. In 2013, it had a population of 2,002,600, the earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century, when it was noted as a provincial city within the principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers, in 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499, from 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodeship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, from 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union. Minsk will host the 2019 European Games, Minsk is located on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills, a region of rolling hills running from the southwest to the northeast – that is, to Lukomskaye Lake in northwestern Belarus. The average altitude above sea level is 220 metres, the physical geography of Minsk was shaped over the two most recent ice ages. There are six smaller rivers within the city limits, all part of the Black Sea basin, Minsk is in the area of mixed forests typical of most of Belarus. Pinewood and mixed forests border the edge of the city, especially in the north, some of the forests were preserved as parks as the city grew. The city was built on the hills, which allowed for defensive fortifications. Minsk has a warm summer humid continental climate, owing to its location between the strong influence of the moist air of the Atlantic Ocean and the dry air of the Eurasian landmass. Its weather is unstable and tends to change often, the average January temperature is −4.5 °C, while the average July temperature is 18.5 °C. The lowest temperature was recorded on 17 January 1940, at −40 °C and the warmest on 29 July 1936 at 35 °C and this results in frequent fogs, common in the autumn and spring. Minsk receives annual precipitation of 690 millimetres, of one third falls during the cold period. Throughout the year, most winds are westerly and northwesterly, bringing cool, similar climatic regimes are found in Stockholm, Sweden and in Halifax, Canada. The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Centre of Radioactive and Environmental Control, during 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons
3.
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
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To the west it bordered Poland. Within the Soviet Union, it bordered Lithuania and Latvian to the north, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia was declared by the Bolsheviks on 1 January 1919 following the declaration of independence by the Belarusian Democratic Republic in March 1918. In 1922, the BSSR was one of the four founding members of the Soviet Union, together with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, Byelorussia was one of several Soviet republics occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. This non-sovereign country of several million was a UN-founding-member, towards the final years of the Soviet Republics existence, the Supreme Soviet of Byelorussian SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty on 27 July 1990. On 15 August 1991, Stanislau Shushkevich was elected as the countrys first president, ten days later on 25 August 1991, Byelorussian SSR declared its independence and renamed to the Republic of Belarus. The Soviet Union was dissolved four months later on December 26,1991 and this asserted that the territories are all Russian and all the peoples are also Russian, in the case of the Belarusians, they were variants of the Russian people. Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term White Russia caused some confusion as it was also the name of the force that opposed the red Bolsheviks. During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as part of a national consciousness, in western Belarus under Polish control, Byelorussia became commonly used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno during the interwar period. Upon the establishment of the Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic in 1920, in 1936, with the proclamation of the 1936 Soviet Constitution, the republic was renamed to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic transposing the second and third words. On August 25,1991 the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR renamed the Soviet republic to the Republic of Belarus, conservative forces in the newly independent Belarus did not support the name change and opposed its inclusion in the 1991 draft of the Constitution of Belarus. Prior to the First World War, Belarusian lands were part of the Russian Empire, during the War, the Russian Western Fronts Great retreat in August/September 1915 ended with the lands of Grodno and most of Vilno guberniyas occupied by Germany. The abdication of the Tsar in light of the February Revolution in Russia in early 1917, as central authority waned, different political and ethnic groups strived for greater self-determination and even secession from the increasingly ineffective Russian Provisional Government. The momentum picked up after the incompetent actions of the 10th Army during the ill-fated Kerensky Offensive during the summer. On 26 November, the committee of workers, peasants and soldiers deputies for the Western Oblast was merged with the Western fronts executive committee. During the autumn 1917/winter of 1918, the Western Oblast was headed by Aleksandr Myasnikyan as head of the Western Oblasts Military Revolutionary Committee, Myasnikyan took over as chair of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Partys committee for Western Oblast and Moisey Kalmanovich as chair of the Obliskomzap. As a result, on 7th of December, when the first All-Belarusian congress convened, a cease-fire was quickly agreed and proper peace negotiations began in December. The German Operation Faustschlag was of immediate success and within 11 days, they were able to make a serious advance eastward, taking over Ukraine, Baltic states and this forced the Obliskomzap to evacuate to Smolensk. The Smolensk guberniya was passed to the Western Oblast, faced with the German demands, the Bolsheviks accepted their terms at the final Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which was signed on 3 March 1918
4.
Oslo
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Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality, founded in the year 1040, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814, after being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Fortress during the reign of Christian IV of Denmark and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, at which time its original Norwegian name was restored. Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway, the city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to companies within the maritime sector, some of which are among the worlds largest shipping companies, shipbrokers. Oslo is a city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme. Oslo is considered a city and ranked Beta World City in studies carried out by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group. It was ranked one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi magazine. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo as the second most expensive city in the world for living expenses after Tokyo. In 2013 Oslo tied with the Australian city of Melbourne as the fourth most expensive city in the world, as of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, while the population of the citys urban area was 942,084. The metropolitan area had an population of 1.71 million. The population was during the early 2000 increasing at record rates and this growth stems for the most part from international immigration and related high birth rates, but also from intra-national migration. The immigrant population in the city is growing faster than the Norwegian population. As of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, the urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus, the total population of this agglomeration is 942,084. To the north and east, wide forested hills rise above the city giving the location the shape of a giant amphitheatre. The urban municipality of Oslo and county of Oslo are two parts of the entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two administrative levels are integrated
5.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
6.
Folk music
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Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th century, but is applied to music older than that. Some types of music are also called world music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways, as music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers and it has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. Starting in the century, a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This form of music is called contemporary folk music or folk revival music to distinguish it from earlier folk forms. Smaller, similar revivals have occurred elsewhere in the world at other times and this type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others. Even individual songs may be a blend of the two, a consistent definition of traditional folk music is elusive. The terms folk music, folk song, and folk dance are comparatively recent expressions and they are extensions of the term folklore, which was coined in 1846 by the English antiquarian William Thoms to describe the traditions, customs, and superstitions of the uncultured classes. Traditional folk music also includes most indigenous music, however, despite the assembly of an enormous body of work over some two centuries, there is still no certain definition of what folk music is. Some do not even agree that the term Folk Music should be used, Folk music may tend to have certain characteristics but it cannot clearly be differentiated in purely musical terms. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers, the fashioning and re-fashioning of the music by the community that give it its folk character. Such definitions depend upon processes rather than abstract musical types, one widely used definition is simply Folk music is what the people sing. For Scholes, as well as for Cecil Sharp and Béla Bartók, Folk music was already. seen as the authentic expression of a way of life now past or about to disappear, particularly in a community uninfluenced by art music and by commercial and printed song. In these terms folk music may be seen as part of a schema comprising four types, primitive or tribal, elite or art, folk. Music in this genre is often called traditional music. Although the term is only descriptive, in some cases people use it as the name of a genre
7.
Classical music
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Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music, including both liturgical and secular music. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period, Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches, tempo, meter and rhythms for a piece of music. This can leave less room for such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, the earliest reference to classical music recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, the written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them, J. S. The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works, Musical notation enables 2000s-era performers to sing a choral work from the 1300s Renaissance era or a 1700s Baroque concerto with many of the features of the music being reproduced. That said, the score does not provide complete and exact instructions on how to perform a historical work, even if the tempo is written with an Italian instruction, we do not know exactly how fast the piece should be played. Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations, during the Classical era, the composer-performer Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto, during the Romantic era, Beethoven would improvise at the piano. The instruments currently used in most classical music were largely invented before the mid-19th century and they consist of the instruments found in an orchestra or in a concert band, together with several other solo instruments. The symphony orchestra is the most widely known medium for music and includes members of the string, woodwind, brass. The concert band consists of members of the woodwind, brass and it generally has a larger variety and number of woodwind and brass instruments than the orchestra but does not have a string section. However, many bands use a double bass. Many of the used to perform medieval music still exist. Medieval instruments included the flute, the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute. As well, early versions of the organ, fiddle, Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut, during the earlier medieval period, the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant, was monophonic, using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th
8.
