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The culture of Europe might better be described as a series of multiple cultures. Whether it is a question of North as opposed to South; West as opposed to East; Orthodoxism as opposed to Protestantism as opposed to Catholicism as opposed to Secularism; many have claimed to identify cultural fault lines across the continent. There are many cultural innovations and movements, often at odds with each other, such as Christian proselytism or Humanism. Thus the question of "common culture" or "common values" is far more complex then it seems to be.

The foundation of European culture was laid by the Greeks, strengthened by the Romans, stabilized by Christianity, reformed and modernized by the fifteenth-century Renaissance and Reformation and globalized by successive European empires between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Thus the European Culture developed into a very complex phenomenon of wider range of philosophy, Christian and secular humanism, rational way of life and logical thinking developed through a long age of change and formation with the experiments of enlightenment, naturalism, romanticism, science, democracy, and socialism. Because of its global connection, the European culture grew with an all-inclusive urge to adopt, adapt and ultimately influence other trends of culture. As a matter of fact, therefore, from the middle of the nineteenth century with the expansion of European education and the spread of Christianity, European culture and way of life, to a great extent, turned to be "global culture," if anything has to be so named (Vide. Sailen Debnath, "Secularism: Western and Indian," Atlantic Publishers, New Delhi).

European Art[link]

• Painting

The oldest known cave paintings are at the Chauvet Cave (France) dating from about 32,000 years ago.^[1] The history of Western painting represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from antiquity. Until the mid 19th century it was primarily concerned with representational and Classical modes of production, after which time more modern, abstract and conceptual forms gained favor. Developments in Western painting historically parallel those in Eastern painting, in general a few centuries later. African art, Islamic art, Indian art, Chinese art, and Japanese art each had significant influence on Western art, and, eventually, vice-versa.

• Sculpture

The earliest European sculpture to date portrays a female form, and has been estimated at dating from 35,000 years ago. See Classical sculpture, Ancient Greek sculpture, Gothic art, Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Modernism, Postminimalism, found art, Postmodern art, Conceptual art.

• Music
  • Classical Music : Important classical composers from Europe include Hildegard von Bingen, Guillaume de Machaut, Pérotin, Guillaume Dufay, Orlande de Lassus, Jean-Baptiste Lully, J.S. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakov, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Bartok, Nielsen, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Puccini, Debussy, Rossini, Ravel, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Penderecki. Luciano Pavarotti was a contemporary popular opera singer. Orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra are considered to be amongst the finest ensembles in the world. The Salzburg Festival, the Bayreuth Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms are major European classical music festivals, and International Chopin Piano Competition is the world's oldest monographic music competition.
  • Folk Music : Europe has a wide and diverse range of indigenous music, sharing common features in rural, travelling or maritime communities. Folk music is embedded in an unwritten, aural tradition, but was increasingly transcribed from the nineteenth century onwards. Many classical composers used folk melodies, and folk has influenced some popular music in Europe.
  • Popular Music : Europe has also imported many different genres of music, mainly from America, ranging from Blues, Jazz, Soul, Pop, Rap, Hip-Hop, R'n'B and Dance. The UK has been most successful in re-exporting this type of music and also creating many of its own genres via notable movements including the British Invasion, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (that has been compared to Beatlemania.^[2]) and Britpop. Some major UK acts include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Elton John, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Sex Pistols, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Van Morrison, Dire Straits, The Police, Fleetwood Mac, Genesis, George Michael, Pet Shop Boys, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, The Who, Eurythmics, Dusty Springfield, The Cure, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Oasis, Radiohead, Coldplay, Muse, Gorillaz, Robbie Williams, Seal, Bee Gees, Spice Girls, UB40, Adele, Jessie J Amy Winehouse... Other popular European musicians are U2 (Ireland), Björk (Iceland), ABBA (Sweden), a-ha (Norway), Andrea Bocelli (Italy), Julio Iglesias (Spain), Nana Mouskouri (Greece/France), Kati Wolf (Hungary), Boney M. (Germany), Daft Punk (France), Charles Aznavour (France), Johnny Hallyday (France), Modern Talking (Germany), Scorpions (Germany), Rammstein (Germany), Ace of Base (Sweden), t.A.T.u. (Russia), Enya (Ireland), James Last (Germany), Doda (Poland), Jean Michel Jarre (France), Aqua (Denmark/Norway), Rasmus Seebach (Denmark), Roxette (Sweden). Main festivals: Glastonbury (UK), Wacken (Germany), Benicassim (Spain), Roskilde (Denmark). EMI is the largest European music company.

