I reluctantly post this in Latvian Culture.
Look at this link that talks about Latvia and Israels separate Eurovision 2007 entries. What Israel has to do with Europe is anybody’s guess! Their entry is appropriately apocalyptic considering the situation in the mideast right now though.
This link is to the article, which links to YouTube videos of both the Israeli and Latvian entries.
http://www.hecklerspray.com/eurovision-betting-odds-2007-israel-latvia/20078135.php

My favorite line is
“We’re continuing to rattle on with these 2007 Eurovision betting odds, and for all you who’ve been hollering “Latvia! Where’s Latvia? If I don’t get to read about Latvia right now I’m going to shit!” every morning - calm down, it’s coming.”

Eurovision Betting Odds 2007: Israel & Latvia

May 1st, 2007 at 10:30 by Stuart Heritage

We’re continuing to rattle on with these 2007 Eurovision betting odds, and for all you who’ve been hollering “Latvia! Where’s Latvia? If I don’t get to read about Latvia right now I’m going to shit!” every morning - calm down, it’s coming.

But first - what will happen to you if you decide to go to Helsinki for the Eurovision Song Contest? Finland is useless, right? No way! Any visitors going to Finland for Eurovision will be subjected to all sorts of events like karaoke contests, street fashion shows, ice cream tasting and some people walking around a statue. Cancel that month in Fiji we’ve booked - we’re going to Helsinki!

Here are the Eurovision betting odds for Israel and - you guessed it, you lucky dogs - Latvia, with help from Paddy Power…

Israel (pop. 6,876,883; a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean sea) Teapacks, Push The Button

Israel have long been seen as the bad boys for Eurovision; partly because it’s not actually in Europe, partly because when it wins Eurovision it tends to do so with transsexuals and partly because this year’s Israeli Eurovision entry is a horrible polka-style rap about blowing up the planet with nuclear bombs. Push The Button by Teapacks - a group of Israeli pop veterans - is part oompah oompah song, part Prodigy-style thrash and part gangsta rap. Plus it almost got kicked out of Eurovision for apparently promoting international conflict, with lyrics like “The world is full of terror/ If someone makes an error/ He’s gonna blow us up to biddy biddy kingdom come.” Never mind any of that, if Teapacks manage to take this shapeless dollop of a song to Eurovision victory, we’re going to blow them up to kingdom come. Not biddy biddy kingdom come, though, naturally. We don’t even know what that means. Current Eurovision betting odds - 25/1

Latvia (pop. 2,331,500; a country in northern Europe) Bonaparti.Lv, Questa Notte

2007 looks set to be the Eurovision of gimmicks. So far we’ve already seen the Georgian giant dancing frock gimmick, the Danish transvestite gimmick and the Israeli pro-nuclear gimmick. Latvia is just a little country, so it’ll need a huge gimmick to stand out on Eurovision night. And what has it gone with? Six shouting men in top hats. Questa Notte is a sort of show-stopping pseudo-Operatic song with vaguely rapey translated lyrics like “The perfume of your skin/ Invites me/ To discovery what I don’t know” that inevitably sound better sung in Italian. But it’s the performance of Questa Notte that weirds us out - that happens one Bonaparti.Lv singer quickly becomes two - then three, then four, then five and then six. It’s as if someone has got one of them wet, or fed them after midnight. Or something. Maybe that’s how Latvians reproduce. Current Eurovision betting odds - 25/1

Tomorrow - Lithuania and Malta. But if that’s too long to wait - or you feel like making more money than you know what to do with - head right over to the Paddy Power Eurovision betting odds page to see the latest, and best, betting odds.

Well...what can one say?!  Nozelojami, but...Lithuania, Malta weren’t too bad.  As a matter of fact, the Lithuanian singer, guitar player was pretty good.  Sorry I can’t find it in my heart of hearts to say the same for Latvia.  For more on this extravaganza, bizarro, you can view most of the videos, songs at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/eurovision/2007/contestants/

Only one I couldn’t view is Austria, which may have been interesting--"Get a Life, Get alive!?  and Russia, no video available.