Hardanger fiddle
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A Hardanger fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument used originally to play the music of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings and thinner wood. Four of the strings are strung and played like a violin, while the rest, aptly named understrings or sympathetic strings, the Hardingfele is used mainly in the southwest part of Norway, whereas the ordinary violin is found elsewhere. The Hardingfele is used for dancing, accompanied by rhythmic loud foot stomping and it was also traditional for the fiddler to lead the bridal procession to the church. Sometimes pieces of bone are used to decorate the pegs and the edges of the instrument, the earliest known example of the hardingfele is from 1651, made by Ole Jonsen Jaastad in Hardanger, Norway. Originally, the instrument had a rounder, narrower body, around the year 1850, the modern layout with a body much like the violin became the norm. Specifically, the Hardingfele is a D instrument, meaning that the Hardingfeles written C corresponds to D on a non-transposing instrument, the notes given below for tunings are therefore relative to the Hardingfeles written A, not to a concert A. The understrings are tuned to vibrate according to the main tuning, for example, when the main strings are tuned A-D-A-E, the understrings are tuned B-D-E-F♯-A. The tuning largely depends on the region in which the instrument is being played, in Norway, more than 20 different tunings are recorded. Most hardanger tunes are played in a common tuning, the hardanger fiddle can also be played in low bass, the word bass referring to the lowest string, the normal violin tuning. In certain regions the Gorrolaus tuning is sometimes used, another tuning is called troll tuning. Legend has it that the fiddler learned fanitullen tunes from the devil and this tuning limits the melodic range of the tunes and is therefore sparsely used. The technique of bowing a Hardingfele also differs from that used with a violin and its a smoother, bouncier style of bowing, with a lighter touch. The player usually bows on two of the strings at a time, and sometimes three. This is made easy by the flatness of the bridge. The strings of the fiddle are slimmer than those of the violin, the Hardingfele has had a long history with the Christian church. Well known early fiddle maker Isak Botnen is said to have learned some of his craft from church lay leader and school master Lars Klark, as well as the methods for varnishing from pastor Dedrik Muus. In many folktales the devil is associated with the Hardingfele, in many good players were said to have been taught to play by the devil
9.
Paula Seling
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Paula Seling is a Romanian singer, radio DJ, and a coach from television music competition franchise X Factor, Season 1. Paula is trilingual and speaks, writes and performs in French, English and Romanian and she has also provides the Romanian voices in Cars 2, for Holley Shiftwell. She is a supporter of personal freedoms, individual rights. She represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, together with Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu and they finished third in the final. She then participated in Dansez Pentru Tine where she finished third, from October 2011, Seling was a juror and mentor in the Romanian X Factor. In 2011 she collaborated with Al Bano and Plan D, in 2011/2012 she sang a song called Ill Show You with Alexander Rybak. The song, written by Rybak, premiere on 30 May 2012, in 2012, she was chosen by Walt Disney to record the song My Spirit Flies, for the Pixar Academy Award winning animation Brave. Paula Seling, who has a brother called Paul, was born in Baia Mare on 25 December 1978, after graduating from the Gheorghe Şincai National College in June 1997, she studied journalism in Bucharest, graduating in 2002. She has been playing piano since she was 6 years old, at the age of 10, she began to sing in the school choir, soon becoming a soloist, and at the age of 15, she joined a band, the Enders, as a piano player. That year she met Paul Nanca of the Phoenix Cultural Foundation, in 1996, she won, under the guidance of Anda Popp, the Aurelian Andreescu trophy, and she had her first performance at the Golden Stag, in the show “Viața de român” as a backup vocalist. Then, in the show, she was invited to sing When the Winter Comes by herself. Paula Seling competed in the Selectia Nationala 1998 along with the band Talisman with the song Te iubesc and they managed to end up fourth, as they were the second favorites for the jurors and the sixth favorites for televoters. The special jury considered their song the most suitable for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998, Seling competed in the Mamaia Festival 2001 with her performance of Ploaie în Luna lui Marte. Then, she received recognition after winning the Golden Stag Festival in 2002. Seling was signed to Roton Records in the fall of 2002, in 2003 she won an MTV Romanian Award for Best Music Video, for a video which she co-directed. In early 2005 she launched her own label, Unicorn Records Romania. She has sung duets with Al Bano, Anita Doth and Tony Hawks and she has performed as an opening act for Joan Baez, Chick Corea, Michael Bolton, and Beyoncé. In 2008, she performed a song together with manele singer Florin Salam at the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra, the show host described their performance as a reconciliation between manele and mainstream pop music, in the same respect, the songs lyrics raised the problem of ethnic intolerance
10.
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and was hosted by Russia after their win in 2008. It took place between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia, third place went to Azerbaijan, fourth to Turkey, and the United Kingdom taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002. Forty-two countries participated in the contest, Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules, the contest was held in Russia following its victory in the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia, with Dima Bilans Believe. Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, stated that the contest would be held in Moscow and it was proposed by Channel One that the contest be held in Moscows Olympic Indoor Arena, and this proposal was evaluated by the European Broadcasting Union and confirmed on 13 September 2008. The Director-General of the venue, Vladimir Churilin, refuted rumours of emergency reconstruction of the building, saying and we now can take up to 25 thousand spectators. The contest final took place on 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, thirty-seven countries participated in one of the two semi-finals of the contest, with the Big Four countries and the host pre-qualified for the final. In addition to those pre-qualified, the final included the ten selected countries from each semi-final. However, it was confirmed that the Big Four countries would continue to qualify for the final at the 2009 contest. Host broadcaster Channel One presented the sub-logo and theme for the 2009 contest on 30 January 2009, the sub-logo is based upon a Fantasy Bird, which can be used with many colours. As in previous years, the sub-logo was presented alongside the generic logo,2009 was the first year since 2001 that there was no slogan for the contest. The stage was designed by New York-based set designer John Casey, Casey, who had previously designed the stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 in Dublin, was also involved in design teams for the 1994 and 1995 contests. He explained that even before worked with the Russians on the TEFI Awards in Moscow in 1998, was inspired by and drawn to art from the Russian Avant Garde period, especially the constructivists. Tried to come up with a design for the contest that incorporates Russian avant-garde art into a contemporary setting. Casey explained that together, the various LED shapes form the finished product, furthermore, large sections of the stage can move, including the circular central portion of curved LED screens, which can be moved to effect and allow each song to have a different feel. Finally a phrase in transliterated Russian and its English translation were shown, the music accompanying the postcards was written and produced by Matthew Herbert. On Friday 30 January 2009, the draw to decide which countries would appear in either the first or second semi-final took place, the participating countries excluding the automatic finalists were split into six pots, based upon how those countries have been voting. From these pots, half competed in the first Semi Final on 10 May 2009, the other half in that particular pot will compete in the second Semi Final on 12 May 2009
11.
Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song)
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Fairytale is a song written and composed by Norwegian violinist/singer Alexander Rybak, and the first single from Rybaks debut album Fairytales. This song was the winner of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, in February 2009, Norwegian media reported that Fairytale is about Rybaks ex-girlfriend Ingrid Berg Mehus whom he got to know through the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo. The Russian-language version of the song is entitled Skazka, the final took place on 16 May and the song won with 387 points – a new ESC record. It was Norways third Eurovision Song Contest win, the backing dancers for the Eurovision performance, Sigbjørn Rua, Torkjell Lunde Børsheim and Hallgrim Hansegård, are from the Norwegian dance company Frikar, performing the folk dance halling. The backing singers, Jorunn Hauge and Karianne Kjærnes, wore long pink dresses designed by Norwegian designer Leila Hafzi. The first official video for the song, which was used to present the song before the Eurovision final, was Alexander Rybaks Performance at the Melodi Grand Prix 2009 in Norway. The most recent video was of Alexander Rybak playing the Violin and singing with his backing dancers behind him, where the background occasionally changes from white to black. A video of Rybaks performance of the song at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest final in Moscow, was chosen by YouTube as one of its 31 most memorable videos of 2009. In the Norwegian preselection, Melodi Grand Prix 2009, Rybaks Fairytale won with a combined televote and jury score of 747,888, the song received over 600,000 votes more than the runner-up, which made it the clearest win in the history of Melodi Grand Prix. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Rybak won with the highest recorded score since the contest began, with 387 points and he held this record until 2016 when Jamala from Ukraine won with a record 534 points. His average score of 9.4 points from every voting nation was the highest since the use of televoting began in 1998. The song also debuted on the Norwegian Singles Chart on the week of 11 February 2009 at number 3, before rising to one on the following week. This was the first time that the Melodi Grand Prix winner reached number 1 before winning the contest, the song remained at number 1 for 8 consecutive weeks. The song has entered the Swedish Sverigetopplistan, debuting at number 47, before rising to number 7 in its third week. After the song gaining the Top Spot on Eurovision, it entered the Top Ten of many Charts across Europe, the song debuted on the UK charts at #10 on Downloads Alone and then dropped to #38 the next week, it also reached Number 3 on the Download Chart. Fairytale is the ninth non-UK Eurovision entry to reach the top ten in the UK charts since the contest began in 1956, the single went multi-platinum in different formats in Russia. It first went platinum as realtone/ full track and sold 100,000 copies, then it was certified 2x platinum as ring-back tone with another 400,000 copies sold. Combined sales of the song are 500,000 copies without online downloads, sampled in 2015 by Uzbek singer Gulasal Abdullayeva on single Notanish yigit
12.
Fairytales (Alexander Rybak album)
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Fairytales is the debut studio album by the Belarusian-Norwegian artist Alexander Rybak. It was released in Norway and most of Europe on 29 May 2009, most of the songs on the album are written and/or composed by Rybak himself. The first single of album is Rybaks Fairytale, the winning song from the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. His entry broke the record of 292 in the festival. All the participating countries voted for the song, Rybak wrote English lyrics for one Russian and one Norwegian song, for the album. The chorus in the song Abandoned, uses music by Kirill Moltchanov, the song If You Were Gone, is an English version of the Norwegian song Vårsøg, with music by Henning Sommerro. Bonus track Bonus track French edition Russian edition bonus track Fairytales – Зимняя сказка Standard-Edition Digipack-Edition 1, CD, Same songs as Standard-Edition 2. DVD, Musicians Alexander Rybak – lead vocals, violin, piano, W. Alexander Rybak has not only become a star in no time, he deserves the status as well, the paper said. On the same day it was revealed that the album had been leaked illegally on the net, Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet was less enthused. Rybak is seducing, but not entirely convincing their critic stated, aftenposten gave it 5 out of 6 stars, calling Rybak a complete artist. Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, however, caused a stir by giving the record merely 1 star and hurling epithets like violin hobbit, tV2 in Norway gave the album 4 out of 6 stars, stating that Rybak was no one-hit-wonder at all. NRK gave Rybak a good review saying that Rybak was a good pop composer, dagsavisen gave the record 5 points out of 6, exclaiming the fairy tale continues. The radio channel P4 Radio Hele Norge gave the album a poor review. Calling it a record for 13 year old girls and Eurovision enthusiasts it got 2 stars, bergensavisen was impressed by the record, especially by the albums personal style, and gave it 5 stars
13.
Lisbon
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Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with a population of 552,700 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km². Its urban area extends beyond the administrative limits with a population of around 2.7 million people. About 2.8 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and it is continental Europes westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, the westernmost areas of its metro area is the westernmost point of Continental Europe. Lisbon is recognised as a city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education. It is one of the economic centres on the continent, with a growing financial sector. Humberto Delgado Airport serves over 20 million passengers annually, as of 2015, and the motorway network, the city is the 7th-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Milan, with 1,740,000 tourists in 2009. The Lisbon region contributes with a higher GDP PPP per capita than any region in Portugal. Its GDP amounts to 96.3 billion USD and thus $32,434 per capita, the city occupies 32nd place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinationals in the country are located in the Lisbon area and it is also the political centre of the country, as its seat of Government and residence of the Head of State. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, julius Caesar made it a municipium called Felicitas Julia, adding to the name Olissipo. Ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, in 1147, the Crusaders under Afonso Henriques reconquered the city and since then it has been a major political, economic and cultural centre of Portugal. Unlike most capital cities, Lisbons status as the capital of Portugal has never been granted or confirmed officially – by statute or in written form. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the Constitution of Portugal. It has one of the warmest winters of any metropolis in Europe, the typical summer season lasts about four months, from June to September, although also in April temperatures sometimes reach around 25 °C. Although modern archaeological excavations show a Phoenician presence at this location since 1200 BC, another conjecture based on ancient hydronymy suggests that the name of the settlement derived from the pre-Roman appellation for the Tagus, Lisso or Lucio. Lisbons name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela and it was later referred to as Olisippo by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo or Olissipona. The Indo-European Celts invaded in the 1st millennium BC, mixing with the Pre-Indo-European population and this indigenous settlement maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians, which would account for the recent findings of Phoenician pottery and other material objects
14.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
15.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
16.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
17.
Barratt Due Institute of Music
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Barratt Due Institute of Music is a music education institute founded by the pianist Mary Barratt Due and the violinist Henrik Adam Due. It is a foundation which receives government funding for parts of its activities. Located at Fagerborg in Oslo the institute offers education from infant age through college levels. The institutes motto is From music kindergarten to concert podium and the students are educated through college level degrees, Due to this model Barratt Due has through three generations been an important institution in Norwegian music life. Stephan Barratt-Due is the artistic director and also leads the Institutes ensemble-in-residence. Barratt Dues Musikkinstitutt» was founded 18 September 1927 at 18 Vallegata, St. Hanshaugen, classes were held in their apartment. In the mid 1930s the motto of the institute was, from the kindergarten to concert podium. Stephan Barratt-Due Jr. took over as rector and artistic director of the institute in 1985, in 1985, Barratt Dues Juniororkester and Barratt Dues Symfoniorkester was established, and in 1986 the Institute was transformed into a foundation. Høyskoleavdeling, Barratt Due offers both Bachelor and masters studies in Music Performance. In addition there are two further education with educational purposes Unge Talenter is a program for the interested and talented children. Includes instrumental lessons, ensemble activities and music theory, musikk på Majorstuen is a program for the school-age children in Oslo and offering primary education with special educational needs for talents in classical music. Musikkbarnehage have groups divided in age from 0–5 years, Music in the beginning of life. Barratt Due taking in music children garden of the personal qualifications. Learning takes place through activities of various kinds, about 200 children Oslo Camerata, Barratt Dues ensemble-in-residence, a professional orchestra where students and students participate as apprentices. Barratt Dues Symfoniorkester, A full symphony orchestra comprising students from the Unge Talenter, Barratt Dues Kammerfilharmoni, A small philharmonic comprising students at the college department. Barratt Dues Juniororkester, String orchestra comprising mainly students between 16 and 19 years, led by Soon-Mi Chung, Barratt Dues Juniorensemble, String orchestra comprising mainly students between 12 and 16 years, led by Sigyn Fossnes. Barratt Dues Barneorkester, String orchestra comprising children under 13 years, led by Torfinn Hoffart
18.