• Architecture

Neolithic architecture : Born in the Levant, Neolithic architecture spread to Europe. The Mediterranean neolithic cultures of Malta worshiped in megalithic temples. In Europe, long houses built from wattle and daub were constructed. Elaborate tombs for the dead were also built. These tombs are particularly numerous in Ireland, where there are many thousand still in existence. Neolithic people built long barrows and chamber tombs for their dead and causewayed camps, henges flint mines and cursus monuments., Architecture of ancient Greece, Roman architecture, Medieval architecture, Renaissance architecture, Baroque architecture, Beaux-Arts architecture, Expressionist architecture, Stalinist architecture, Deconstructivism.

• Literature

Europe has produced some of the most prominent or popular fiction writers of all time : Homer, Sappho (Greece) Virgil, Dante Alighieri Umberto Eco (Italy) François Rabelais, Alexandre Dumas, Racine, Molière, Voltaire, Jules Verne, Marcel Proust, Daniel Pennac, Albert Camus, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (France) Miguel de Cervantes, Rosalía de Castro, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Javier Marías, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Almudena Grandes (Spain) Luís de Camões, José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, Fernando Pessoa, José Saramago (Portugal) William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, H. G. Wells, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Beatrix Potter, D. H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, John Milton, Terry Pratchett, Mary Shelley, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Agatha Christie, Daniel Defoe, Alan Moore, Rudyard Kipling (U.K) Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie, Walter Scott (Scotland) Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mikhail Sholokhov, Anton Chekhov, Alexander Pushkin (Russia) C. S. Lewis, Bram Stoker, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Beckett William Butler Yeats (Ireland) Brothers Grimm, Anne Frank, Patrick Süskind (Germany) Joseph Conrad, Czesław Miłosz, Zbigniew Herbert, Witold Gombrowicz, Henryk Sienkiewicz, (Poland) Franz Kafka (Czech Republic) Hans Christian Andersen (Denmark) Sigrid Undset, Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun (Norway) Nikolai Gogol, Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko (Ukraine) Stieg Larsson (Sweden)

• Performing arts

See Western art history, dance, drama, and circus arts.

• Film

In 1897, Georges Méliès established the first cinema studio on a rooftop property in Montreuil, near Paris. Some notable European film movements include German Expressionism, Italian neorealism, French New Wave, Polish Film School, New German Cinema, Portuguese Cinema Novo, Czechoslovak New Wave, Dogme 95, New French Extremity, and Romanian New Wave. The cinema of Europe has its own awards, the European Film Awards. Main festivals : Cannes Film Festival (France), Berlin International Film Festival (Germany). The Venice Film Festival (Italy) or Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica di Venezia, is the oldest film festival in the world.

• Video Game

Some of the most popular games of all time come from Europe: the Grand Theft Auto (series), Tomb Raider, Cossacks: European Wars, The Settlers, The Patrician, Brain Challenge, Block Breaker Deluxe, Europa Universalis.

Science[link]

• CERN ( /ˈsɜrn/; French: [sɛʀn]) : The European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the birthplace of the World Wide Web and home of the world's largest machine : the Large Hadron Collider. It is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border, established in 1954. In November 2010, the collisions obtained were able to generate the highest temperatures and densities ever produced in an experiment, creating a "mini-Big Bang" a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun.^[3]
• ESA : The European Space Agency's space flight program includes human spaceflight, mainly through the participation in the International Space Station program, the launch and operations of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon, Earth observations, science, telecommunication as well as maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana and designing launch vehicles. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further developing this launch vehicle.

