Dimash Kudaibergen 2017 Bastau - 'Wings'

After 'The Singer'

"With Wings to Fly" 

Needless to say, Dimash returned home to Kazakhstan at the end of April to a rapturous welcome. A concert was held in his honour in Astana where many of his fans welcomed him and many of the important people in his life (parents, honoured guests, mentors and friends) took part. No one will forget him singing with his parents (Kanat & Sveta) the song 'Asyl Anashym' (Dearest Mother) and him walking to the edge of the stage to kneel and pay honour to his 'Mama & Papa'.

He returned to China for his 23rd birthday in May to a huge party that was organised for him with lots of fun, games, gifts and messages. His supporters from around the world sent all sorts of creative gifts and messages to him and they were thrilled when he, in turn, had clearly spent a lot of time learning, writing and then reading in Chinese (!) a message expressing his love and gratitude to them.

He was invited to appear on French TV after his performance of 'SOS' (a favourite song for French people) and they were clearly enchanted with the young man from Kazakhstan who had sung a French song on a Chinese programme!

However, it was at the end of June that Dimash finally fulfilled a lifelong dream as part of the opening of Expo 2017 when he held his first international concert that he called 'Bastau' (Beginning). The arena held 30,000 people, of which some 12,000 travelled from around the world to be at this extravagent event. He was on stage for over two hours singing over 20 songs, some from the Singer, some new and of course his beloved Kazakhstan was hugely featured; with 100 dombra players helping Dimash introduce 'Daididau' being just one of them!

Before the concert Dimash released a video with a new song called 'Salem' (Hello) and asked his fans to record themselves singing 'Salem' in their respective towns and cities. A composite of all these videos formed the background to this song at the concert, which he sang to say thank you to the 'Dears' for their love and support!

He featured several guests and sang duets with Kristina Orbakaite (Russia) and Maira Mukhamedkyzy (Kazakhstan). Loreen (Sweden), Sophie Ellis-Bexter (UK) and Terry Lin (Taiwan) also performed – the latter, being hugely welcomed because of his relationship with Dimash from the 'Singer'.

It was with his parents and his two beloved mentors, Maira and Marat, that Dimash, unsurprisingly, chose to close the show singing 'Astana Val'sy' (Astana Waltz).

Although he has reached the top of the Chinese charts with several singles, Dimash has yet to produce an album so he spent his summer writing and recording one.

Dimash also takes the responsibility of 'role model' seriously and finds time to encourage young artists in both China and Kazakhstan eg dueting with the rap artist Victor M'a, re-recording 'SOS' for Kazakh skater Denis Ten plus others. This is alongside his continuing commitments in China – personal appearances; singing at numerous events; photo shoots for top designers; interviews and attending ceremonies to collect an increasing number of awards. He was invited as a special guest to return and sing at the 'Slavianski Bazaar' in Russia. On top of this, he has represented his country in Cannes, Paris and Los Angeles, sang at home concerts and charitable events and even visited his old schools. It is also understood that he went back to University although no one is sure how he would have had time!

In November Dimash returned to China to start preparing for his first concert in Changsha (the home of the 'Singer') to mark the beginning of his 'D-Dynasty World Tour'. He also continued his on-going commitments and reached No 1 in the Chinese charts on two occasions (both in a matter of hours of release) before performing at his sell-out concert on the 16th December – Kazakhstan Independence Day.

The Chinese 'Dears' ensured that everyone had a 'goodie' bag to take into the concert with them and had a tree and posters for messages to Dimash. The International groups prepared gifts, letters and books to encourage Dimash on what is seen as the next stage in his career – going worldwide! Dimash, of course, worked even harder (especially his language and dancing skills) to ensure that his fans were not disappointed. His 'Dears' flew from around the world to attend and his family and friends came from Kazakhstan to support him.

The 'D-Dynasty' tour, produced by Tan Yizhe, is a truly international team with professionals from China, Taiwan, USA, Japan, Canada and other nations. There were five new songs in a set lasting some 2.5 hours that also featured Dimash playing dombra, drums and piano and a 'Kazakh vs Chinese musical battle'!

The show was a spectacle of lights, costumes, scenery, music and singing. It finished with a huge party-type atmosphere with singing, dancing and joy on everyone's faces. The audience, so mesmerised and enthralled by it all, had to be asked to leave by the arena security long after the concert had ended as they just didn't want to go home! Dimash's fears of not pleasing his audience are seemingly unfounded!

 In December 2017, Dimash performed at more events in China including a New Year's Eve broadcast for Hunan TV, one of the most popular televised shows of the year (well over 100 million viewers) with fellow contestants from the 'Singer'. He performed a dramatic and emotional version of 'SOS'.