Bachelor's degree
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A bachelors degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to seven years. In some institutions and educational systems, some bachelors degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate degrees after a first degree has been completed. The term bachelor in the 12th century referred to a knight bachelor, by the end of the 13th century, it was also used by junior members of guilds or universities. By folk etymology or wordplay, the word came to be associated with bacca lauri in reference to laurels being awarded for academic success or honours. An honours degree generally requires an academic standard than a pass degree. In most African countries, the university systems follow the model of their former colonizing power, for example, the Nigerian university system is similar to the British system, while the Ivorian system is akin to the French. The degree is typically identical to the program of Frances universities, bachelors degree programs cover most of the fields in Algerian universities, except some fields, such as Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science. Bachelors degrees at the University of Botswana normally take four years, the system draws on both British and American models. Degrees are classified as First Class, Second Class Division One, Second Class Division Two and Third as in English degrees, but without being described as honours. The main degrees are named by British tradition, but in recent years there have been a numbers of degrees named after specific subjects, such as Bachelor of Library, in Morocco, a bachelors degree is referred to as al-ʾijāzah. The course of study takes three years, which are divided into two cycles. The first cycle comprises the first, or propaedeutic, year, after successfully completing their first two years, students can pursue either theoretical specialization or professional specialization. The second cycle is one long, after whose completion students receive the licence détudes fondamentales or the licence professionnelle. This academic degree system was introduced in September 2003, University admission is extremely competitive, with attendant advantages and disadvantages. Nonetheless, it takes four to five years to complete a bachelors degree, in cases of poor performance, the time limit is double the standard amount of time. For example, one may not study for more than 10 years for a five-year course, students are normally asked to leave if they must take longer. B. Arch. and other specialized undergraduate degrees, such as B. Eng, Science undergraduate degrees may require six months or a semester dedicated to SIWES but it is usually mandatory for all engineering degrees. A semester for project work/thesis is required, not excluding course work, the classifications of degrees, first-class, second-class, third-class and a pass
19.
Anders Jahre
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Anders August Jahre was a Norwegian shipping magnate. Jahre was educated in law, and worked as a lawyer in Sandefjord from 1916 until 1928, meanwhile he was also involved in the whaling industry, and he founded the whaling company A/S Kosmos in 1928, operating out of Sandefjord. He also established Jahres Kjemiske Fabrikker, a processor of whale blubber and he contributed significantly to the development of the city of Sandefjord. Among other things, he financed the building of the new town hall and he was a major philanthropist, and was honoured with The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1950 and 1962, as well as an honorary professorship at the University of Oslo in 1961. After his death, however, there was controversy surrounding alleged tax fraud. In 1984, the Norwegian government put forward a tax claim against the Jahre estate, a series of legal proceedings in the 2000s succeeded in returning part of the fortune to Norway from accounts on the Cayman Islands. In 1939 Pankos Operating Company SA was incorporated as a Panamanian corporation, throughout his lifetime, Anders Jahre steadfastly maintained that he had no ownership interest in Pankos and other foreign companies. Only after his death was it established that Jahre had controlled these entities from incorporation, during the 1950s the Norwegian authorities commenced an investigation of Jahre’s connections to Pankos et al. In response and in order to conceal his ownership interest, Jahre claimed that these companies were owned by Aristotle Onassis. The investigation was put on hold when Jahre suggested that it might be possible for Norwegian companies controlled by Jahre to purchase Pankos et als floating assets from Onassis at market price. Such ships would in that manner become Norwegian-flagged vessels, a goal that at the time was considered important by the Norwegian authorities and this solution was accepted and as a result large sums were transferred abroad to companies ostensibly owned by Onassis. To conceal his connection with Pankos, Jahre secretly changed the name of the company in 1958 to Continental Trust Company, in 1999 Britain’s highest court confirmed that Continental Foundation was not a validly established trust. Because documents relating to CTC surfaced during an audit of Jahre’s businesses in 1979, the tax claim was contested and eventually accepted in 1993. At the time of Jahres death in 1982 the value of the remaining in his foreign fortune totaled some 80 million U. S. dollars. There is no known instance in Norway of tax avoidance on such a large scale or over such an extended period. In 1998 Kosmos AS asserted that it was the owner of the foreign assets. Litigation ensued, but in 2003 Kosmos AS, by its owner Eikland AS/Morits Skaugen, two Norwegian judgements, from 2002 and 2003 respectively, reflect that Anders Jahre had ultimate control and effective ownership of the above-referenced foreign fortune during his lifetime. Through three separate settlements with, respectively, Jahre’s main banking connection and certain Cayman interests, the Jahre estate recovered approximately 720 million Norwegian kroner
20.
Idol (Norwegian TV series)
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Idol, Jakten på en superstjerne is a television show on the Norwegian television channel TV2, based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The show describes itself as a Search For A SuperStar, the contestants are first narrowed down to 100 contestants, and then down to 24-50 through several auditions and tests by a panel of judges. From this point on, the viewers decide who are in and who are out, and the judges limit themselves to commenting. TV viewers being what they are, the votes are based not solely on the vocal performance, but also on his or her looks, clothes, entertainment value. In the first four seasons the agelimit for participation was 16–28 years old, in season five it was changed to 16-35. Idol in Norway is unique in that contestants have been allowed to perform self composed songs since the first season in 2003, in the first season,50 people were narrowed down to 10, with each contestant performing live. However, the number of legal contestants was narrowed down to nine when Idol-finalist Jeanette Vik was disqualified for being underage. Tone Anette Eidsheim Elde who had eliminated in the very first finalshow got a second chance. Four judges provided critiques of each competitors performance, viewers had several hours following the broadcast of the show to phone in their votes for their favorite contestant. Later the same night, the contestant with the fewest votes was sent home, kurt Nilsen won season one, with Gaute Ormåsen coming in second. Kurt got 53% of the votes, Nilsen went on to win World Idol in the beginning of 2004. In the second season they changed the procedures a bit, first the contestants were narrowed down to 40 instead of 50. In addition to these 10 finalists, the judges picked a final 11th contestant, kjartan Salvesen won season two, with Margaret Berger coming in second. Kjartan got 59% of the votes, the third season was a bit different as well. First the contestants were narrowed down to 50, then, after five shows where 2 of 10 were voted forward in each show. But the judges were not pleased and got to take two straight to final, Erik Flaa and David Bakke, making the total of finalists to 12. Jorun Stiansen won season three, with Tone Damli Aaberge coming in second, jorun got 55% of the votes. The fourth season was, yet again, a bit different, first the contestants were narrowed down to 40
21.
NRK
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NRK is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organisation in Norway. NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and three radio channels on DVB-T, cable, satellite, IPTV, FM and DAB. It also runs several digital radio stations, all NRK radio stations can be heard on the website, NRK. no, which also offers an extensive TV service. NRK is a member of the European Broadcasting Union. 94% of NRKs funding comes from an annual license fee payable by anyone who owns or uses a TV or device capable of receiving TV broadcasts. The remainder comes from commercial activities such as programme and DVD sales, spin-off products, NRKs license income in 2012 was more than 5 billion kroner. In the autumn of 2015 the government announced that it planned to change the way NRK is financed and this is in part a reaction to the decline of TV ownership in Norway. Some kind of charge is planned, but it is not yet clear how such a system would work. The feeling is that the current license system is not sustainable in the long term, kringkastningselskapet, a privately owned company and the predecessor of NRK, started regular radio broadcasts in Norway in 1925. NRK itself was founded in 1933, based on a model similar to that of the BBC and located in Oslo, it was a replacement for privately operated radio stations in larger cities. NRK initially set out to cover the country and had a monopoly on broadcasting in Norway. During the German occupation, Norwegian transmitters were used to broadcast German war propaganda to Northern Europe, prior to the German occupation, NRK had also been partly financed by radio commercials. NRK was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union, in 1954, NRK started broadcasting television shows, on a trial basis. NRK was the last of the major European public broadcasters to introduce a second radio station, in 1993 NRK launched a third radio station, the youth-oriented P3. A 24-hour station for classical music, Alltid Klassisk, introduced in 1995, was the first of its kind to be broadcast digitally using DAB. The 24-hour news station Alltid Nyheter started in 1997, followed by a station for teenagers, mP3, in 2000. In 1996, a television channel, NRK2, was launched. The original television channel is now known as NRK1, on 3 September 2007 NRK launched its third channel, a youth channel called NRK3
22.