Europe has produced some of the greatest scientists, inventors and intellectuals in history. Germany; Albert Einstein, Johannes Kepler, Johannes Gutenberg, Gottfried Leibniz, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Max Planck, Karl Benz. United Kingdom; Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Robert Hooke, Michael Faraday, James Joule, Edward Jenner, John Dalton, George Stephenson, Florence Nightingale, George Cayley, Frank Whittle, Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking, Tim Berners Lee, James Watt, Alexander Fleming, Alexander Graham Bell, John Logie Baird, James Clerk Maxwell, Adam Smith. Russia: Dmitri Mendeleev, Nikolai Lobachevsky, Mikhail Lomonosov, Lev Landau, Aleksandr Butlerov, Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Nikolay Basov. France; Pierre Abelard, Michel de Montaigne, Louis Pasteur, Antoine Lavoisier, Henri Becquerel, René Descartes, Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, Pierre de Fermat, Blaise Pascal, the Montgolfier brothers, Denis Diderot, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Léon Foucault, Auguste and Louis Lumière, Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, Jacques Lacan, Luc Montagnier, Albert Jacquard. Italy; Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Evangelista Torricelli, Niccolò Machiavelli, Alessandro Volta, Guglielmo Marconi, Enrico Fermi. Poland; Nicolaus Copernicus, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Rudolf Weigl. Greece: Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy. Hungary: Ottó Bláthy, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, Ányos Jedlik. Austria: Sigmund Freud, Ludwig Boltzmann. Ireland; Lord Kelvin, Robert Boyle. Sweden; Alfred Nobel, Anders Celsius. Denmark; Niels Bohr. Serbia; Mihajlo Pupin, Milutin Milanković. Switzerland; Carl Jung.

Philosophy[link]

European philosophy is a predominant strand of philosophy globally, and is central to philosophical enquiry in America and most other parts of the world which have fallen under its influence. Christian thought is a huge influence on many fields of European philosophy (as European philosophy has been on Christian thought too), sometimes as a reaction; the Greek schools of philosophy in antiquity provide the basis of philosophical discourse that extends to today.

Perhaps one of the most important single philosophical periods since the classical era were the Renaissance, the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. There are many disputes as to its value and even its timescale. What is indisputable is that the tenets of reason and rational discourse owe much to René Descartes, John Locke and others working at the time.

Other important European philosophical strands include: Analytic philosophy, Protestantism, Christian Democracy, Communism, Conservatism, Constructionism, Deconstructionism, Empiricism, Epicureanism, Existentialism, Fascism, Humanism, Idealism, Internationalism, Liberalism, Logical positivism, Marxism, Materialism, Monarchism, Nationalism, Perspectivism, Platonism, Positivism, Postmodernism, Rationalism, Relativism, Republicanism, Romanticism, Scepticism, Scholasticism, Social Democracy, Socialism, Stoicism, Structuralism, Thomism, Utilitarianism, Spenglerism.

Religion[link]

The Eurobarometer Poll 2005^[4] found that, on average, 52% of the citizens of EU member states state that they "believe in God", 27% believe there is some sort of spirit or life force while 18% do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force. 3% declined to answer.

Christianity has been the dominant feature in shaping up European culture for at least the last 1700 years. Modern philosophical thought has very much been influenced by Christian philosophers such as St Thomas Aquinas and Erasmus.

The most popular religions of Europe are the following:

• Christianity
  • Catholicism: Countries^{[citation needed]}with significant Catholic populations are Portugal, Spain, Poland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, Scotland (UK), Northern Ireland (UK), Italy, Malta, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia and Lithuania. There are significant Catholic minorities in the Netherlands, southern Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, western and central Belarus, western Ukraine, Hungarian-speaking Romania, parts of Russia, the Latgale region of Latvia, Croatian-speaking Bosnia and Herzegovina, England (UK) and Wales (UK), and indeed small minorities in most of the other European countries.
  • Eastern Orthodoxy: The countries with significant Orthodox populations^{[citation needed]} are Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine.
  • Protestantism: Countries with significant Protestant populations^{[citation needed]} are Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. There are significant minorities in France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, and indeed small minorities in most European countries.
• Islam: Countries with significant Muslim population^{[citation needed]} are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Kosovo in Serbia, several republics of Russia and Crimea in Ukraine. There are significant minorities in Cyprus, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Also, as of 2005^[update], about 5% of the EU identify themselves as Muslims, with many Muslim immigrants in Germany, the UK, Sweden and France.^{[citation needed]}

Other minor religions exist in Europe, some brought by migrants, including:

