Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Aarzemnieki are supporting San Marino between Baking cakes and working on funny videos, like this one , for example. Good luck Latvia!

Today there was a break of the rehearsals in the arena. A part of the singers had though appointment in the recording studios to record their bits of Rainmaker that they will perform together with Emmelie De Forest. Apparently all didn't go as smoothly as the Danes would have wanted, for various reasons.... Anyways, a day off for most ment parties! Parties were arranged all around Copenhagen starting at noon with Macedonia, followed by Latvia, Iceland, Estonia, Georgia...  We opted for Latvia. A Tea party at 2pm and a song title Cake to bake promised well.  And indeed, there were trays full of cakes of various kind with tea or coffee. And a lot of music. Jöran and Katrina with the rest of the band played hosts getting their guests involved with singing. They improvised and entertained us like there was no tomorrow and the other stars that came by just went along:  Hersi from Albania singing in Italian Vivo per lei with Jöran (who certainly isn't Bocelli.....

EuroClub was opened and several artists performed on stage and danced the night away. Vega has several floors and venues and appear quite small really. But at least on Monday night it wasn't too crowded.... Better that way for everyone to get to know each other :-) Hungarian Andras Kallay Saunders was there.... So where the Russian Tolmachevy twins.... And Dilara Kazimove from Azerbaijan.... Oh, it's Alex Panaiy from Cyprus! Or Russia actually.... Rui Andrade was also present. So was  Marya Yaremchuk from Ukraine....Her cover of Hora din Moldova rocked the house! And happy DJs Ohrmeister and the Latvian Joran from Aarzemnieki! And Teo offered us some cheesecake..... And DQ offered something else upstairs.... Namely karaoke!

Latvia's Aarzemnieki is fronted by German Jöran Steinhauer. He already has Eurovision national final experience from 2008 with Axiina . After a succesful farewell to Latvian lat last year with Paldies Latiņam! this year he and his foreigners have a Cake to bake . Robert : Latvia, in fact, made me angry. Wrong song won! Not that the winning song of Aarzemnieki is not cute but when you have a super song in your preselection which is also nr 1 in the charts, how can you as a nation not vote for it? It beats me. With Dons and Pedeja vestule , Latvia even had a chance to win the whole thing. However, I predict Cake to bake to go to the final also. YES final. Blogilkar: Aarzemnieki wasn't my favorite either but somehow I wasn't at all surprised it won. I suspect it will do much better than any fan polls and betting odds indicate. I had several favorites in Latvia, including Dons. MyRadiantU and Mad Show Boys (even if they were rather chaotic live and didn't eve...

Aarzemnieki has won the Latvian final with Cake to bake . So the acoustic folk trend continues. They beat Samanta Tina and Dons in the superfinal.  JURY vote: 1.        „Revelation”, Ralfs Eilands & Valters Pūce, 2.        „Pēdējā vēstule”, Dons, 3.        „I can breathe”, Aminata Savadogo, 4.        „Cake To Bake”, grupa „Aarzemnieki”, 5.        „Stay”, Samanta Tīna, 6.        „Going All the Way ”, grupa „MyRadiantU”, 7.        „Moment and tomorrow” , Katrīna Bindere, 8.        „If I Could (Get Away)” , grupa “Eirošmits”, 9.        „Saule riet” , Olga un Līgo, 10.    „Lights on” , Markus Riva, 11.    „Here I am again” , Niko,   ...

Latvia started its Dziesma last night with the first semifinal and the second semifinal is tonight. Happy to see my favorites MyRadiantU, Olga & Ligo and Aarzemnieki all made it to the final, along with Niko, Samanta Tina and Aminata Savadogo.And was there a polar bear on stage? Folk dances? Madonna's We are family choreography from early 1990's? Gaitana's flower headpiece? Latvia's Eric Saade with Daft Punks? Who knows what were in for tonight then? Anyways, pretty good selection! And once again it was proven certain songs were better only be heard, and not seen and performed live.... DJ Dween & Sabine Berezina – Dejo tā  Crazy Dolls – Bučas  Tamara Rutkovska – I’m Happy   Niko – Here I am again  Ivo Grīsniņš Grīslis – I’ve got  Aarzemnieki – Cake to bake  Oskars Deigelis – Just stop   Samanta Tina – Stay  MyRadiantU – Going all the way  Aminata Savadogo – I can breathe   Davis Matskins – I need more...

Latvia will have it's semifinals this weekend. Two semifinals with 12 songs, and six of them from each semifinal will go to the final of Dziesma on February 22, 2014. With a couple of listenings I shortisted my favorites and at this point they are MyRadiantU, Mad Show Boys, Dons, Rolands Udris and Olga & Ligo. Bubbling under are Markus Rivas, Aarzemnieki, Andris Kivics.... Let's wait and see if they will go all the way to the final, and maybe even Copenhagen - I have no idea how Latvians will vote! Listen all the songs here . Semi-final 1 - February 1, 2014 DJ Dween & Sabīne Berezina - Dejo Tā  Crazy Dolls - Bučas Tamara Rutkovska - I am happy Niko - Here I am again Ivo Grīsniņš Grīslis - I've got Aarzemnieki - Cake to bake Oskars Deigelis - Just stop Samanta Tina - Stay MyRadiantU - Going all the way Aminata Savadogo - I can breathe Dāvis Matskins - I need more Olga & Līgo - Saule riet (Take away) Semi-final 2  - Februar...