Alanas Chošnau (born July 11, 1974) is a Lithuanian singer and songwriter of Lithuanian and Iraqi Kurdish origin. In 1992 – 2001 and 2014 – 2018 he was the frontman of the band Naktinės Personos. In 2001 – 2009 and since 2019 Chošnau successfully develops solo career. He owns the 'Best Performer of the Year' , 'Best Song', 'Best Video', 'Golden Disc' national awards. Chošnau is continuously named as one of the most played and most performing artists of Lithuania.

Biography

Chošnau was born to a Lithuanian mother and Iraqi Kurdish father in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Lithuania. The family—Chošnau with his parents and sister Greta—lived in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

until Chošnau's mother died in 1983. The 8-year-old Chošnau returned to Lithuania and was raised by his grandparents. However, his then teenaged sister was left in Baghdad with their father. Thus Chošnau grew up speaking the Arabic language and only later learned the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 millio ...

. Tragic family split was not enough for the destiny. The long lasting Iraq–Iran war separated Chošnau from his father and sister for a long time. Despite all of the difficult times and severe emotions, Chošnau established the pop music group Naktinės Personos along with Aras Vėberis in 1992. Chošnau performed as the frontman singer of Naktinės Personos over 10 years until the group split in 2001. During the Naktinės Personos national tour in 1997, Chošnau together with Aras and their manager got into road accident crashing his car and severely injuring the neck, which temporally paralysed both legs. Fortunately, after a long treatment and rehabilitation Chošnau fully recovered and returned back to the music. In 1992 – 2001 Naktinės Personos released 10 albums and 2 singles with multiple national awards the 'Band of the Year' and 'Album of the Year'. It was a truly successful band attracting up to 30,000 fans at their live concerts (Vingis Park, 1998). Since 2001 Chošnau continues releasing new style music and performing live as a solo artist proving another level of success. Chošnau released 7 solo albums until 2009 and then he made a break travelling to his fatherland Baghdad (Iraq) and Amman (Jordan) for creative and personal recharge. During his solo period, in 2003, Chošnau released his debut solo album ''Pusiau atmerktos akys'', which was sold in a more than 10,000 copies in 3 months and was announced 'Golden',. In the same year, it was immediately followed by another solo album ''Mintimis su tavimi'', which became 'Golden' again. In 2003 Chošnau was nominated by the national "Bravo Awards" as the "Male Singer of the Year". In 2004 Chošnau participated in a reality show ''Džiunglės'' a survival competition in Malaysian jungles organised by TV3 television channel

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

. In 2007 Chošnau took part in another TV projects such as ''Šok su žvaigžde!''(Lithuanian installment of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'') and ''Žvaigždžių duetai'' on LNK (singing competition of celebrity duos) in 2008. Chošnau song ''Kur gimsta lašai'', released within the third solo album, became the theme song of the project ''Džiunglės''. In 2008, Chošnau played the artist's role in a Lithuanian movie ''5 dienų avantiūra'' ('Five Days Affair'). With respect to the fact that Naktinės Personos split in 2001 without the farewell concert tour, Chošnau and Aras Vėberis decided to recover the band in 2014 with a grand touring project 'After 20 Years'. The tour was a great success, therefore Naktinės Personos continued releasing new singles, including digital album "Pasaulis toks yra" and widely performing live in public and private concerts, also two more band tours in 2015 – 2018. However, at the end of 2018 Naktinės Personos announced of a final and irreversible split. Since 2019, Chošnau continues his solo career releasing new singles and remixing golden hits of 2001 – 2009. In 2020 January Chošnau publicly announced of the beginning of the new music project uniting creating powers with an outstanding Lithuanian DJ and music producer Leon Somov releasing their first common single "Laukiau ilgai". In 2011 Chošnau married Valda Rukstelyte (now Valda Chosnau), they have two children.

Discography

* DISCOGRAPHY OF ‘NAKTINĖS PERSONOS’ * * Albums * 1993 / Muzika ir daugiau (Music and More) * 1994 / Ramiai (Peacefully) * 1995 / Tiems, kurie mūsų negirdi (For Those Who Don't Hear Us) * 1996 / Pažvelk kitaip (Take a Different Look) * 1996 / Tikras garsas (Live) * 1997 / Sexta (Sexta) * 1998 / Atvirai (Honestly) * 1999 / 9 dainos (Nine Songs) * 2000 / Diena. Naktis (The Day. The Night) * 2001 / Šilko kelias (Silky Way) * * Singles * 1997 / Kelyje (On the Road) * 1998 / Ša la la (Sha-la-la) * * Main Achievements * 1997 / The Best Band of the Year (Radiocentras Music Awards) * 1997 / The Best Song of the Year "Sukasi ratu" (Radiocentras Music Awards) * 1998 / The Best Band of the Year (Bravo Music Awards) * 1998 / The Concert of Naktinės Personos attracts 30 000 fans * 1999 / The Best Band of the Year (Radiocentras Music Awards) * 1999 / The Best Band of the Year (Bravo Music Awards) * DISCOGRAPHY OF ALANAS CHOŠNAU * * Albums * 2003 / Pusiau atmerktos akys (Half-Open Eyes) * 2003 / Mintimis su tavimi (With You in My Mind) * 2005 / Iš dangaus (Out of the Sky) * 2005 / Akustinis koncertas tamsoje (Acoustic Concert in the Dark) * 2007 / Aš kaip ir tu (Me Like You) * 2008 / Geriausios dainos (The Greatest Hits) * 2009 / Geri laikai (Good times) * * Main Achievements * 2003 / The Golden Disc Award for the album Pusiau atmerktos akys (Half-Open Eyes) * 2003 / The Best Song of the Year for the song ‘Laiškas ant sniego’ (Letter on the Snow) (Lithuanian National Radio Awards) * 2004 / The Best Performer of the Year (Radiocentras Music Awards) * 2004 / The Golden Disc Award for the album ‘Mintimis su tavimi’ (With You in My Mind) * 2004 / The Best Male Video ‘Meilė tau’ (My Love for You) (Tango TV Music Awards) * 2005 / President of the children and youth music festival ‘We are the World’ * 2006/ The Best Performer of the Year (Radiocentras Music Awards) * 2006 / The Best Performer of the Year (Lithuanian JP Music Awards) * 2008 / Silver Microphone Award in "Celebrity Duos Show" (LNK TV)

References

External links

Official websiteFacebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chosnau, Alanas 1974 births Living people Lithuanian pop singers 21st-century Lithuanian male singers Musicians from Vilnius Lithuanian people of Kurdish descent Lithuanian people of Iraqi descent