• Judaism, mainly in France, United Kingdom, and Russia.^{[citation needed]}
• Hinduism, mainly among Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}
• Buddhism, thinly spread throughout Europe, yet it is in Kalmykia in Russia.
• Indigenous European pagan traditions and beliefs, many countries.^{[citation needed]}
• Rastafari, communities in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and elsewhere.^{[citation needed]}
• Sikhism and Jainism, both mainly among Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}
• West African Vodun and Haitian Vodou (Voodoo), mainly among West African and black Caribbean immigrants in the United Kingdom and France.
• Traditional African Religions (including Muti), mainly in the United Kingdom and France.^{[citation needed]}

Cuisine[link]

The cuisines of Western countries are diverse by themselves, although there are common characteristics that distinguishes Western cooking from cuisines of Asian countries and others. Compared with traditional cooking of Asian countries, for example, meat is more prominent and substantial in serving-size. Steak in particular is a common dish across the West. Similarly to some Asian cuisines, Western cuisines also put substantial emphasis on sauces as condiments, seasonings, or accompaniments (in part due to the difficulty of seasonings penetrating the often larger pieces of meat used in Western cooking). Many dairy products are utilized in the cooking process, except in nouvelle cuisine. Wheat-flour bread has long been the most common sources of starch in this cuisine, along with pasta, dumplings and pastries, although the potato has become a major starch plant in the diet of Europeans and their diaspora since the European colonization of the Americas.

Clothing[link]

The earliest definite examples of needles originate from the Solutrean culture, which existed in France from 19,000 BC to 15,000 BC. The earliest dyed flax fibers have been found in a cave the Republic of Georgia and date back to 36,000 BP. See Clothing in ancient Rome, 1100–1200 in fashion, 1200–1300 in fashion, 1300–1400 in fashion, 1400–1500 in fashion, 1500–1550 in fashion, 1550–1600 in fashion, 1600–1650 in fashion, 1650–1700 in fashion, Textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.

Sport[link]

Europe's influence on sport is enormous. Indeed, it is difficult to think of a modern sport, apart from basketball and related sports, that does not have its origins in Europe. European sports include:

• Association football, which has contested origins between United Kingdom and Italy (where Benito Mussolini insisted the game be called by the name Calcio). What is uncontestable is that the oldest association is The Football Association of England (1863) and the first international match was between Scotland and England (1872). It is now the world's most popular sport and is played throughout Europe.
• Cricket has its origins in south eastern Britain. It's popular throughout England and Wales, and parts of Netherlands. It is also popular in other areas and also played in Northwest Europe. It is however very popular worldwide, especially in Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Indian subcontinent.
• Cycling, which is immensely popular as a means of transport, has most of its sporting adherents in Europe, particularly Western Europe. Tour de France is the world's most watched live annual sporting event. The bicycle itself is probably from France (see History of the bicycle).
• The discus throw, javelin throw and shot put have their origins in ancient Greece. The Olympics, both ancient and modern, have their origins too in Europe, and have a massive influence globally.
• Field Hockey as a modern game, began in 18th Century Britain with Ireland having the oldest federation. It is popular in Western Europe, the Indian subcontinent, Australia and East Asia. Ice hockey, popular in Europe and North America may derive from this sport.
• Golf, one of the most popular sports in Europe, Asia and North America, has its origins in Scotland, with the oldest course being at Musselburgh.
• Handball, which is popular in Europe and elsewhere, has its origins in antiquity. The modern game is from Northern Europe with Germany having been involved in both the first women's and men's internationals.
• Rugby League and Rugby Union which both have similar origins to football. Rugby Union is the older of the two codes and has rules that date from 1845 (see articles: History of rugby league and History of rugby union). They acrimoniously split in the late 19th century over the treatment of injured players. Rugby league gradually changed its laws over the next century with the end result that today both sports have little in common, apart from the basics. They have both been carried abroad by colonization, particularly to many former British colonies. American Football and Canadian Football are derivatives of rugby.
• Tennis which originates from United Kingdom and related games such as Table Tennis derive from the game Real Tennis which is from France. It is popular throughout the world.

