Timofey has no mother, and his father left the family. the boy’s support is 63 — year-old grandmother Lida. And this trip to the prestigious competition took place thanks to her, as well as all the good things that happened in the boy’s life. Timofey weighs just over 30 kilograms, and his accordion — all ten. Therefore, in Bulgaria, the grandmother helped her grandson drag a musical instrument in a wheelchair. And for good reason. Each appearance of Timofey on stage was awarded the main awards of competitions, Patriots of Ukraine reports. Further-in the original language:
«I took a five—row accordion at a music school on receipt,» says Timofey’s grandmother Lidia Eliseeva. — He has an exceptional sound. But at the competition, the grandson suddenly lost his tune, singing the Ukrainian folk song «Yhav Kozak for the Danube». I was thinking about something of my own. It happens to him sometimes. But I was not confused. The jury noticed this, of course, but, as it turned out later, took the mistake for … the original processing of the work.
«Yes, it was me who came up with what I played,» Timosha confessed to the head of one of the creative delegations, who began asking him after the performance about … the music arranger. And the second embarrassment happened at a vocal competition. The microphones were tuned to the performances of the participants under the soundtrack. The grandson was the only one who sang live, which puzzled the technicians and sound engineers. He begins to sing, but the voice is not heard.
Only on the fifth attempt, when the organizers of the festival guessed what the reason was, his solo sounded the right way. After the performance of the song «One Mountain is high», the jury members shouted «Bravo!» and said that it was presented in a very childish way. And the song «Don’t cry, matusiu, I’ll turn around», written during the Maidan and dedicated to the heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, caused tears in many. Timka sang this song on May 9 at the Kiev Maidan, where the Zoryan Mosti festival was held. Took the first place then. He returned with her as a winner from an international competition. At the age of eight, grandmother Lida took Timofey to a circus studio, then to a music school in the bayan class, and last year recorded him on vocals.
— Learning musical compositions on the accordion, Timoshka slowly sang along, — says Lidia Ivanovna. — And it turned out pretty well for him — after all, he was engaged in choral singing at a music school. But I understood that the technique would have to be tightened up.
I tell him: «We don’t lose anything, we went to learn to sing correctly.» We come to our own children’s music school No. 2, and there vocal groups have already been formed. I did not agree to the offer to continue studying in the choir, and then, thanks to her, Timka was taken into her group by the head teacher of the school, Tatyana Nikolaevna Petrova. Together with the concertmaster Marina Evgenievna Didenko, they began to give him a voice.
A few months later, before the New Year 2018, the little artist went to the stage of the city House of Culture, where the competition of young talents «Zoryan Mosti» was held, on a gyro scooter, while playing the accordion and performing the «Song of the driver». It was so unexpected that the audience just gasped.
— However, the head teacher of the music school, having learned that we were going to Bulgaria to participate in an international song festival, began to dissuade us, — recalls Lidia Ivanovna. — They say, in order to adequately perform at a festival of this level, you need at least two years of rehearsals. «And what are we risking?» — I answered her. I’m so risky in life. Moreover, I am already 63 years old, and I must hurry to give my grandson everything in my power.
I deny myself everything, but I don’t regret anything for the development of his talents. This time, thank God, I didn’t have to beg for money for a trip from deputies and officials. My friend Katya Mironova, who works in Italy, having learned about our intentions to go to Bulgaria, transferred 500 euros. They were enough to pay dues for participation in competitions and to live a week in the camp on the basis of which they were held.
… Misfortunes haunt Timoshka almost from birth. He was a little over a year old when he slipped in the kitchen and fell on a jar of canned food. Small pieces of glass got stuck in the eyeball, and local oculists could not help the child in any way.
— The eye was removed, although specialists in Odessa, Kharkiv and Kiev later said that it could have been saved. Moreover, the grandson was discharged from the hospital with a mutilated face, — Lydia Ivanovna wipes her tears. — The eye socket was so disfigured that it took five plastic surgeries to restore it.
Timoshka had a tissue transplant twice. It was only thanks to this that it was possible to achieve that the artificial eye began to move at least a little. Alas, he held on weakly and often fell out. Where Timka just didn’t lose it! And in the river, and in the camp, and at school… Sometimes it scared children and irritated teachers and educators. He was called both one-eyed, and «glass eye», and «iron eye»… It got to the point that the child began to hesitate to answer in class. I had to take him to a psychologist and, on her recommendation, transfer him to another school.
A few months after the grandson’s eye was removed, Lidia Ivanovna, together with her late daughter Tatiana, Timofey’s mother, went for a consultation to the Odessa Institute of Eye Diseases named after Academician Filatov. It was Friday, they were told to show the baby on Monday.
