Alexander Rybak interview at Flower Carneval of Debrecen 2018

A: Yep
Journalist: Okay

Okay, hello dear listeners or viewers of ESC Hungary.

We are now in the beautiful
Debrecen for the Flower Carnival 2018,

and a special guest of the
show is Alexander Rybak.

J: Welcome to my hometown!
A: Thank you!

A: You are going to talk English?
J: Yes.

A: That's nice, yes that's perfect.
J: I'll try to.

A: That's very nice of you.
J: Okay so, first of all...

It's a standard Eurovision question, as you
have just passed the rehearsal of the final

How did it feel? was everything good?
What about the conditions?

It's not as much nerves as in Eurovision.

Here it's only pleasure

to come in the...
I love the colours here in this stadium.

I think it represents Hungary very well.

That everything is very colourful.

I been a little bit in ... How do you say it? Debrecen?

J: Debrecen yes, It's excellent!
A: No it wasn't (smiling)

You are speaking in Hungarian now!

A little bit now, but already ...
it feels like you have the same nice colours...

I have been in your capital, Budapest.

I really like all the colours and all of the culture there.

It feels like it's just more of
the same here, it's really beautiful.

Yeah, I wanted to ask you, since you
have spent many times in Hungary recently.

What are your experiences?

I have had mostly classical projects in Hungary.

And that's great because actually
I am a classical musician, a violinist.

Oh really?

-Yeah, but some people think I'm
just a pop singer who writes pop songs,

But... I really appreciate that side of life.

To do pop, so to do easy pop music it's very nice.

And here, I can do that.

You can just film a little bit... of the stadium

It sounds so beautiful. I do like it.

Sorry that I am answering very long.

A: I have a lot of things on my heart.
J: It's very good,

You asked about the rehearsal, and the rehearsal
went really well. Everybody's very professional.

But the best thing is that everything that
will be around me, I haven't seen that yet.

I've heard that there will be one
thousand, two thousand dancers.

Everywhere. Around the stage. Next to me.

And I'm happy I haven't seen that part,
because then I will be surprised.

I don't get surprised that much,
but here I am sure there will surprises.

We hope so !

We will see the whole show, and I hope it will be enjoyable,
and you will be the be the best part, I think so...

Well I've heard... I've been sitting here in my wonderful
"green room", and I've heard other rehearsals.

There are so many good voices here in Hungary.

I love it, you are really a country of music and culture.
That's great, Thank you.

I want to ask you that you have won the Eurovision
in 2009, and you have participated in this year.

Yes, I've been in two finals now!

J: You actually won the semi-final.
A: Yes, that's a statement.

And I want to ask about the differences.

Did you observe something that was different in the
Lisbon edition compared with the Moscow edition?

Well in Moscow everything around the artists was bigger.

But since Lisbon was a little bit smaller, and also the stage was smaller.

It made us, the artists, seem bigger (more visible)

So, Moscow was like WOW!.

Portugal was more like, okay "This is what I have to give you"

So, it was also, of course,
a year of very good music.

I really liked that in 2018, this year,
every country had each genre.

Very, very different genres. I love that.

Even as a competition. First of all it's a
competition, and everybody tries to win.

But it's also a festival and I think for the audience it's a plus,
and a bonus if the festival is not only one thing.

But "Oh, we have this, this, this and this"

This night, like the Hungarian entry.
But you have the violin...

I have heard maybe there will be some common stuff in
the show tonight. With them ... isn't it?

A: What? If it's in common?
J: It will be a joint production
A: I will join them.

When they asked me to come to Debrecen
I was trying to fit it into my calendar.

I was really trying to come here
and make everything work.

A: And then they said: "By the way, AWS will be there as well" and I "Okay, I'm going"
J: That's great

I'm really looking forward to playing with them.

It's just so "Pwwwww (explosive sound)", their music is so big.

Actually the show will be on later tonight. You can from it in
the end of this video, and we hope that everything go well.

We will let you know how it went.

A: You will review everything.
J: Yes, I will try to

J: Okay, I don't want to disturb you too much.
A: No, you don't.

Do you have a message to your fans?
You have a lot of fans here in Hungary.

First I have a message to all the organisers.

I really like how they join all the artists.

And also make young people and children
dance and play with in this big stadium.

Because that is what culture should
be about, because, I mean...

It's nice to be me, but you know,
I'm old. It's not about me anymore.

It's very nice to have the children who
looking forward to conquer the world.

The stage will be full of children dancing to our music,

So thank you very much for this to the
mayor, the organsiers, the producers.

They will see this interview for sure.

Honestly, I love my country Norway.
But we never have anything close to this.

This is amazing, really!

But overall, to my fans I just want to say "Thank you for
listening to my songs on YouTube, first of all.

YouTube that's my biggest channel for music,
and I feel I have the nicest fans in the world.

Who are nice not only to me,
but they are nice to each other.

And they understand that "Yes, we try to seek for happiness,
but we also need to be happiness, to inspiring happiness.

And not only try to get everything,
but give something too.

Okay, thank you very much for this interview.

I don't know when we are going
to see you in Eurovision next time.

I see a pattern here.

A pattern like in eight years...

Okay, fine. But thank you so much again,
and see you in the next Eurovision.

Let's hope so

Bye, Bye, bye

Alexander Rybak and AWS performing "Goodbye Summer"

Alexander Rybak with "Fairytale"

Alexander Rybak with "Europe's Skies"