Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Latvia

Member station LTV
National selection events
Appearances
Appearances 17 (10 finals)
First appearance 2000
Best result 1st: 2002
Worst result Last: 2009 SF, 2010 SF, 2013 SF
External links
LTV page
Latvia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song "My Star". Latvia won the contest in 2002, with Marie N and the song "I Wanna", defeating Malta by 12 points. Latvia is the second former Soviet country to win the contest. The 2003 contest was held in the Latvian capital Riga. The country achieved its third top 10 result in 2005, when Walters and Kazha finished fifth with "The War Is Not Over".

Latvia did not participate in the final from 2009 to 2014, when they failed to qualify from the semi-finals for six consecutive years, including finishing last on three occasions, in 2009, 2010 and 2013.[1][2] Latvia qualified for the final for the first time since 2008 at the 2015 contest with Aminata and the song "Love Injected". Her sixth place in the final is Latvia's fourth top 10 finish and best result in the contest since 2005. Latvia made its 10th appearance in the final in 2016.

Contestants

Latvia has had seventeen Eurovision entries since its debut. All of Latvia's entries have been performed in English, except for three entries: in 2004, Fomins & Kleins performed "Dziesma par laimi" for Latvia in Latvian; In 2007 when Bonaparti.lv performed Questa Notte in Italian and in 2009, Intars Busulis, having won Eirodzeisma 2009 with "Sastrēgums" in Latvian, performed the song in Russian as "Probka" (Пробка).[3]

To select the 2017 Latvian Eurovision entry, Spotify data will be included in national Eurovision vote.[4]

Table key
  Winner
  Second place
  Third place
  Last place
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
2000 Brainstorm English "My Star" 3 136 No semi-finals
2001 Arnis Mednis English "Too Much" 18 16
2002 Marie N English "I Wanna" 1 176
2003 F.L.Y. English "Hello From Mars" 24 5
2004 Fomins and Kleins Latvian "Dziesma par laimi" Failed to qualify 17 23
2005 Walters and Kazha English "The War Is Not Over" 5 153 10 85
2006 Vocal Group Cosmos English "I Hear Your Heart" 16 30 Top 11 Previous Year
2007 Bonaparti.lv Italian "Questa notte" 16 54 5 168
2008 Pirates of the Sea English "Wolves of the Sea" 12 83 6 86
2009 Intars Busulis Russian "Probka" (Пробка) Failed to qualify 19 7
2010 Aisha English "What For?" 17 11
2011 Musiqq English "Angel in Disguise" 17 25
2012 Anmary English "Beautiful Song" 16 17
2013 PeR English "Here We Go" 17 13
2014 Aarzemnieki English1 "Cake to Bake" 13 33
2015 Aminata English "Love Injected" 6 186 2 155
2016 Justs English "Heartbeat" 15 132 8 132
2017
NOTES:
1. ^ The song is in English; however, there are some phrases in Latvian.[5]
2. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.

Voting history

As of 2016, Latvia's voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only
Rank Country Points
1  Russia 148
2  Ukraine 93
3  Sweden 82
4  Lithuania 74
5  Estonia 72
Most points received in the grand finals only
Rank Country Points
1  Lithuania 91
2  Estonia 88
3  Ireland 66
4  United Kingdom 47
5  Germany 34
 Norway
Most points given in the semis and finals
Rank Country Points
1  Russia 186
2  Estonia 157
3  Lithuania 151
4  Ukraine 150
5  Sweden 114
Most points received in the semis and finals
Rank Country Points
1  Lithuania 170
2  Estonia 136
3  Ireland 122
4  United Kingdom 75
5  Malta 69

Hostings

Year Location Venue Presenters
2003 Riga Skonto Hall Marija Naumova and Renārs Kaupers

Commentators and spokespersons

Year(s) Commentator Spokesperson
2000 Kārlis Streips Lauris Reiniks
2001 Renārs Kaupers
2002 Ēriks Niedra
2003 Ģirts Līcis
2004 Lauris Reiniks
2005 Marie N
2006 Mārtiņš Freimanis
2007 Janis Šipkevics
2008 Kristīne Virsnīte
2009 Roberto Meloni
2010 Kārlis Būmeisters
2011 Valters Frīdenbergs and Kārlis Būmeisters Aisha
2012 Valters Frīdenbergs
2013 Anmary
2014 Ralfs Eilands
2015 Valters Frīdenbergs and Toms Grēviņš Markus Riva
2016 Toms Grēviņš
2017 TBA TBA

Photogallery

References

  1. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Semi-Final (2)". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final 2013 (2)". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Floras, Stella (2009-03-01). "Latvia: Sastregums to be performed in Russian". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  4. ↑ "Latvia to include Spotify data in national Eurovision vote". eng.lsm.lv. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Eurovision.tv. "Cake to bake, original lyrics". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 24 June 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.