The karaoke world’s newest star is about to find out if Russian dumplings are good for the throat after he won a million of them at the Karaoke World Championships in Moscow.
Edward Pimentel, a telephone company technician from Albuquerque, New Mexico, got the unusual prize after the audience at the competition voted him their favourite for his dapper and assured R&B performances. He chose Usher’s DJ’s Got Us Fallin’ In Love for his final-round song.
Organisers said the dumplings are enough to last 27 years if someone eats 100 of them a day.
A panel of judges chose two Finns – Sam Moudden and Maria Saarimaa-Ylitalo – as their male and female champions. They were awarded karaoke machines. Moudden, sharply dressed in Rat Pack style, performed Je Suis Malade, while the purple-gowned Saarimaa-Ylitalo sang Celine Dion’s I Surrender.
Two singers who stretched karaoke’s boundaries beyond the usual pop favourites came second. Fedor Rytikov, a gastroenterologist by day, advanced to the finals with the Nessum Dorma aria from Turandot, then stayed with Italian music for the final with L’Immensita.
Russia’s Julia Kurileva was runner-up in the women’s competition with the most adventurous choice of the night – the wordless and eerie wailing of Pink Floyd’s Great Gig In The Sky.
Amateur singers from 16 countries took part in the three-day competition.
drive from www.guardian.co.uk