Edward Pimentel, a telephone company technician from
Albuquerque, New Mexico, got the unusual prize after the audience at the
competition in a Moscow banquet hall voted him their favorite early Sunday for
his dapper and assured R-and-B performances. He chose Usher's "DJ's Got Us
Fallin' In Love" for his final-round song.
Organizers said the dumplings are enough to last 27 years
if someone eats 100 of them a day.
A panel of judges chose two Finns as the male and female
champions - Sam Moudden and Maria Saarimaa-Ylitalo. They were awarded karaoke
machines. Moudden, sharply dressed in Rat Pack style, performed "Je Suis
Malade" and the purple-gowned Saarimaa-Ylitalo sang Celine Dion's "I
Surrender."
Two singers who stretched karaoke's boundaries beyond the
usual pop favorites placed 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 second with the most
adventurous choice of the night - the wordless and eerie wailing of Pink
Floyd's "Great Gig In The Sky." Tami Marie, also of Albuquerque,
placed third among the women and Austria's Georg Duschlbauer was third among
the men.
Amateur
singers from 16 countries took part in the three-day competition, the eighth
world championships for the art form that's risen from a barroom recreation to
a worldwide phenomenon.
