Dimash Kudaibergen is a young singer from Kazakhstan, known for his unique voice with a six-octave range. Social media like to accompany his name with the epithet «Kazakh Vitas», but Dimash himself does not like such comparisons and to put an end to them he even sang the famous Opera No. 2 two tones higher at the Chinese music show The Singer.
In the photo: Dimash Kudaibergen
In one song of the young man, one can hear unexpected transitions from baritone to tenor and even to female soprano, and the genre of music he performs is characterized by the artist himself to be neoclassic. At the same time, Dimash does not set himself the aim of becoming famous only as a vocalist. His great mission is to unite different peoples with the help of music and destroy the centuries-old cultural borders between East and West.
Chilldhood and family
Dimash is the eldest son of Kanat Aitbaev and Svetlana Aitbaeva. He has a sister Raushan (born 2001) and brother Mansur (born 2007). His parents met and married as students of the Aktobe Pedagogical Institute. A year later, the first-born Dimash was born to the young spouses, and at first, they entrusted his upbringing to their parents.
Dimash Kudaibergenov in childhood
His grandmother, Miua Nizamutdinova taught biology and geography at school, sang beautifully, and knew many old Kazakh tales and epics. His grandfather, Kudaibergen Aitbaev accompanied her by playing the dombra and taught all his grandchildren to play this ancient instrument.
Meanwhile, Kanat, a talented singer, poet, and improviser, created with his wife Svetlana, a professional vocalist, a family duo that quickly gained wide popularity in Kazakhstan. Artists performed at all concerts in the republic, toured a lot throughout the country, and sometimes took little Dimash with them on trips.
Dimash Kudaibergen at school
At the age of two, he first appeared on the stage of the local theater, and at the age of five, he began to attend the children’s studio at Aktobe’s Music College. It became clear very quickly that the boy had a perfect ear for music and excellent vocal abilities: he easily mastered playing the piano, guitar, and other musical instruments, and even the solfeggio lessons did not seem boring and uninteresting to him. And even in very early childhood, he often drew himself on stage surrounded by musical instruments, thereby unintentionally materializing on paper his dream of becoming a famous artist.
Dimash’s mother recalled, «Many people say that everything is thanks to the genes, but Dimash himself is very diligent. He began to sing at the age of 5, learned to play the piano and dreamed of becoming a popular celebrity in the world. And we laughed. «
Dimash Kudaibergen’s parents
As a teenager, Dimash got keen on taekwondo classes, to which he devoted four years. During this time, he achieved great success in eastern martial arts and became the owner of the red belt, but when he had to choose between music and sports, he still preferred the former. In addition, he began to experience health problems, and in order not to give up the sport completely, the guy took up swimming. Even now he enjoys visiting the pool at every convenient opportunity, believing that a professional vocalist must be a sporty and physically tough person.
Dimash Kudaibergen in his youth
After finishing seven grades, Dimash enrolled in the Music College, the department of pop and jazz singing, where Marat Aitimov, the famous Kazakh singer, became his teacher. He not only correctly developed his student’s unique voice, expanding the range from three to five and even six octaves, but also inculcated in him a love for art and national cultural traditions. During his studies, Dimash repeatedly took part in republican competitions of young performers, and in 2012 he won the Grand Prix ″Zhas Kanat″, the country’s most prestigious youth competition.
Dimash Kudaibergen with a cup
It is interesting that one of the jury members was the famous Kazakh composer Kenes Dyusikeyev, who noticed the young talent against the rest of the contestants. He met the young man and said that he would be glad to see him on his course at the State University of the Arts.
Dimash Kudaibergen at the piano
Unlike many peers agonizingly choosing a future profession, Dimash confidently moved to the set goal and after graduating from school he became a student in the composition department at the KazNUA (National University of Arts). At the same time, he did not stop singing and continued to take vocal lessons from Marat Aitimov, who was once his mother’s voice coach.
Dimash Kudaibergen with grandparents
It is worth noting that the rector of the university, Askhat Mayemirov, turned out to be an old student friend of Dimash’s parents, who by that time had occupied high positions at the Aktobe Philharmonic Society and were extremely proud of the outstanding musical abilities of their eldest son. And in order not to let Svetlana and Kanat worry about Dimash, the same invaluable and irreplaceable grandmother Miua and grandfather Kudaibergen moved to Astana during his studies.
Rapid way to success
In 2015, Dimash became the winner of the Slavic Bazaar contest and received the Grand Prix from the hands of Polad Bulbuloglu himself, Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan. The legendary singer appreciated the talent of the young vocalist and predicted fast international fame.
Dimash Kudaibergen at the contest Slavic Bazaar 2015
And so it happened. In a year, Dimash took part in the fifth season of the song contest The Singer in China and after his first performance woke up as a world celebrity.
The decision to become a participant in this contest was not accidental since nowhere else one can find a potential audience of 2 billion people. Having learned about the contest from the Internet, the family helped Dimash to apply, and over the following year he tirelessly went through one casting after another.
