He became the first Belarusian act to qualify for the Eurovision final. His 6th place is to day still the country’s best ever result. Many fans still love and remember Dmitry Koldun’s ‘Work Your Magic’.
A national selection, Eurofest 2007, was held in order to select the Eurovision representative from Belarus. After winning the public vote in the first round, Dmitry Koldun qualified for a second round of voting that took place behind closed doors. Here he was up against two personal favourites from the jury members. We don’t know what went on behind those doors, but eventually Koldun was announced as the winner.
Work Your Magic is written by the Russian/Greek ‘dream team’ Philip Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos. Karen Kavaleryan provided the lyrics.
At the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, the song finished 6th after a 4th place in it’s semi-final. The 6th place, which is still Belarus’ best ever Eurovision result, came to be after the maximum 12 points from a total of five countries: Armenia, Israel, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.
Work Your Magic – opinions from fans
In order to find out what Eurovision fans today think of this Belarusian entry from 2007, we asked our Eurovision Fan Panel. It includes team members as well as fans from all over the world.
🇦🇺 Vivienne F. – When I first heard it, I loved how it sounded like a James Bond type theme song. Then Dmitry singing sultrily with his addictive Belarusian accent drew me in. The chorus is easy to sing along to and I love the step ball change type of choreography during the chorus that we could try to do at home. Even though it was about magic etc, he was a Belarusian James Bond for me. It was a favourite of mine to win along with Bulgaria and Ukraine.
🇬🇧 Michael O. – This was a step forward for Belarus reflected in its finishing position. A respectable entry and the beginning of the wall on stage, so much loved by Kirkorov, which he used again in 2016 with Sergey and 2018 for DoReDos. A more than decent effort.
🇩🇰 Charlotte J. – Listening to this again, I realise that my taste has slightly changed over the years. I remember this as one of my personal favourites in 2007 (Iceland first, and Belarus was either second or third). I also remember that I found his accent charming. Today, it’s less charming, and it actually slightly annoys me. I am embarrassed to say so, as I am not a native English speaker either. I still like the song, just not as much as I remember that I use to. It’s interesting how I never before drew the comparison between this choreography and what we saw from Russia’s Sergey Lazarev in 2016. But now, I can easily tell that this appear almost like a rehearsal for what would come 9 years later.
🇲🇹 Christopher D. – Musically this song is OK. But I did not agree with the hype around Belarus’s act that year. Vocally Koldun was really bad and his pronunciation of the English language was terrible. I totally did not agree with a top ten position in the final. Belarus has sent much more deserving and amazing artists, and for me Koldun is not one of them.
🇵🇹 Enio P. – This one is my favourite entry ever from Belarus! Yes, his English is below average (to say the least!) but the “Ricky Martin from the east” look, the strong voice, the active dancers on stage and the fireworks (of course!) brought this entry all that characterises Eurovision! I stood with the words “work your magic” buzzing in my head for weeks!
🇨🇴 🇫🇮 Alvaro S. – This is so cheesy but that is the charm of it. If I did not know that the Russian character from the Netflix Fire Saga film was based on Filipp Kirkorov I would have guessed this was one of the main inspirations behind that character. It is curious how the Eastern European countries have unintentionally (?) given us so many camp moments we love to watch.
🇺🇸 Grace W. – Work Your Magic is an okay song, kind of repetitive, but it screams early to mid Eurovision. Dmitry’s voice is a bit too nasally and the way he stares at the camera is weird. A 5/10 for the Princess Diana lookalike and his mediocre song.
🇮🇪 John D. – This was to date the highest placing for Belarus but not their best entry in my opinion. It was recognisably a Phillip Kirkorov production sung by a confident singer who unfortunately went off key in places. I could never take this performance seriously as it reminds me of an Australian or an American comedian sending up the Eurovision. It wouldn’t look out of place in the Fire Saga film. It may have been better not sung in English.
🇬🇧 Ashleigh K. – The best thing about this song is the staging. I had actually forgotten about the backing dancers climbing the wall and this must have been where Sergey Lazarev’s team got their inspiration from. Dmitry seems sweet, he is a smiley guy and I think the viewers would have responded well to this but I don’t like the way his vocals sound in the live performance. It sounds much better in the studio version.
🇨🇿 Josef Š. – As I started watching Eurovision in 2007 I have good memories for that year. Dmitry Koldun was one of my favourites. That song by the famous Dream team with Philipp Kirkorov is just as good as it looks like. The melody is memorable with not so difficult lyrics. Dmitry is quite handsome too, so a perfect combination. Very well deserved final result. I wish Belarus would send more songs like this even nowadays.
Enjoy Dmitry Koldun’s performance from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in the embedded video. Below the video, you can read more about him.
Dmitry Koldun – a mimi biography
Before music started to attract more, Dmitry started his studies at medical school. Later, he swapped over to study chemistry. Maybe connected or not, but Koldun has been quoted for saying that he believe his childhood issues with his hair is due to the Chernobyl disaster that took place in Ukraine when he was six months old.
His 2007 Eurovision participation kicked off his career. The entry Work Your Magic reached the charts in Russia, Latvia, Spain and Sweden, and landed him a record deal, although he had to change producer several times before it was finally released in 2009.
Koldun also starred in the Russian musical ‘The Star and the Death of Joaquín Murety’.
British commentator, late Sir Terry Wogan, described Dmitry Koldun as a male version of late Princess Diana. By a coincidence, Koldun’s mother actually started a Belarusian Princess Diana fan club.
