At the request of Eurovision: Rest of the World, the Pretoria-based singer Henry van Dyk recently recorded a duet with Russian singer Dina Garipova, a finalist in the 2013 Eurovision song contest. The duet, In a moment like this, which was composed by Swedish composers Thomas G: son, Henrik Sethson and Erik Bernholm, was Denmark’s entry for the 2010 Eurovision song contest where they scored fourth place.
Henry wrote Afrikaans lyrics for certain parts of the song, while Alena Björklund wrote Russian lyrics for other parts of the song. The chorus remains in English. According to the president of Eurovision: Rest of the World, Mr Roy van der Merwe, it is the first time that a song has been released in Afrikaans, Russian and English. It is also the first time that a South African singer recorded a duet with a Eurovision singer.
Van Dyk, who was nominated in 2013 for a Ghoema music award for his album Laat die Liefde Leef, said it had been a tremendous privilege for him as a South African singer to record this duet with one of Russia’s most famous pop stars. Besides the fact that Garipova represented Russia in the 2013 finals of the Eurovision song contest, she was also the overall winner in 2012 of the biggest song contest in Russia called The Voice.
This project is even more special given that the Eurovision 2014 finals were held in Copenhagen, Denmark this year. The duet was officially released at the beginning of May in Copenhagen at the finals.
The cover version of the song will soon be available on iTunes under the title In a moment like this (multilingual version in Afrikaans, Russian and English). For information about this exciting project, you can visit Van Dyk’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/henryvandykmusic or contact Lizette van der Walt on 083-272-5245.