Kazakh with piercing falsetto an instant hit in China
CULTURE
By Cao Xiating

2017-02-12 21:31 GMT+8

A 22-year-old Kazakh singer with shattering vocals was recently catapulted to stardom in China after his stunning performance at a popular Chinese singing show.
Dimash Kudaibergenov is the youngest and only foreign contestant taking part in Hunan TV’s “Singer 5” singing competition. He hogged the spotlight with his rendition of French classic “SOS d'un terrien en détresse” on the show’s first episode, striking a chord with the audience with his angelic voice, and winning the first victory in a fierce rivalry with established and top-selling Chinese singers, the likes of Sandy Lam, Michael Wong and Jam Hsiao.
CFP Photo
The crooner, who won the 2015 International Slavic Bazaar Music Festival, delivered another successful operatic hit, which showed his great lung capacity and ease in reaching high notes – very high notes!
CFP Photo
On Saturday he performed his first ever Chinese song “Feeling the autumn,” originally by famous Chinese singer Jacky Cheung.
CFP Photo
The singer has become an overnight star on China’s social media. Within three weeks, Dimash garnered a sizable fan base of 1.78 million on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
Sina Weibo Photo
Dimash’s explosive popularity in China also put him under the limelight on the international platform. He attracted widespread press coverage at home, and Western entertainment programs.
The singer has received an invitation from The Voice, the American TV show, and is expected to represent Kazakhstan at Eurovision 2017, according to Aiman Mussakhodzhayeva, rector of the Kazakh National Arts University, where Dimash is now studying.
The high-pitched and haunting voice of the rising star brought to memory an old foreign star who made it big in China.‍
Vitas, a Russian singer, performed in CCTV’s "The Year of Russia in China" event in 2006. His falsetto vocals turned heads in China and landed him another number at a welcoming ceremony before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, countless fans and a successful tour across the country.

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