Ani Lorak

Ani Lorak 2009

Ani Lorak (Ukrainian Ані Лорак ; born September 27, 1978 in Kizman , Ukrainian SSR ; actually Karolina Myroslawiwna Kujek / Кароліна Мирославівна Куєк ) is a Ukrainian singer. She represented her home country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade and achieved second place behind Dima Bilan .

biography

Ani Lorak was born in 1978 as Karolina Myroslawiwna Kujek in the city of Kizman in Chernivtsi Oblast . Her father worked as a journalist for the local Kizmaner Zeitung and had trained as a choir conductor and studied philology at the University of Chernivtsi. Lorak's mother had attended the School of Culture and worked as a radio announcer. Her parents divorced when Lorak was a child. She grew up with three older brothers. The oldest died in Afghanistan in 1987.

Lorak already knew at the age of 4 that she wanted to become a singer. As a child, she took part in many school competitions. In 1992 she took part in the popular Perwozwit ( Eng . ' Cowslip ') festival in Chernivtsi and won the competition. It was there that she met the producer Jurij Faljossa ( Юрій Фальоса ) and signed her first contract, at that time still under the name Karolina.

The singer became known under the stage name Ani Lorak in March 1995. At that time she took part in a competition of the Russian television "Утренняя звезда-95" (Eng. 'Morgenstern'). In Moscow there was already a singer who called herself Karolina. The stage name Ani Lorak was created as a backward reading of her first name ( Ananym ).

In 2008 Lorak celebrated her fifteenth anniversary on stage. She is one of the most popular singers in Ukraine and has won several awards in her career so far. Also in 2008 she was selected by Ukrainian television as the official candidate for the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Belgrade . Her title Shady Lady was chosen by the Ukrainian television audience from among four other songs and took second place in the ESC final behind Russian Dima Bilan . For Lorak it was the first participation in the ESC. In 2004 she had to admit defeat to the eventual winner Ruslana in an internal elimination . In 2005 the group Greenjolly was preferred to her, which ended up in 20th place at the ESC in Kiev .

On November 26, 2014, a concert by Ani Lorak in the Ukrajina Palace in Kiev was prevented by brutal thugs. The audience and musicians were expelled. Shots could be heard.

In addition to her successful singing career, she also worked as an actress and is committed to helping people with AIDS, especially HIV-positive children.

With the support of Ani Lorak, two children's books were published, "Як стати зіркою" (Eng. 'How do I become a star') and "Як стати принцесою" (Eng. 'How do I become a princess').

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. Portrait at eurovision.de (accessed on May 24, 2008)
2. ↑ Article in fakty.ictv.ua from November 26, 2014; accessed on March 16, 2018 (Ukrainian)
3. ↑ Video of the attack in Kiev on November 26, 2014 at youtube.com

Web links

Commons : Ani Lorak  - Collection of Images

• Official website (English)
• Profile of Ani Lorak on the website of the Eurovision Song Contest (English)
• Ani Lorak in the Internet Movie Database (English)