A-ha
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A-ha is a Norwegian band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar-Savoy, the group rose to fame during the mid-1980s after being discovered by musician and producer John Ratcliff, and continued global success in the 1990s and 2000s. A-ha achieved their biggest success with their album, Hunting High and Low. In the UK, Hunting High and Low continued its success into the following year. In 1994, after their studio album, Memorial Beach, failed to achieve the commercial success of their previous albums. Their ninth album, Foot of the Mountain, was first released on 19 June 2009 and returned the band to the UK top 5 for the first time since 1988, being certified Silver there, the album peaked at number 2 in Norway. On 15 October 2009, the announced they would split after a worldwide tour in 2010. Thousands of fans from at least 40 different countries on six continents congregated to see A-ha for the last leg of the tour, on 4 December 2014, A-ha officially announced its participation at Rock In Rio 2015 which celebrated 30 years for both the band and the event. In 2015, it was announced that A-ha would re-unite for two years and their tenth studio album, Cast in Steel, was released on 4 September 2015. A tour, named for the album, in support of the album happened in autumn 2015, through 2009, the band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Another record for the band is for singer Morten Harket, who was listed in the Guinness World Records book in 2001 for the longest live note held and they were trying to think of what to call themselves, focusing on Norwegian words people could say in English. They jettisoned that idea when Morten spotted a song called A-ha in Waaktaars songbook and it was a terrible song but a great name, says Morten. They chose the studio of musician, producer, and soon-to-be-manager John Ratcliff because it had a Space Invaders machine, John Ratcliff introduced them to his manager, Terry Slater, and after a few meetings, A-ha enlisted Ratcliff as a manager as well. Slater and Ratcliff formed TJ Management, Ratcliff dealt with technical and musical aspects, and Slater acted as the groups international business manager and as liaison to Warner Brothers head office in Los Angeles. An early version of Take On Me was the first song that Morten Harket had heard Magne Furuholmen, at that time, the song was called The Juicy Fruit Song, and the two men were still known as Bridges. It was named Lesson One when it was first recorded by A-ha, after some re-writing, multiple re-recordings, and three releases, Take On Me became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1985. The first version of the song, released in 1984, was promoted by a video of the performing the song in front of a blue background. The song was then re-recorded with production by Alan Tarney, and it was then re-released with a new, groundbreaking video which peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart
23.
Morten Harket
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A-ha disbanded in 2010 after they played their last gig in Oslo. Harket has also released six solo albums, before joining A-ha in 1982, Harket had appeared on the Oslo club scene as the singer for blues outfit Souldier Blue. They chose the studio of musician, producer, and soon-to-be-manager, John Ratcliff, John Ratcliff introduced the band to his manager, Terry Slater, and, after a few meetings, A-ha had two managers. Terry Slater and John Ratcliff together formed T. J, Ratcliff dealt with all the technical and musical aspects, Slater was the international business manager and liaison to Warner Brothers head office. The band says the name A-ha comes from a title Paul contemplated giving to a song, Morten was looking through Pauls notebook, and came across the name, which he liked, and immediately decided that was the right name. In 1984, A-ha released their first single, Take On Me, the singles international success helped A-has debut album Hunting High and Low to sell over 10 million copies worldwide. Their second studio album was Scoundrel Days, followed by Stay on These Roads and East of the Sun, the band then issued the commercially disappointing Memorial Beach, after which the band went on hiatus. Harket re-joined his colleagues in A-ha in 1998 to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize concert, since 1998, A-ha has released four studio albums and several compilations. Their eighth studio album Analogue was released in 2005, and became a big hit worldwide, the bands last studio album before their split, Foot of the Mountain, was released in the spring of 2009. Harket held a note for 20.2 seconds in A-has 2000 song Summer Moved On, the note held exceeds the chest voice note in Bill Withers famous song Lovely Day by 2.2 seconds. In October 2009, A-ha announced that they would disband after a tour in 2010. Tickets for A-has final concert at the Oslo Spektrum on 4 December 2010 sold out within 2 hours. On September 27,2015, A-ha played once more for a crowd assembled at Rock in Rio 2015 festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which led to a reunion tour. Paul Waaktaar-Savoy describes Harket as being different from me. He recalls the bands first visit to London together, during which Harket burned all his clothes and he has given me self-confidence, encourages me to talk to people, not to be afraid and to use the abilities I have. Morten is actually the one in Norway who had as much ambition as I did. I guess we both have big egos, in a way, were each sitting in our own little world, while Mags is more down to earth. Mags often has to mediate between Morten and me and its good that were so different and still respect each other
24.
Arve Tellefsen
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When he was 6 years old, Tellefsen began playing the violin in Trondheims musikkskole. In 1955, he began his studies at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, in 1959, he had his debut in Universitetets Aula, Oslo. Tellefsen is one of the most highly regarded violinists in Europe and in his career as a soloist, he has played with many of the worlds greatest orchestras. He has made recordings and received many awards, including the Harriet Cohen International Music Award. He has also recently recorded Edvard Grieg, Complete Violin Sonatas with pianist Håvard Gimse at Grieg’s home, although instructed to leave their possessions, he refused to abandon his priceless Guarneri violin as they evacuated onto an inflatable raft. The evacuees had to paddle away from the airliner with their bare hands,1956, Knight of Polyhymnia, the order of the Symphony Orchestra at Studentersamfundet i Trondhjem. Olavs Orden»2007, «Anders Jahres Culture Award»2009, Receiving an honorary degree at the Norwegian Academy of Music,1988, Pan 1992, Intermezzo 1995, Arco 1964, Air Norvegen, with Robert Levin 1967, Fartein Valen, Violin Concerto op. 33, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor, Sir Yehudi Menuhin 1994, Ludwig van Beethoven,26, med London Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor, Vernon Handley 1995, Jean Sibelius, Violin Concerto in D minor, Op
25.
Fiddler on the Roof
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Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem, the story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the familys lives. The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances, Fiddler held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until Grease surpassed its run. It remains Broadways sixteenth longest-running show in history, the production was extraordinarily profitable and highly acclaimed. It won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, score, book, direction and it spawned five Broadway revivals and a highly successful 1971 film adaptation, and the show has enjoyed enduring international popularity. It is also a popular choice for school and community productions. It is also influenced by Life Is with People, by Mark Zborowski, Aleichem wrote a dramatic adaptation of the stories that he left unfinished at his death, but which was produced in Yiddish in 1919 by the Yiddish Art Theater and made into a film in the 1930s. In the late 1950s, a based on the stories, called Tevye. Rodgers and Hammerstein and then Mike Todd briefly considered bringing this musical to Broadway, investors and some in the media worried that Fiddler on the Roof might be considered too Jewish to attract mainstream audiences. Other critics considered that it was too culturally sanitized, middlebrow and superficial, Philip Roth, writing in The New Yorker, for example, it portrays the local Russian officer as sympathetic, instead of brutal and cruel, as Sholom Aleichem had described him. Aleichems stories ended with Tevye alone, his dead and his daughters scattered, at the end of Fiddler, the family members are alive. The show found the balance for its time, even if not entirely authentic. Harold Prince replaced the original producer Fred Coe and brought in director/choreographer Jerome Robbins, the writers and Robbins considered naming the musical Tevye, before landing on a title suggested by various paintings by Marc Chagall that also inspired the original set design. Contrary to popular belief, the title of the musical does not refer to any specific painting, other cast members also had run-ins with Robbins, who reportedly abused the cast, drove the designers crazy strained the good nature of Hal Prince. Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman with five daughters, explains the customs of the Jews in the Russian shtetl of Anatevka in 1905, at Tevyes home, everyone is busy preparing for the Sabbath meal. His sharp-tongued wife, Golde, orders their daughters, Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze and Bielke, about their tasks. Yente, the matchmaker, arrives to tell Golde that Lazar Wolf, the wealthy butcher, a widower older than Tevye, wants to wed Tzeitel. The next two daughters, Hodel and Chava, are excited about Yentes visit, but Tzeitel is unenthusiastic, a girl from a poor family must take whatever husband Yente brings, but Tzeitel wants to marry her childhood friend, Motel the tailor
26.
