| Arsenium was born on 22 July, 1983 in Chisinau, Moldova. He wasn’t a spoilt child, but he grew up in a very harmonious surrounding. His mother worked as a doctor, his father as an engineer. He has a younger sister who is, he says, “the best in the world!” Despite growing up in a country which is said to be one of the poorest in Europe, he enjoyed his childhood. “My beautiful parents allowed me to have big dreams,” he says. “Bigger than the country I was born in.”
His parents gave him the chance to choose his way of life all by himself. “They let me decide by myself what to do with my life, but the advice they gave me has always been very useful to me,” he says.
Arsenium was always known as a big dreamer. His biggest dream was to become a big musician, someone whose songs would go down in music history.
“When I was a child you could hear me singing at school, at home, in the bathroom, always and everywhere, trying to imitate different singers that I used to listen to!” he says.
Most of the music he listened to was Russian. “I grew up with Russian music. At that time I had just only one fan, my little sister.”
He started to write his own songs when he turned 15 and it pleased him so much, he couldn’t stop. “I realised that it was the only way I could express myself, my feelings in the real life! I understood that there was a place for me and my dreams in this world.” Arsenium tried to confer the way he wrote songs to his real life. “I started to build up my life the way I create a song. Then I started to build the life of my dreams like a beautiful melody.”
At the age of 16, Arsenium joined a Moldovan folk band named Stejareii (The Little Oaks), playing the bass. In that time he started to perform on the biggest stages of Moldova. But his first performance as a singer was at school. He tried to sing opera, more or less successfully. “It seemed so funny to me,” he says, “so I began to laugh on stage together with my classmates.”
Arsenium still describes this as the craziest thing he has ever done.
When he was 17 he started to take singing lessons. His teacher was Larisa Shulga, who became a very important person in his life. She taught him the most important lesson an artist has to learn: “She taught me a lot of things about music,” he says. “And she shared with me her experience as an artist because she was a very famous opera singer across the whole former Soviet Union.”
In teaching him, she unearthed his talent and introduced him to Dan Balan, who invited him to become a new member of O-Zone. After a few weeks the composition of the group was completed by Radu Sirbu. The new band became very successful in Moldova and after conquering the Romanian market, they entertained the whole of Europe with their biggest hit.
“O-Zone gave me very good experience,” he says. “I travelled a lot with the guys all over the world, I slept less than ever but I felt really good.” He was accompanied by his two colleagues who were very talented artists and “very nice and friendly people.”
But now Arsenium is ready for his next big step.
“Arsenium is who I am, how I feel, how I live and what I do!”
Natali Gordienko
'I was born on 11 December 1987 in Kishinev, Moldova, to a family of architects. I study at high school in the 12th form, majoring in mathematics, biology and chemistry. During my studies I have been singing in my school choir. I have graduated from musical school in piano and I have been dancing in the dance ensemble for 10 years. At the age of 15, I began to participate independently in different singing competitions, winning three national and six international contests. I have taken part in the following competitions:
1. National competition - The song on the national station Radio Moldova in 2003 - 2nd place
2. National competition – The Star Of Kishinev in 2003 - grand prix
3. National competition – Miss Teenager in 2004 - grand prix
4. International Festival – Rainbow Stars in Jurmala, Latvia in 2003
5. International competition – Sevastopol-Ialta in Ukraine in 2004 - 1st place
6. International competition – Delfice Games in 2004 - 1st place
7. International competition – Heart Of Two Twins in 2004 - 1st place
8. International competition – Songs Of The World in 2005 - 1st place
9. International competition – Our Native Edge in 2005 - grand prix
Since 2005 I have been the singer with the band Millennium. In 2005, in the national selection for Eurovision, we came third. We were invited to participate in the Golden Deer international competition in Romania in 2005.' |
