Pirates of the Sea, a costumed trio from Latvia singing “Wolves of the Sea,” took 12th place in the Eurovision Song Contest final May 24 in Belgrade, Serbia. Russia’s Dima Bilan, performing “Believe,” won the competition.

Pirates of the Sea includes Italian-born singer Roberto Meloni, radio and television moderator Jānis Vaišļa and dancer Aleksandra Kurusova. The song “Wolves of the Sea” was written by Jonas Liberg, Johan Sahlen, Claes Andreasson and Torbjörn Wassenius, all of Sweden.

Latvia received a total of 83 points. Russia earned 272. Ukraine, in the No. 2 spot, finished with 230 points, while No. 3 Greece had 218. The United Kingdom, with just 14 points, came in last in the field of 25 countries.

Points were based on the results of telephone and text-message voting in 45 nations, including almost all of Europe as well as Turkey and Israel. Each country awarded 12, 10 and then 8 through 1 points for its favorite songs. Voters are not allowed to pick their own country, but cultural, geographic and political ties often play a role in the results.

Latvia earned its only 12-point award from Ireland, where just like last year the tens of thousands of migrants from Latvia likely played a role in the results. Latvia also gained 10 points each from the United Kingdom and Baltic neighbor Lithuania.

Voters in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, meanwhile, gave their highest awards to Russia.

Bilan’s victory means next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted by Russia.

Latvia’s integration secretariat has renewed a call to Latvians and Livonians abroad to participate in a survey about repatriation. The survey, coordinated by the Rīga-based consulting firm SIA Aksedo, is focused on Latvians and Livonians in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Russia and the United States.

The consulting firm seeks at least 1,000 responses, according to Dana Heiberga of the Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration Affairs (Īpasu uzdevumu ministra sabiedrības integrācijas lietās sekretāriats, or ĪUMSILS).

The survey aims at learning about respondents’ ties to Latvia, their opinions about the image of Latvia and their thoughts on barriers to repatriation, the secretariat announced in a May 21 press release. Also addressed in the survey are questions about maintenance of Latvian and Livonian identity abroad, plus how institutions in Latvia might support that maintenance.

The integration secretariat expects to use the survey results to help it develop programs for supporting ethnic Latvian and Livonian communities abroad, as well as to work on policies to aid those who do wish to repatriate.

SIA Aksedo was awarded an LVL 8,750 contract to complete the survey. ĪUMSILS asks anyone contacted by the consulting firm to cooperate with the survey, Heiberga said.

The survey also may be completed online, either in English at aksedo.e-formas.lv/forms/381 or in Latvian at aksedo.e-formas.lv/forms/370.

Latvia’s costumed singing act Pirates of the Sea has it made through to the finals of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The Latvian entry, singing “Wolves of the Sea,” was one of 10 countries to advance from their May 22 semi-finals in Belgrade, Serbia.

Latvia will compete with 24 other countries in the final scheduled May 24 in Belgrade. The competition will be aired live on television stations across Europe and also will be available for viewing over the Internet.

In all, 43 countries have entries in the contest. Four of them—France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom—were automatically in the final because of their population. Serbia, which won last year’s contest, also had a spot reserved in the final. The remaining 38 countries were split into two groups competing in semi-finals May 20 and 22. A combination of televoting and jury decisions determined which 10 countries from each semi-final got to go on to the final.

Neither Estonia or Lithuania made it out of the semi-finals.

The winner of the May 24 final will be determined by telephone and text message voting across 45 countries, including all of Europe, Turkey and Israel.

Latvia first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000. That year, pop-rock group Brainstorm took third place. Two years later in Tallinn, Estonia, pop singer Marija Naumova won the contest. As a result, the 2003 contest took place in Latvia. Last year, Latvia’s six-man, Italian-singing Bonaparti.lv finished 16th.

The Italian-born Roberto Meloni, one of the members of Bonaparti.lv, is the driving force behind this year’s entry from Latvia. Pirates of the Sea also includes radio and television moderator Jānis Vaišļa and dancer Aleksandra Kurusova. The song “Wolves of the Sea” was written by Jonas Liberg, Johan Sahlen, Claes Andreasson and Torbjörn Wassenius, all of Sweden.

Further information on the song contest is available by visiting www.eurovision.tv.