— Tanya insisted on returning to Poltava, — Lydia Ivanovna continues. — They say it will be cheaper than renting a hotel in Odessa. That’s what we did. And on Saturday evening, my daughter was gone. She went out with a baby stroller for a walk, and she was hit by a car, crashing from behind. From the blow, the daughter was so thrown that she knocked out the windshield of the car with her body. And the grandson miraculously survived — from the strongest blow, the basket of the baby carriage was torn off and thrown onto the curb. Not a single scratch was found on him, and even his clothes were not soiled. Since then, I have been raising Timoshka alone.
«Take care of this child! After all, God left him on earth for some reason,» Valentina Petrovna Hrinenko, the surgeon of the children’s department of the Filatov Institute, who performed the second plastic surgery on Timofey’s eyelid, addressed Lidia Ivanovna. Lydia Ivanovna remembers these words very often. And every time he thinks: maybe the surgeon, who was already over eighty, really saw something unusual in the child?.. After all, then his talents had not yet manifested themselves in any way.
However, Timofey was plastic from birth, like a loach. He used to watch TV, put both legs behind his head and swing like a pendulum. And once he struck his grandmother with far-reaching plans. «I want,» he said, «to perform in a circus, standing on my head, and play the accordion. And so that they know about me not only in Poltava and in Ukraine, but also abroad.» First he learned to stand on his head, then asked to take him to the circus studio in the city House of Culture.
Lidia Ivanovna is very grateful to the teacher Larisa Valeryevna Semenova. After two months of intensive training, Tim showed an excellent result — his first performance in Dnipro at the festival for children with disabilities was awarded with a medal and a diploma of the participant. And from the next contest he returned the winner.
Now the seventh—grader of secondary school No. 20 Timofey Eliseev is the owner of 55 diplomas and certificates of various competitions, many cups and medals. He is so charismatic that, as soon as he appears on stage, the audience starts clapping for him. Konstantin Tomilchenko, a famous choreographer and judge of the TV show «Everyone is Dancing!», drew attention to the talented boy who arrived in Bulgaria from Poltava this year.
Grandmother Lida watched as Konstantin (one of the judges of the contest «Stars of the XXI century») recorded her grandson’s vocal performance on a mobile phone. And after the competition, I approached her and said: «You have a very talented boy.» The best illusionist in the world, showman Vladislav Krivonogov, was happy to take pictures with Timofey and asked for his phone number.
— It’s not the first time famous artists pay attention to their grandson, — Lidia Ivanovna smiles. — Last year, during the final of the contest «Stars of the XXI century» in Bulgaria, fate brought us together with Nina Matvienko. Then Timofey took part in the international festival for the first time. He received a ticket to the «Star Bridges» as the owner of the Grand Prix of the all-Ukrainian stage of the accordion class competition.
Taking the highest award in Kiten, we went to the neighboring town of Primorsko, where the festival «Stars of the XXI Century» was taking place at that time. To take part in it, it was enough to pay 10 euros and play six tunes. In general, the grandson had practically no time to prepare — he played what he knew. And the jury of the contest, headed by People’s Artist of Ukraine Nina Matvienko, divided the first place between him and another participant, who at that time had been practicing accordion for eight years.
Timofey also won the X-Factor qualifying rounds held in Poltava. Children». However, the conditions put forward by their organizers do not suit us. Good vocalists would have been engaged with him there, but every month it is necessary to find somewhere 650 hryvnias for training. I can’t pull it. Besides, I don’t want my grandson to drop out of music school, thanks to which he is making progress.
If only he could fix his behavior! Fire, not a child. Timofey forgets that he has an artificial eye and is naughty along with healthy boys. And he has catheters in his eye socket for more than a year, which are necessary to divert the secreted fluid. And the longer they stand, the better the tissues will be prepared for the next operation. Kiev experts hope that this will help to install an artificial eye, which will be less noticeable. Because of this, for two and a half years Timka has not been engaged in a circus studio — physical activity is prohibited to him.
The boy himself, in whom restless energy is bubbling, is laconic. It is still difficult to explain to Timofey how he manages to win competitions.
«I don’t get hung up on winning,» he smiles. — I think my results are regular rehearsals: on weekends, on holidays. But everyone says that progress is obvious. And on stage, my finger memory just turns on…
— Are you worried during performances?
— I had to worry while tuning the microphone for live singing for a long time. Then I asked my grandmother: «Didn’t you see how my knees were shaking?» But I know she is very worried about me every time. But I feel calmer when my grandmother is around…
— When Timofey appears in front of the public, he seems to be transformed, — says Lidia Ivanovna. — He had to go through a lot of insults and humiliations, and the scene gives him confidence in himself.»