Latvians abroad interested in seeing who will represent the homeland in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be able to watch the national final live over the Internet on Feb. 27, Latvian State Television has announced.
The broadcast will begin at 19:30 hours on LTV1 in Latvia. At 20:15 CET (19:15 GMT), the Internet stream will become available on the official Eurovision Web site, www.eurovision.tv.
Ten songs are in the running to become Latvia’s entry in the annual contest, this year scheduled May 25-29 in Oslo, Norway:
- “Like a Mouse” performed by group PeR.
- “Lullaby for My Dreammate (Diamond Lullaby)” performed by Triānas parks.
- “What For?” performed by Aisha.
- “Your Morning Lullaby” performed by Lauris Reiniks.
- “My Religion is Freedom” performed by Dons.
- “Digi digi dong” performed by the Konike Project. The song, said to be in the Konike language, is one of only two non-English entries in the Latvian contest.
- “When I Close My Eyes” performed by H2O.
- “Rišti rašti” performed by Kristīne Kārkle-Puriņa. The Livonian song is the other non-English entry.
- “Because I Love You” performed by Ivo Grīsniņš-Grīslis.
- “Snow in July” performed by Kristīna Zaharova.
Latvia’s entry last year in the Eurovision Song Contest, Intars Busulis performing the Russian-language “Probka,” failed to make it into the final. The contest was held in Moscow and was won by the Belarus-born Alexander Rybak, who represented Norway with the song “Fairytale.”
The Latvian national contest, called Eirodziesma, will take place in Ventspils.
To view the Internet stream, the Octoshape plug-in must be installed on the user’s computer.
Kristīne Kārkle-Puriņa, an ethnomusicology student and singer with the Latgallian folk ensemble Ceiruleits, will perform a song in Livonian in the Eirodziesma competition. (Photo courtesy of Latvian State Television)
