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 debut in 2000, finishing 3rd. However the
following year their entry made little impact. Then in 2002, Latvia
scored one of the biggest surprise wins in Eurovision 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. The in 2005, "The War Is Not" finished 5th in
Kyiv, after looking like a possible winner at one point in the
voting. In 2006, another drop into the relegation zone, means that
Latvia has once again to qualify from this year's final.
This
year Latvian broadcaster LTV decided to have another big selection
show with two semi-finals and a final staged in Ventspils on
February 24th. Ten songs competed for the public votes and the
winner was the rather unusual pre-contest favourite; "Questa
Notte" (This Night) sung in Italian by Bonaparti.lv a group
formed specifically for the Latvian Eurovision preselection. The
rules of the Latvian selection dictate that while the songwriters
can come from outside the country, the performers must be born or
normally live in Latvia.
The group were put
together by the Swedish songwriters who wrote the song and consist
of five Latvians and one Italian. The Italian is Robert Meloni, who
is ciurrently based in Athens. The five Latvians are Normunds
Jakusonoks himself a well known songwriter and keyboard player and
a well established name on the Latvian music scene. Zigfrids
Muktupavels is a violinist, singer songwriter and producer. Andris
Abelite plays the trumpet as well as singing and has lost out in
three previous Latvian Eurovision selections. Kaspars Timanis has
worked with several Latvian groups and plays the trumpet as well as
singing. Finally, Andris Erglis is the baby of the group and is a
drummer with Liepaja Symphonic Orchestra as well as being a
talented singer.
The team behind the Latvian
entry is based in Sweden. They consist of composer Kjell Jennstig,
and the lyrics who have contributed the Italian lyrics Torbjorn
Wassenius and his wife Francesca Russo. Finally there's
Swedish sound technician Bo Reimer who has previously worked with
IlDivo, The Backstreet Boys and Tom Jones.
Since
winning the Latvian ticket to Helsinki the group have re-recorded
their Eurovision entry in Sweden with the Gothenburg Symphony
Orchestra providing the backing. (You can hear the new version
above right). Meanwhile although Italy are not competing in this
year's contest, there has been some Italian interest in the song
and especially in singer Roberto Meloni. In another international
twist the UK branch of Armani have offered Bonaparti.lv its outfits
from the latest collection and the group are considering the offer,
with Helsinki in mind.
Latvia was one of the
countries that got to choose its own position in the order of
performance in the semi-final and LTV's Head of Delegation chose to
perform last in the Thursday night show. While the song isn't doing
especially well in most internet polls, bookmakers are a little
more optimistic, and see it being in with a strong chance of
qualifying from the semi-final.
![[]](images/lv.gif)
LATVIA @ EUROVISION