Enjoy!

Irena

I must have yawned....and missed it. Again!!

Ivar,

Even if you hadn’t missed it, you still would have yawned!  :-)

Irena,

I saw the Latvian performance and actually liked it. I thought they would have clinched the Italian vote, but apparently not.

Pierre

Although in theory I agree, Eurovision is not my cup of tea, I have to admit I loved Ukraine!  And some of the others...Bulgaria, for instance...were great as well.  Yes, it’s not the politically correct to enjoy Eurovision...but…

My daughter, in the UK, and long a fan of the kitschy Eurovision, made all her friends watch the competition live on local tv.  She has also downloaded many of the songs and has been showering us with Youtube videos of her favorite versions.  And she is no big emo fan...more an alternative rock and roll girl…

Funny how life seems to move in endless circles...when we remember that almost 25 years ago my husband and I were driving through a snowy northern Finland, hearing the Eurovision competition on the car radio (for the first time), and getting explanations from a long time Finnish friend about this very strange cultural phenom.

“Even if you hadn’t missed it, you still would have yawned! “

Just to clarify, I actually and deliberately missed the entire Eurovision fest. I know I’m a real snob, but I’d rather spend what time is left to me on some more rivetting things. Let’s hope there’s plenty of time left!

“ Yes, it’s not the politically correct to enjoy Eurovision...but...”

Might not be politically correct, but it sure seems to be trendy these days....

Neither the “androgynous/butch?” Serbian performer nor the transvestite Ukrainian Verka Serduchka singing LASHA TUMBAI have anything on Marija Naumova, the 2002 Latvian winner of Eurovision, performing the tame-but-trailblazing, I WANNA.  Just type in “Maria Naumova” on YOUTUBE and you’ll see what I mean.

Heh...have to disagree there.  I like Marija Naumova (or Maria N...the lame idea of some Latvian promoter...as she was known then).  And we were living in Latvia in 2002 when I Wanna came out.  But not one of her best attempts.

I will never understand Latvian entries to Eurovision...instead of just pulling out the stops and either going full camp (as clearly Ukraine did) or putting in some of Latvia’s best performers with alternative folk or some such (like Bulgaria this year) they usually enter some lame over marketed and over stylized fabrication of a group.  Marija Naumova is a good example.  What’s wrong with her name...what’s wrong with her more typical music?  Yes she did win with I Wanna, but she has made much better contribution to the music world.

And, as I said, not my favorite thing, but although Eurovision some years is just terrible pop...some years (like this year) there are a number of entries which combine pure campy entertainment with some pretty good music.

Even though I really like Marija Naumova and enjoyed her 2002 Eurovision performance of I WANNA, my post was tongue-in-cheek.  I was pleasantly surprised that Serbia(!!!) (barely post-Milosevic) was so “bold” about the “butch” performance, but then I’m probably mistaken in thinking that anything called “PRAYER” coming from Serbia was consciously, rule-breaking “camp.” Alas, Verka Serduchka is not a brave, gay Ukrainian man but only a straight, comedic caricature. From the YOUTUBE comments though, LASHA TUMBAI was popular beyond here in San Fancisco.

I guess I would agree - besides Prāta Vētra and Maria Naumova, the Latvian contributions to Eurovision have been rather lame. But then, I am sure we could say the same of any participating country. Mind you, I did like this year’s Latvian effort.

Pierre

PS: I’m a big fan of Maria N, I just love her French CD.

Just thought I’d let you know, especially you Ivar, that it’s NOT too late to view the Euro contest.  The link that I gave in my prior post wasn’t really very good, the following one is much better:

http://www.eurovision.tv/

Just click on the red box to the right, where it says, “Watch all Episodes of Helsinki calling...” and voila, you can view all the contestants.  I can’t remember them all; I kind of liked Greece and Portugal, but I tend to like that kind of music anyway. 

To my mind, Mara Upmane is still one of the most talented and innovative sounds on the contemporary pop rock scene coming out of Latvia today.

Irena