In addition, Europe has numerous national or regional sports which do not command a large international following outside of emigrant groups. These include:

• Alpine Wrestling in Switzerland.
• Bandy in Russia, Sweden and Finland
• Basque Pelota in parts of Spain and France, and which has been brought to the Americas by emigrants.
• Bullfighting in Spain, Portugal, and parts of southern France near the Spanish Border.
• Gaelic Football in Ireland, which influenced Australian football rules.
• Gaelic Handball (Ireland) which was taken to the United States in the form of American Handball.
• Hurling in Ireland.
• Korfbal in the Netherlands and Belgium.
• Pesäpallo (Boboll) in Finland
• Pétanque, Boules, Petanca, Calitx, Irish Road Bowling, Skittles, Bocce, and Bowls and others are variations of bowling games which are popular throughout western Europe and have been spread around the world.
• Rounders from Britain^[5][6] now popular in northwest Europe from which Baseball derives.
• Shinty in Scotland, United Kingdom, which influenced ice hockey in Canada (see also Shinny).
• Trotting in southern Europe.

Some sporting organisations hold European Championships.

• European Cricket Council
• European Rugby Cup (Club/Regional competition)
• European SC Championships
• FIRA - Association of European Rugby
• IIHF
• Mitropa Cup
• Rugby League European Federation - European Nations Cup
• Sport in the European Union
• UEFA

Some sport competitions feature a European team gathering athletes from different European countries. These teams uses the European flag as an emblem. The most famous of these competitions is the Ryder Cup in golf.

European Capital of Culture[link]

Each year since 1985 one or more cities across Europe are chosen as European Capital of Culture.

Symbols[link]

• European symbols

See also[link]

• Compendium of cultural policies and trends in Europe
• Cultural policies of the European Union
• Europalia
• European Culture
• Europeanisation
• Romano-Germanic culture
• Westernization

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Culture of Europe

• Eurolinguistix.com
• Europe.org.uk - online European culture magazine (EU London Office)
• TheEuropeanLibrary.org, The European Library, gateway to Europe's national libraries
• Europeana.eu European Digital Library
• Europa.eu, EU Culture Portal (archived)

This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help improve the article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page. (June 2010)

Alexander Rybak
Rybak after he had won Eurovision 2009
Background information
Born	(1986-05-13) 13 May 1986 (age 26) Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union
Genres	Pop, folk, classical, Baroque pop
Occupations	Singer, actor, songwriter, composer, pianist
Instruments	Vocals, violin, piano
Years active	2009–present
Associated acts	Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Frikar
Website	www.alexanderrybak.com

Alexander Igoryevich Rybak (Russian: Алекса́ндр И́горевич Рыба́к) or in Belarusian Alyaxandr Igaravich Rybak (Аляксандр І́гаравіч Рыбак), born 13 May 1986 in Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union is a Norwegian^[1] singer-composer, violinist, pianist, writer, and actor. Representing Norway in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, Rybak won the contest with 387 points—the highest tally any country has achieved in the history of Eurovision—with "Fairytale", a song he wrote and composed. His debut album, Fairytales, charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a No. 1 position in Norway and Russia.

Personal life[link]

Rybak was born on 13 May 1986, in Minsk, Belarus—which at that time was the Belarusian SSR in the Soviet Union. When he was 4 years old, he and his family moved to Norway.^[2] Rybak was baptized and raised in the Orthodox religion.^[3] At the age of five, Rybak began to play the piano and the violin.^[2] His parents are Natalia Valentinovna Rybak, a classical pianist, and Igor Alexandrovich Rybak, a well-known classical violinist who performs alongside Pinchas Zukerman.^[4] He stated "I always liked to entertain and somehow that is my vocation".^[5] Rybak bought a new apartment and lives now at Aker Brygge (Oslo, Norway).

In 2010, several incidents of uncontrolled anger caused commentators to question whether Rybak has an anger control problem. During the trials for the ESC 2010 finals in Bærum, Rybak became so infuriated when a sound technician was not doing what he wanted that he smashed his own hand, breaking his fingers. Also, during trials for Swedish television in June 2010, he smashed his violin on the floor. His appearance was then canceled. According to his manager, Kjell Arild Tiltnes, Rybak does not have an issue with aggression. Tiltnes stated that "as long as he abreacts on objects and on himself, I see no reason for this to be something that he needs help dealing with." Rybak said, "I never raised my voice before, and that's why I did what I did. I'm just a human being—and perhaps not the glossy image many believe. So it was good to get out frustrations so I could go on. It's only me that goes beyond the same."^[6][7]