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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Norway and Norsk Rikskringkasting won the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia on 16 May. Their song was chosen at a final, Melodi Grand Prix. Norway first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, following their Scandinavian neighbours Denmark and Sweden and their first entry, Voi Voi performed by Nora Brockstedt, won the inaugural Melodi Grand Prix in 1960, and went on to place 4th at the international contest in London. Before 1985, their best result came in 1966, when Åse Kleveland came third for Norway with Intet er nytt under solen in Luxembourg, however, in 1985, Norway gained their first victory, with Bobbysocks. Winning with La det swinge in Gothenburg, and bringing the contest to Norway for the first time - in 1986 the contest was held in Norways second city, Bergen. 1995 brought Norway its second win at the contest, with Secret Garden winning in Dublin with Nocturne, as such the 1996 Contest was held in Oslo. Melodi Grand Prix 2009, the Norwegian national final, selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, the entire contest was to be hosted by last years Norwegian entry Maria Haukaas Storeng and past MGP host and Eurovision commentator Per Sundnes. For 2009, at least 50% of the team must be Norwegian or live in Norway which is due to the success of Norway in the 2008 contest with Norwegian songwriter Mira Craig. Additionally, NRK has announced that singers will not be allowed to compete. More than 350 songs were submitted, less than the more than 600 in 2007, Aaberge will compete in MGP2009, performing in the second semi-final, however Krogh and Arredondo will not be competing. The first eleven songs that will compete in this years Melodi Grand Prix were revealed on 10 December 2008, ten more songs were made public on 17 December. In each of the three semi-finals, seven songs will compete, the top two songs through televoting will qualify directly to the final on 21 February. The Siste Sjansen round, to be held on 14 February, the third and fourth placed songs in each semi-final will qualify for this round. The Siste Sjansen will follow the format as Melodifestivalens Andra Chansen round. Eight songs will compete against each other in four pairs, the four winning songs of each pair will battle against each other again, with the two winners qualifying to the final. The four semi-finals of Melodi Grand Prix 2009 began on 24 January 2009 and held in Kongsvinger, Bodø, Skien and Ålesund, in the first semi-final, in the Kongsvinger Hall in Kongsvinger on 24 January 2009, seven songs in total competed. The names of all the artists for this semi-final were announced on 19 December 2008, the first song of the night was Surferosa with U Look Good. Pyrotechnics were used at the end of the performance, second on stage was Chicas del Coro with Men, Men, Men, a nostalgic swing song
27.
Folk dance
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Folk dances are dances that are developed by people that reflect the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances, for example, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances, ritual dances are usually called Religious dances because of their purpose. The terms ethnic and traditional are used when it is required to emphasize the roots of the dance. In this sense, nearly all folk dances are ethnic ones, if some dances, such as polka, cross ethnic boundaries and even cross the boundary between folk and ballroom dance, ethnic differences are often considerable enough to mention, e. g. Czech polka vs. Dances not generally designed for performance or the stage, though they may later be arranged. Execution dominated by a tradition from various international cultures rather than innovation. New dancers often learn informally by observing others and/or receiving help from others, more controversially, some people define folk dancing as dancing for which there is no governing body or dancing for which there are no competitive or professional institutions. The term folk dance is sometimes applied to dances of historical importance in European culture and history, for other cultures the terms ethnic dance or traditional dance are sometimes used, although the latter terms may encompass ceremonial dances. A number of modern ballroom dances originated from folk ones, varieties of European folk dances include, Sword dances include Longsword dances and rapper dancing. Some choreographed dances such as dance, Scottish country dance. Country dance overlaps with contemporary dance and ballroom dance. Most country dances and ballroom dances originated from folk dances, with gradual refinement over the years, people familiar with folk dancing can often determine what country a dance is from even if they have not seen that particular dance before. Some countries dances have features that are unique to that country, for example, the German and Austrian schuhplattling dance consists of slapping the body and shoes in a fixed pattern, a feature that few other countries dances have. Folk dances sometimes evolved long before current political boundaries, so that certain dances are shared by several countries, for example, some Serbian, Bulgarian, and Croatian dances share the same or similar dances, and sometimes even use the same name and music for those dances. International folk dance groups exist in cities and college campuses in many countries, in which dancers learn folk dances from many cultures for recreation
28.
Dagbladet
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Dagbladet is Norways second-largest tabloid newspaper, and the fourth-largest newspaper overall with a circulation of 71,514 copies in 2015, down from a peak of 228,834 in 1994. The editor in chief is John Arne Markussen, Dagbladet is published six days a week and includes the additional feature magazine Magasinet every Saturday. Part of the newspaper is available at Dagbladet. no. The daily readership of Dagbladets online newspaper was 1.24 million in 2014, Dagbladet was founded in 1869 by Anthon Bang. Hagbard Emanuel Berner served as its first editor in chief and the first issue was published on January 2,1869, from 1884 to 1977, the newspaper was affiliated to the Liberal party. The newspaper was in 1972 against Norway joining the EU, but had changed to pro in 1994, Dagbladet has played an important role in development of new editorial products in Norway. In 1990, the newspaper was the first in Norway to publish a Sunday edition in more than 70 years, in 2007 it had a circulation of 204,850 copies. The actual first newspaper was a paper called Brønnøysunds Avis. Over the past few years, Dagbladet has had success with the Saturday supplement Magasinet, due to the declining of daily circulation, the newspaper has reduced the number of workers the last couple of years by a few hundred. Because of this, the newspaper focused more on news, but recent years. Dagbladet was previously owned by the privately held company Berner Gruppen, jens P. Heyerdahl was the largest owner and had effective control through several different companies. DB Medialab AS also owned 50% of the Norwegian web portal and ISP start. no, in June 2013, Dagbladet with online products was sold from Berner Gruppen to Aller Media for reportedly about 300 million Norwegian kroner. As of 2016, 99% of the shares of Dagbladet AS are formally owned by Berner Media Holding AS, the remaining 1% of Dagbladet AS is owned by the foundation Dagbladets Stiftelse. The online edition of Dagbladet was launched on 8 March 1995 following Brønnøysunds Avis, in 1988, Dagbladet was criticised for the aggressive use of photographs of grieving next-of-kin in the aftermath of the Flight 710 air-disaster. This led to a change of practice within the Norwegian press regarding the handling of such incidents. This caused criticism and ridicule of the newspaper for being overly tabloid, Dagbladet was criticized by the Norwegian Press Association. The paper reprinted the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Postens 12 Muhammad Cartoons in 2005, in 2013, Dagbladet lost the appeal case in Borgarting Court of Appeal, but the legal ruling was slightly changed and the compensation reduced to 200,000 Nkr. In May,2013, Dagbladet appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Norway, the newspaper encountered criticism over a cartoon published in November 2011 that equated the Holocaust with the situation in the Gaza Strip
29.
Tone Damli
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Tone Damli Aaberge is a Norwegian singer. She became famous for being a contestant in the Norwegian version of the Idol series and she was the runner-up in the Norwegian version of Idol in 2005, following Jorun Stiansen in the final. She has released four albums, Bliss, Sweet Fever, I Know, Bliss and I Know have been certified gold in Norway. She contended in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest 2009 finals, with the song Butterflies, and ended up in the position yet again. She also finished third in the Norwegian version of Dancing with the Stars in 2006 and she contended together with Erik Segerstedt in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest 2013 finals, with the song Hello Goodbye. Releases until 2009 credited to Tone Damli Aaberge, from 2010 onward to Tone Damli. 2006, Over the Hedge - Norwegian voice of Heather Official website Tone Damli on Flickr
30.