Dimash Kudaibergen on stage
Dimash had practically no doubts about his victory. By that time he had toured all over Kazakhstan with concerts, performed with the National Choir and the Astana Opera Theater Symphony Orchestra, and on stage, he felt quite at home. He was not even embarrassed by the fact that he was the youngest participant in the contest, and his rivals were the best vocalists in Asia. In addition, the young man made the most favorable impression on the director of Hunan TV, Mr. Hong Tao, who personally took part in the selection of contestants.
Dimash Kudaibergen’s performance
To win, it was necessary to go through twelve stages and the final, and all performances must have been different in musical genres and scenarios. A prerequisite was singing live and the absence of any phonogram. The first stream of the contest took place on January 21, and in two days it was watched by 600 million viewers. With each selection stage, the singer’s popularity grew rapidly and soon it spread all over Asia, even though Dimash did not become a winner and let the singer from Hong Kong the first place.
At one of the performances, Dimash performed Opera No. 2, Vitas song. But we must say that Vitas is almost an object of worship in China. Dimash managed to sing his Russian colleague’s song 2 tones higher. Hearing the familiar high notes, the hall experienced a burst of delight.
The Singer: Dimash Kudaibergen ¬- Opera No. 2
In China, the young Kazakh artist became a true superhero, his fan clubs opened all over the country, fans watched in the street day and night, and to go out of the house, the guy had to seek the help of security services. The most striking indicator of nation-wide love was a visit invitation by the legendary Jackie Chan, the childhood idol of him and all members of his family.
Dimash Kudaibergen and Jackie Chan
The singer had no time left to prepare a worthy present for the star, but here the residents of the small Chinese town of Urumqi, mostly ethnic Kazakhs, came to rescue. Dimash’s parents asked them to bring a velvet chain embroidered with traditional patterns and a dombra, which the young man handed to the legendary actor. Jackie Chan was very happy with such an unusual gift, and upon finding out that the guy had been practicing eastern martial arts for several years, he gave him a kimono and a belt.
By the way, participation in the contest brought the young man not only world fame but also a lawsuit from Sergey Pudovkin, the producer of the singer Vitas. He accused the Kazakh artist of using Opera No. 2 in his performance illegally and judicially forbade him to perform any composition from Vitas's repertoire.
Singer Dimash Kudaibergen
The scandal in no way affected Dimash’s popularity. The number of his world fan club is about ten million people, and fans of the singer can be found in 140 countries of the world, even in those where he has never been. For example, the artist was very surprised to find his fans in faraway Iceland, where he went to shoot a video for the song Know.
Dimash Kudaibergen personal life
Tall and well-proportioned Dimash used to be popular among girls, but now the interest of female representatives in him has reached a truly global scale. Nevertheless, the singer is not in a hurry to publicly display his personal life, preferring to adroitly avoid such topics in an interview.
Nursaule Aubakirova and Dimash Kudaibergen
Having thoroughly studied the artist’s pages on social media sites, Chinese journalists came to the conclusion that Dimash’s girlfriend is Nursaule Aubakirova, a student of the directing department at the KazNUA. She is three years younger than Dimash. True, the fact of their relationship is confirmed by a single photo, and even not the latest one.
The singer values his family very much and, at any opportunity, tries to gather all his relatives under one roof. In his recent interview on Kazakh television, Dimash shared with the viewers with his notion of his future wife. She should be a beautiful, calm, wise, and well-mannered girl who will live with his family, raise children, and patiently wait for the arrival of her husband from a tour.
Dimash Kudaibergen
For me, the most important things are good manners, intelligence, gentle disposition, tenderness. Of course, appearance is also very important. If I say the opposite now, it will not be true.
Dimash Kudaibergen now
In early 2019, Dimash left for the United States to participate in the musical talent competition show The World’s Best. And although the jury members, among whom the Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore was, appreciated the performance of the Kazakh singer, he again did not become a winner and decided not to take part in such competitions anymore.
In the summer of 2019, the singer’s first studio album ″ID″ was released, which became platinum in China in a record 37 seconds, and in an hour it was certified three times platinum.
Dimash also released a new concert program ARNAU, which included songs by American, Chinese, and Korean authors.
The Astana Opera Theater orchestra continues to tour with Dimash, and the functions of the producer are performed by his own father, who resigned from a high position in the Aktobe Department of Culture to help his son. The singer spends most of his time in China, where he signed a contract with the Black Gold Talent label. The Kazakh artist also collaborates with the American company BMG, which works with such stars as Madonna, Rihanna and Beyonce.
In 2019, the singer received a master’s degree and was preparing to work on his doctoral thesis. He considers a good musical education a must for a professional artist and in the future he is not going to confine himself only to a singing career. He plans to begin writing complex musical forms (sonatas, sonatinas, arias, etc.), and after completing concert and touring activities, start teaching and establish his own music academy.
In 2020, Dimash continued to surprise fans with new works. Among them - the video "Across Endless Dimensions", which scored about 2 million views on YouTube, as well as the music video "Qairan Elim", which caused no less delight from fans.
Dimash Kudaibergen - Qairan Elim
The singer has performed live both in front of an audience and online and has received several international awards. Among them are the JSTYLE 2019 Awards and The 10th DoNews RenRen Awards Ceremony in China and the People's Favorite 2019 Award at home, in Kazakhstan.