Career[link]

Alexander at the ESC 2009

Rybak has been a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo since the age of 10. Due to his success in the Eurovision Song Contest, he is currently taking a break from his bachelor's degree studies at the Institute.^[8][9] In 2004, Rybak was awarded the Anders Jahre Culture Prize.^[10] In 2005, he entered the Norwegian version of Idol, Idol: Jakten på en superstjerne, reaching the semifinal. In 2006, Rybak won Kjempesjansen (“The Great Opportunity”), a talent competition hosted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), with his own song, "Foolin".^[5] Alexander Rybak has collaborated with artists such as a-ha's lead singer Morten Harket and Arve Tellefsen. As of 2007, Rybak has played the fiddler in Oslo Nye Teater's production of Fiddler on the Roof and won the Hedda Award for this role.^[5]

Eurovision 2009[link]

Rybak won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, with a record 387 points, singing "Fairytale",^[11] a song inspired by Norwegian folk music. The song was composed and written by Rybak^[12] and was performed together with the modern folk dance company Frikar. The song received good reviews with a score of 6 out of 6 in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet,^[5] and, in an ESCtoday poll, he scored 71.3%, making him the favourite to get into the final.^[13]

In the Norwegian national heats, Rybak achieved a clean sweep, gaining the top score from all nine voting districts and ending with a combined televote and jury score of 747,888, while the runner up, Tone Damli Aaberge, received a combined score of 121,856 (out of a total population of less then 5 million)^[14]

The song competed in the second semi-final and won a place in the Eurovision final.

Rybak later won the Eurovision final with a landslide victory, receiving votes from all the participating countries (except Norway, which was not allowed to vote for itself). Rybak finished with a total of 387 points, breaking the previous record of 292 points scored by Lordi in 2006 and scoring 169 points more than the runner-up, Iceland.

After Eurovision, film and the first album[link]

Rybak and a dancer from Frikar, at a concert in Norway, September 2009

Rybak's first album, Fairytales, was released after his Eurovision win. Rybak also co-stars as Levi in the film Yohan directed by Grete Salomonsen, which was released in March 2010.^[15] Rybak also went on a tour in Norway with former Norwegian Eurovision winner Elisabeth Andreassen, something that had been decided before his Eurovision win and participation. He and Frikar also toured Norway and Europe in 2009. In a December 2009 performance of his hit "Fairytale" at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, held at the Oslo Spektrum, Rybak shared the stage with nine other acts.^[16] Too EMI Norway has just released a film entitled Fairytale, the movie, directed by acclaimed Norwegian director, Rune Langlo, documenting the journey of Alexander Rybak since claiming the top prize for Norway in Moscow.^[17]

In 2009, he recorded the theme song, called "I Don't Believe in Miracles / Superhero", for the Russian action movie Black Lightning produced by Timur Bekmambetov.^[18]-

[edit] 2010–present: 2nd album and Let's dance Sweden

On 30 January 2010, Rybak performed one of his new singles, "Europe Skies", in national final, Euroviisut 2010, to select the 2010 Finnish entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. On 12 March 2010, Alexander Rybak performed his Eurovision 2009 winning song "Fairytale" on UK TV show Eurovision: Your Country Needs You. In April 2010, Rybak released a new song, featuring Opptur, called "Fela Igjen".^[19] Alexander released his second album on 14 June 2010, called No Boundaries. It was not as successuful as his first album, so far it has peaked at number 7 in Norway, number 8 in Sweden and 32 in Finland. On 7 January 2011, Rybak was one of twelve contestant on the next Swedish season of the dancing show Let's dance (Swedish version of television franchise Strictly come dancing), in the show Rybak danced to win the competition against other Swedish celebrities.^[20] Rybak made it to the Top 4 before being voted off on 11 March, having received the lowest scores from both juries and the voting public.^[21] In 2011 he released the album "Visa vid vindens ängar, a collaboration with Mats Paulson whom he describes as "a legend and a great friend" In 2012 he will release a new music video for his russian song "Strela Amura". http://www.facebookies.org/2011/01/05/9607/ The 30th of may he released a song together with Paula Seling called "I'll show you"

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

Other songs[link]

Filmography[link]

References[link]