Lordi
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Lordi are a Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the bands lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi. In addition to their melodic music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts. Lordi rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single, Would You Love a Monsterman. The band made history in 2006 by becoming the first, and still today the only, hard rock act and Finnish artist to win the Eurovision Song Contest, Lordi has toured around the world actively since 2002. The band records a new album in 2–3 years cycle and at the same time Mr Lordi upgrades the costumes. Monstereophonic were released in Fall of 2016, the band has gone through several line-up changes, but original members Mr Lordi and guitarist Amen are still active with the band. Members of Lordi have stated their desire for their faces to remain private. However, they have made a number of unmasked appearances in several news outlets, Lordi was formed in 1992 as a solo project by Mr Lordi. Lordis very first demo album Napalm Market was done in 1993, the album included a song Inferno, which also got a music video, all done by Mr Lordi. In the music video Mr Lordi performed unmasked but he had made monster make-up for his friends who played secondary role in the video, after the video was done, Mr Lordi got an idea of a band of monsters. Inferno was later released in Finnish Rockmurskaa compilation album in 1995, in 1996 Mr Lordi organized a Kiss cruise for Finnish Kiss fans from Finland to Sweden. During the cruise he met musicians Amen and G-Stealer, and told them about his project called Lordi. After the cruise they joined the band, One year later Enary joined the band on keyboard and the band recorded their first album, Bend Over And Pray The Lord. At the time when the album was recorded, the band didnt have a drummer, ari Tiainen, the owner of their record company, had originally planned to publish the album, however, the company did not have sufficient resources to market it. Tiainen recommended Lordi to the record label Kimmo Hirvonens Records, owned by Anaconda, the album was planned to release in early 1999, but Anaconda Records went bankrupt shortly before the planned release date and the album was never released. The band never performed with the original line-up, though they had promised a record release gig in 1999. During the same year G-Stealer left the band because of commitments and was replaced by Magnum. In 2000, drummer Kita joined and the band got their first drummer, after several failed attempts at obtaining a recording contract, Lordi signed a record deal with Bertelsmann Music Group Finland in 2002
31.
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May and 20 May 2006. The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi, the Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah, written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. Hard Rock Hallelujah was the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, since Eurovision is normally associated with pop music. This was Finlands first victory in Eurovision after waiting forty-five years and it is also noted that they scored the same amount of points in the semi-final and the grand final. In the semi-final, both the hosts sang Katrina and the Waves contest-winning Love Shine A Light, for one of the intervals, Sakis Rouvas sang an English version of his Greek hit Seho Erotefthi called Im in love with you. Helena Paparizou, who performed the song in Kiev, returned to the Eurovision stage in Athens. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was a fan book released from this year. The 2006 contest also saw the 1, 000th song to be performed in the contest, Armenia also entered for the first time in the contest. The venue that was chosen as the host venue, was the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, the official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the countrys flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo created by the design company Karamela for Greek television was based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight, following Istanbuls Under The Same Sky and Kievs Awakening, the slogan for the 2006 show was Feel The Rhythm. This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, to save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed, points 1-7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8,10 and 12 points, constantinos Christoforou saluted from Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe, during Cyprus reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten, and for the first time, the display for the Macedonian entry had the title spelled out in its entirety instead of being abbreviated as it has been in previous years. Participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be members of the EBU. The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21,00,23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia & Montenegro voted. Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final Notes 1. ^ The song also contained phrases in Spanish,2. ^ The song also contained phrases in French. The finalists were, the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, the top 10 countries from the 2005 final, the final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21,00 and was won by Finland
32.
Yohan: The Child Wanderer
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Yohan, The Child Wanderer is a 2010 family film directed by Grete Salomonsen. The film is based on stories about child wanderers in Norway. The film was simultaneously in two languages, English and Norwegian. It was scheduled to be distributed to 30 countries and it premiered in Norway on March 26,2010. As of August 2011, it still has not been released in the United States, Yohan is the most expensive childrens film ever made in Norway. The film features 100 specific roles,400 to 500 extras, Yohan was filmed in Norway and also California, US in order to shoot scenes with wolves. These scenes were directed by Hollywood animal trainer Steve Martin, penelopefilm in Kristiansand, Norway started to work on the film in 1990, researching historical facts regarding the child wanderings. In 1991, the company interviewed two remaining child wanderers, living in the United States and they were then 99 and 100 years old. The films theme song is performed by Carola Häggkvist, official site Yohan, The Child Wanderer at the Internet Movie Database
33.
Elisabeth Andreassen
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Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen, also known as just Bettan, is a Swedish-Norwegian singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and TV host Lasse Holm and she was produced by Bert Karlssons label Mariann Grammofon AB. In 1980, she joined Lasses group Chips, Chips participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with the song Dag efter dag, and reached 8th place. Andreassen is active in musical genres such as country, schlager. She is mostly famous from Eurovision Song Contest 1985 when she and Hanne Krogh participated as Bobbysocks with the song La det swinge, Andreassen has sung in various genres such as country, pop, rock and in musicals. She plays three instruments, guitar, piano and contrabass and she has also been a revue and musical artist. Bettan has a record as the woman with the most participations in the Eurovision Song Contest, tied with Lys Assia and Sue of Peter and she has participated four times, three times in duets and once on her own. Born on 28 March 1958 in Gothenburg, Sweden, to Norwegian parents and she lives in Ullern, Oslo in Norway with her two daughters, born in 1995 and 1997 respectively. Elisabeth and married Tor Andreassen on 2 July 1994 and before that Elisabeth was known as Elisabeth Andreasson, on 13 June 2016 Tor Andreassen died of a heart attack. Chips - God morgon, 2nd place 1982, Chips - Dag efter dag, 1st place 1984. Elisabeth Andreassen - Kärleksmagi, 6th place 1990, Elisabeth Andreassen - Jag ser en stjärna falla, 7th place 2000. Kikki, Bettan & Lotta - Vem é dé du vill ha, Elisabeth Andreassen - Vaken i en dröm 1985. Bobbysocks - La det swinge, 1st place 1992, Bettan & Jan Werner - Duett, 1st place 1996. Elisabeth Andreassen - I evighet, 1st place 1998, Elisabeth Andreassen - Winds of the Northern Sea, 2nd place 2003. Kikki, Bettan & Lotta - Din hånd i min hånd, Elisabeth Andreassen & Tor Endresen - All over the world, 4th place 1982. Chips - Dag efter dag, 8th place, Sweden 1985, Bobbysocks - La det swinge, 1st place, Norway 1994. Elisabeth Andreassen & Jan Werner Danielsen - Duett, 6th place, Norway 1996
34.
Black Lightning (2009 film)
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Black Lightning is a 2009 Russian action superhero film directed by Alexandr Voitinsky and Dmitry Kiseliov, and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Dmitry Dima Maykov is a student at Moscow State University. For his birthday, his father, gives him a black 66 Volga, in the glove compartment, Dima finds an old photo of three scientists and an old audio record, but he gives them no mind. Dima is in love with his classmate Nastya Svetlova, Dima believes that the only way to her heart lies through money and status, which in turn are only attainable through ambitiousness and egoism. This belief is strengthened when Dima sees the success of Nastyas friend, Max, Dima begins working as a flower delivery boy. During one of the runs, he gets into trouble with Kuptsovs men, losing control of the flying car, Dima crash lands into an abandoned building. Dima, pretending to be a reporter, asks them about the car. Romantsova gives Dima the cars manual, which the third scientist, Mikhail Yelizarov, at first, Dima enjoys the flights and makes decent money delivering flowers while avoiding the infamous Moscow traffic jams. But his egotism leads Dima to leave a man on the street instead of helping him. The death of his father changes Dimas outlook on life and he decides to use his car to help people in need. He rapidly gains many fans among the city dwellers, and newspapers grant him the nickname Black Lightning, meanwhile, Kuptsov starts a hunt for the nano-catalyzer, which can produce fuel needed to power his tectonic drill concealed within one of the Moscow City skyscrapers. The drill will allow Kuptsov to reach a layer of diamonds located beneath the tectonic plate, but will likely destroy the city in the process. Kuptsov finds the scientists who worked on the flying Volga and forces them to build the kind of flight system for his Mercedes, as well as outfit it with weaponry. Kuptsov lures Dima out by letting Perepelkin, one of the scientists, a call from his girlfriend, Nastya, that says that she really loves him, brings the hero back to his senses. Dima remembers the emergency backup tank with 30 minutes worth of nanofuel, bursts out from under the ice and he then flies to pick up Nastya, but Kuptsov beats him to her, taking her as a hostage and offering to trade her for the nano-catalyzer. Dima and Kuptsov confront each other over the Red Square, Dima flashes his headlights and honks the horn in a special signal that Nastya knows about. Nastya jumps out of Kuptsovs car and Dima grabs her in midair, the final battle between the flying cars in the sky above Moscow ends with Dima luring Kuptsovs car to the outer reaches of the atmosphere, where the Mercedes runs out of nanofuel. Kuptsov floats in the Earths orbit, left for dead, Dima and Nastya meet on the ground and celebrate the New Year together
35.
