Dimash gives an unexpected new life to this ageing and largely unknown (to English music followers) composition, in a stunning rendition with his usual perfect execution and style. In Sinful Passion, he surprises us with a darker mood and voice, far different from the triumphant winging tones of Screaming or the romantic fervor of his other pieces. This song is a demand for love, for guilty passions, and Dimash excellently captures the audience with an astounding vocal and emotional control, shifting between a variety of vocal types and running though his usual incredible range. He moves the audience with deep emotion, alternating between a tender plea and an authoritative command of ‘Dai mne, give me!’ As usual, he pulls me along effortlessly like the master that he is, my scrutiny his willing  puppet on a string. Incredible performance.

This is a direct link to the original video.
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Dimash has reinvented ‘SINFUL PASSION’, a beautiful song from 1998, originally created and performed by Kazakhstan band, A-Studio (the same band on this stage with Dimash). Sinful Passion was composed by Baigali Serkebayev (at keyboards.) With the excellent A-Studio band members supporting him, Dimash reformats this 90’s pop-rock piece with minimum fuss, and an abundance of crossover elegance.

The main course of the song, of course, is passion. And Dimash delivers it generously with heavy dollops of understated brilliance and excellent vocal form.

For those already familiar with Dimash’s style, we know he starts slow and then builds up to a resounding climax. True to form, he does exactly that in Sinful Passion. From the first notes when he walks into the stage, he is relaxed and unhurried…

Frankly, I wasn’t prepared to be floored by Passion. Dimash had been very busy in Asia with one performance after another; surely he wouldn’t have had time to prepare a new song! I was prepared for Adagio, and maybe another fantastic version of SOS, so when I heard the first unfamiliar notes, my interest went from warm to 1,000 degrees Farenheit in a heartbeat.

Anyway, I digress. So, as I was saying, into the stage walks Dimash, acting out exactly what he’s singing in the opening line– “You appeared suddenly…” appearing suddenly and beginning the song without further ado or the slightest hint of the drama of the song. With his handsome looks, black tousled hair and a dark colored tuxedo, he is looking every bit as glamorous as any model walking down the catwalk. But, oh, can this man sing.

One of the many talents of Dimash is his unique way of completely internalizing the meaning of the lyrics and a beautiful melody without being showy about it.

In my humble opinion, it is because of this restraint that the force and depth of the song are drawn to the surface, becoming all the more powerful than if he were to exaggerate them.

In the almost stoic style of the first half, Dimash reflects the (often) masculine unwillingness to appear broken or begging. The first set of ‘Dai mne (Give me)’ brings out the goosebumps, as he voices out the first desperate, albeit still tender, notes. But the second set of Dai mne, is a surprise, brought on by a deep, commanding voice, as he hints he is up to something. He even warns us of the coming tension with an upright finger in [2:15].

He shifts to a higher octave in ‘the night closes eyelids in silence’, still with incredible tenderness, which you find out is simply a temporary calm before the storm. ‘Bewitched by you, I’ll drink the potion dry; Only you can draw me back to this world from the abyss’ is the first compelling display of fragile desolation. From then on, you sense  the lover’s control over his emotions deteriorate back into his abyss. This control finally splinters, and the fourth set of ‘dai mne’ and beyond, becomes a demand and a desperate prayer. Do I read all these in Dimash’s singing? Yes.

And there, again, is that warning [3:41] as Dimash calls forth what I now call ‘the DPS’ or the Dimash Perfect Storm. This is the point when all the elements of the song, the instruments, the band, the melody and lyrics, all work together to cooperate with this peerless singer, as he unflinchingly lets loose his spectacular crescendo and brings the splendid performance to its climax. Wow, did I just say all that in one breath? I’m not even going to try to describe how he ends the song. You watch it, again…

… and comment below your reactions. Dai mne, dai mne.

A’Studio

A’Studio, the original performers of Sinful Passion and the MTV published in 2011.

By Ayakzm – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40718950

A-Studio, now based in Russia, is a Kazakh pop-rock music group formed in 1982 in Almaty. The original founding members consisted of  Baigali Serkebayev (keyboard), Vladimir Mikloshich (bass), Baglan Sadvakasov (solo guitar) and frontman Batyrkhan Shukenov (vocal and sax). They were introduced in the then USSR in 1989 and became very popular. In 2000, Batyr Shukenov left the band to pursue a successful solo career. Sadly he died at the age of 52 in 2015.

In one of his interviews, DImash revealed that one of his favorite song is “Mirage World” by the honored musician. It is noted that Batyr was the the original singer of Sinful Passion in the music video above.

Technical Reviews

By Rached Hayek