Aarzemnieki takes the honours in Latvia

Aarzemnieki winner of Dziesma 2014

 

Ventspils, Latvia - Tonight Aarzemnieki has been selected to represent Latvia in this year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song Cake To Bake . They saw off the competition from eleven other entrants in the Ventspils Theatre in Ventspils to win the ticket to Copenhagen. The song is composed by Guntis Veilands

Twelve songs initially took to the stage in the Ventspils Theatre, with three of them progressing to a superfinal. The decision in both rounds was reached by a 50/50 combination of jury and televoting, with viewers also able to vote online.

The Participants

(Qualifiers to the superfinal in bold.)

1. Revelation sung by Ralfs Eilands, Valters Pūce & Nelli Bubujanca
2. Lights On sung by Markus Riva
3. Moment And Tomorrow sung by Katrīna Bindere
4. Pēdējā Vēstule sung by Dons
5. Stay sung by Samanta Tina
6. Here I Am Again sung by Niko
7. Going All The Way sung by MyRadiantU
8. Saule Riet (Take Away) sung by Olga & Līgo
9. I Can Breathe sung by Aminata Savadogo
10. Cake To Bake sung by Aarzemnieki
11. If I Could (Get Away) sung by Eirošmits
12. You Are The Reason sung by Katrine Lukins

The Superfinal

(Winner in bold)

1. Pēdējā Vēstule sung by Dons
2. Stay sung by Samanta Tina
3. Cake To Bake sung by Aarzemnieki

Special Guests

• Last year's winners of Dziesma - the group PeR, who were joined by the Lithuanian singer Jurga.
• The reunited group Fomins and Kleins who represented Latvia in the 2004 contest.
• The popular artists Lauris Reiniks and Norman Rutulis.
• From Estonia, the group Tenfold Rabbit.

If you missed the final, you can watch Dziesma 2014 again via our web.tv player.
Latvia will participate in the First Semi-Final to be held on Tuesday the 6th of May in Copenhagen.

What do you think of the Latvian entry? Tell us below!

Watch Latvia select their entry tonight!

Tonight's artists at the draw for running order.

 

Ventspils, Latvia - Tonight in the city of Ventspils in Latvia, the final will take place of Dziesma 2014 to decide which of the 12 songs will represent the nation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, and you can watch Dziesma 2014 tonight on Eurovision.tv from 20:25 CET.

After staging two semi-finals which took place in Riga, Latvia on the 1st and 2nd February, when 24 songs were reduced down to 12 songs, the final now moves to its traditional home of the Ventspils Theatre in the city of Ventspils.
The running order was determined by a draw, which took place on the 11th of February, and resulted in the following order.

The participants

1. Revelation sung by Ralfs Eilands, Valters Pūce & Nelli Bubujanca
2. Lights On sung by Markus Riva
3. Moment And Tomorrow sung by Katrīna Bindere
4. Pēdējā Vēstule sung by Dons
5. Stay sung by Samanta Tina
6. Here I Am Again sung by Niko
7. Going All The Way sung by MyRadiantU
8. Saule Riet (Take Away) sung by Olga & Līgo
9. I Can Breathe sung by Aminata Savadogo
10. Cake To Bake sung by Aarzemnieki
11. If I Could (Get Away) sung by Eirošmits
12. You Are The Reason sung by Katrine Lukins

The Voting

The decision as to which song will represent Latvia, will be determined by a 50/50 combination of a jury and televoting. It will also be possible to vote online via the LTV website.

Superfinal

The top three songs will go forward to the so called Superfinal, and again it will be down to a 50/50 vote. However should there be a tie, then the winner will be the song with the higher televote.
The winning song will compete in the First Semi-Final to be held in Copenhagen on Tuesday the 6th of May.

Special Guests

• Last year's winners of Dziesma - the group PeR, who will be joined by the Lithuanian singer Jurga.
• The reunited group Fomins and Kleins who represented Latvia in the 2004 contest.
• The popular artists Lauris Reiniks and Norman Rutulis.
• From Estonia, the group Tenfold Rabbit.

Don't forget you can watch on Eurovision.tv the final of Dziesma 2014 from 20:25 CET

Factfile:

• Latvia made their debut in the 2000 contest with an impressive third place, and My Star performed by Brainstorm.
• They've won the contest once, in 2002 with I Wanna sung by Marie N.
• Latvia haven't reached the Grand Final since 2008 when Pirates of the Sea took the song Wolves Of The Sea to 12th place.
• In 2013, the group PeR finished in 17th place in their Semi-Final with 13 points with the song Here We Go.

Which song is your favourite to represent Latvia in Copenhagen?

Latvia retains Dziesma format for 2014

Latvia retains Dziesma format for 2014

Riga, Latvia -
LTV, the Latvian Broadcaster has updated the dates of the national selection of Dziesma 2014. The selection of the entry for Latvia in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest will follow the pattern of previous years, with two semi finals now on the 1st and 2nd of February in Riga, and the final on February 22nd in Ventspils.

"The change of the dates provides the opportunity for the Latvian audience to receive the broadcast of the national selection that would be technically and creatively better prepared. Already since the first day of 2014 brings more changes to Latvians with the emitting of a new currency - Euro, which is followed by the grand event in our capital, Riga - "Riga 2014". In addition to that there are also the broadcasts of Winter Olympic games from Sochi, where Latvian athletes are taking an active part in," comments Sergejs Nesterovs, the board member of Latvia Television as well as programme development manager. Nesterovs adds, that "the broadcasting of such an important and large event as national selection for Eurovision Song Contest requires particular preparations. It is essential to have at least a little bit of time after a production of an event broadcast to prepare for the next one to provide the best possible technical quality and broadcast."
The songs for Dziesma 2014 can be submitted until the 20th of November. 24 semifinal songs are going to be announced during a press conference on the 2nd of December.
Six songs from each sem final go to the final. Both in the semi finals and in the final, an LTV jury and a public televote will be of equal value, 50/50. The three songs receiving the most votes in the final proceed to the the superfinal. The winner of the superfinal will represent Latvia in Copenhagen.

Dziesma 2014 keeps the slogan from the previous year , 'Stand up, Europe!' But there is a slight change this year, in that only songs from Latvian composers will be accepted.
The rules for the selection are currently available in Latvian here.
The group PeR represented Latvia in the 2013 contest, with the song Here We Go which finished in 17th, and therfore last place in the Second Semi-Final. The nation will be hoping for a big improvement in their placing next year, and hope to emulate their victory in the 2002 edition of Europe's Favourite TV Show.

What does Latvia need to do in 2014 to improve their result?