THIS YEAR'S ENTRY
Few countries
have has such an up and down history at the
Eurovision Song Contest as Latvia. They had one
one of the most successful debuts of all time,
when in 2000 they finishing 3rd. However the
following year their entry made little impact.
Then in 2002, Latvia scored one of the biggest
surprise wins in the contest's history when
"I Wanna" triumphed in Tallinn.
Staging the contest in 2003, Latvia's entry was
one of the least successful host entries ever
and relegation and a failure to qualify from the
semi-final followed in 2004. A Top 5 finish in
Kyiv was followed by another drop into the
relegation zone and after qualifying easily for
the final in Helsinki, the Latvian entry missed
the Top 10 in the final.
This year's
Latvian Eurovision selection, followed a
familiar pattern. Two semi-finals were held at
the LTV TV Studios in Riga on February 2nd and
9th with five songs from each semi qualifiing
for the final, three chosen by televoting and
two by a jury. The final was held on March 1st
at the Olympic Center in Ventspils, with
the winner being chosen in two rounds of
televoting - the first to select the top three
and the second to select the winner. The
pre-contest favourite "Pirates Of The
Sea" performed by Wolves Of The Sea won by
a clear margin.
For the second
year in a row, Latvia is represented by a song
written by a team of Swedish songwriters and
just like Bonaparti.lv in 2006, Wolves Of the
Sea is a group brought together especially for
Eurovision by their songwriters. The trio
consists of Aleksandra Kurusova, Janis Vaišla
and Roberto Meloni.
Aleksandra
Kurusova is best known in her native Latvia as a
dancer. Aleksandra is a frequent national
champion at Sport Dances and the winner of the
Latvian edition of "Strictly Come
Dancing". Away from the stage, she is a
student of foreign languages at Latvia
University .
Janis Vaišla
is best known as a television and radio
presenter, producer and cameraman. Janis is an
adventurous traveller and claims to be a
real life pirate himself, having spent two years
sailing around the world.
Roberto Meloni
is the only full time singer in the group. He
previously represented Latvia at the Eurovison
Song Contest in 2007 as a member of the group
Bonaparti.lv. Roberto is an Italian who since
the year 2002 has been living in Latvia. He has
participated in such musicals that where staged
in Latvia as "The Robinsons Treasures",
"West Side Story" and "Les Misérables".
Roberto, who
has since acquired a dark beard and moustache
isn't the only link with the 2007 Latvian entry.
Composer Torbjörn Wassenius was also invoolved
in writing "Queste Notte", which
finished 16th in Helsinki. However "Wolves
of the Sea", couldn't be much more
different from last year's entry. It was written
as a tribute to the historical endeavours of
Latvians ancestors, and supposeedly tells of
their backbreaking lives, rebellious spirit,
freedom, masculinity and tenderness while
showing their patriotism and love for the planet
earth, and an unquenchable thirst for
adventure.
"Pirates
Of The Sea", which was apparently not the
choice of LTV, who didn't want a second
successive Swedish song representing them at
Eurovision, is one of those songs that has
divided those willing to bet money on the result
of the contest and those voting in internet
polls. While the song is a safe qualifier and
likely to be in the shake-out for the Top 10
with the bookmakers, it is failing to make any
significant impact on most fan polls.
![[]](images/lv.gif)