Timur Bekmambetov
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Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov is a Kazakh director, producer and screenwriter who has worked on films, music videos and commercials. He is best known for the film Night Watch and its sequel Day Watch, Bekmambetov was born on 25 June 1961, in the city of Atyrau. It was during this period that Bekmambetov served in the Soviet Army, between 1992 to 1997, Bekmambetov was one of the directors of Bank Imperials award-winning popular World History commercials. In 1994, he founded Bazelevs Group, an advertising and films production, distribution, bekmambetovs first feature, Peshavar Waltz, was a violent and realistic look at the war between the USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Afghanistan. The film was dubbed in English as Escape from Afghanistan and released direct-to-video by Roger Corman in 2002, Bekmambetov next produced and directed an eight-parts miniseries for television entitled Our 90s. Bekmambetov then returned to directing features, with Roger Corman produced The Arena, the film was a remake of The Arena as the same name. In 2001, Bekmambetov directed and co-produced the film GAZ-Russian Cars, in 2004, Bekmambetov wrote and directed Night Watch, a popular Russian fantasy film based on the book by Sergey Lukyanenko. The sequel to Night Watch, Day Watch, was likewise written, the two films attracted the attention of Fox Searchlight Pictures, which paid $4 million to acquired worldwide distribution rights. Bekmambetov followed up Day Watch with The Irony of Fate 2 and this sequel to the famous Soviets film The Irony of Fate is the one of the most successful in Russian history, second to Avatar in total box office receipts. Bekmambetov has also produced a number of films in the U. S.9, the story of a rag doll in a post-apocalyptic world, was directed by Shane Acker and produced by Bekmambetov, Tim Burton and Jim Lemley. Bekmambetov also produced the action movie Black Lightning, the first Russian-language superhero film, in 2010, Bekmambetov produced and was one of the directors of Yolki a. k. a. The Six Degrees to Celebration which became the second highest-grossing Russian movie in Russian box office history, in February 2011 Bazelevs released the Bekmambetov-produced Vykrutasy. In 2012, Bekmambetov directed and produced the live action adaption of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, also produced by Tim Burton and he was awarded the International Filmmaker of the Year award in 2012 by the National Association of Theatre Owners. In 2013, Variety named Bekmambetov one of the most commercially successful Russian directors of the decade and he was placed on top of the list with Feiodor Bondarchuk, Sarik Andreasyan, Pyotr Buslov and Marius Weisberg. International Astana Action Film Festival Yulia Chicherina – Tu-lu-la Yulia Chicherina – Zhara Linkin Park – Powerless Portrait of Timur Bekmambetov Timur Bekmambetov at the Internet Movie Database
36.
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Finland participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 held in Bærum, Oslo, Norway. Yle hold a final, Euroviisut 2010, to select the 2010 Finnish entry. The 2010 edition of Euroviisut took place in January 2010, featuring three semi-finals before the final, held on 30 January, some changes were made to the format of the contest used in the 2009 contest. An internal jury selected the best songs from the public submissions, public SMS voting was also be used for two weeks in October, and afterwards the top three songs were selected to compete in the live semi-finals. Five songs took part in the three semi-finals, beginning on 8 January 2010 at the Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre in Tampere. Three songs from each semi-final qualified via a vote to the final on 30 January 2010. Only 2 demos could be sent for each artist or songwriter, and the artist performing in the demos must perform during the semi-finals and the final. There were no restrictions as to the language of the songs, however at least one songwriter, the final list of the 12 invited artists was revealed on 30 September 2009 by Yle. Three more songs were selected in October through a public SMS vote, Yle announced that the winner of the popular tango song and dance festival Tangomarkkinat would gain a place at Euroviisut 2010. The winner of the contest was Amadeus Lundberg, who received the invitation to perform in January, on 30 September Yle released the names of the 12 invited artists for the 2010 Euroviisut contest. They include Lundberg, tipped as one of the favourites to win the contest in January, the 12 competing artists will be joined by three more artists chosen 30 selected entries from an open call of songs by Yle. These 30 entries were chosen from 267 submitted to Yle for the contest, on 30 November the twelve songs chosen for the invited artists to perform in the contest were revealed by Yle. On 17 October the three qualifying artists were revealed by Yle - they were Bääbs, Linn Nygård and Sister Twister, Linn Nygård and Sister Twister both represented Finland at the junior MGP Nordic contest in 2007. On that day also the twelve invited artists were divided into their respective semi-finals, each semi-final contained five acts - four invited artists, and one online qualifier. Each semi-final, held on consecutive Fridays in January 2009, was held at the Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre in Tampere. Three songs from each semi-final qualified via a vote to the final on 30 January 2010. On 17 October the three qualifying artists were revealed by Yle - they were Bääbs, Linn Nygård and Sister Twister, Linn Nygård and Sister Twister both represented Finland at the junior MGP Nordic contest in 2007. On that day also the twelve invited artists were divided into their respective semi-finals, on 22 October Yle revealed the final line-up for the semi-finals, including the three online qualifiers
37.
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th annual Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast from the Telenor Arena in Bærum, Greater Oslo, Norway. Norway gained the rights to host the contest after achieving a record breaking victory in Moscow the previous year and it was the third time Norway had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986 and 1996. The 2010 winner was Germany with Lena singing Satellite, written by American Julie Frost and it was Germanys first win in twenty-eight years, its second since the Contests inception, and its first win as a unified country. It was also the first time a Big Four country won the contest since the introduction in 2000. The semi-finals took place on 25 and 27 May 2010 while the final was scheduled for 29 May 2010, the European Broadcasting Union announced that the voting system used in the semi-finals would change from previous years to balance jury voting with televoting. A return of accompaniment by orchestra was also proposed, but did not happen, thirty-nine countries took part in the contest, with Georgia returning after a one-year hiatus, and Andorra, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Montenegro withdrawing. Lithuania originally announced its withdrawal from the competition, but was later among the 39 participants confirmed by the EBU and this represents a larger budget than that allotted in the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, but is not as much as the budget in Moscow for 2009. The revised estimated cost for the now stands at 211 million kroner. At a press conference in Oslo on 27 May 2009, it was announced that the show was to be held in the Oslo metropolitan area, NRK argued that Oslo was the only city with the required capacity, venues, and infrastructure to hold the show. On 3 July 2009, it was decided that the venue would be the newly constructed Telenor Arena, the Oslo Spektrum was ruled out to host the contest due to its smaller size and capacity as was Valhall in Oslo and the Hamar Vikingskipet. The theme art, a series of intersecting circles, was selected to represent gathering people, in addition to the base colour of white, the logo was created in black, gold, and pink. A preview of the design was released on 6 May 2010, featuring no LED screens. The basic synopsis of the postcards is a group of little golden balls forms the shape of each country. Then, they move and form a screen where we can see a video of a little crowd from in a city of the country about to perform supporting and cheering their act. After that, a few seconds of the performer of the country getting ready in the stage are shown, and then, NRK announced the hosts of the contest on 10 March 2010. Those chosen were Erik Solbakken, Haddy Jatou Njie, and Nadia Hasnaoui, Solbakken and Njie opened the three shows, introduced the artists, and reported from the green room during the voting, with Hasnaoui presenting the voting section and scoreboard announcements. This was the time that more than two hosts were presenting the shows, after the 1999 Contest. This replaces the semi-final format used in the 2008 and 2009 contests in which the countries with the top nine highest points from the results in each semi-final qualified for the final
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Dima Bilan
Lena
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest