Dziesma Par Laimi
Encyclopedia
"Dziesma par laimi" was the Latvia
n entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
, performed in Latvian
by Fomins & Kleins
.
The song is a rock
-influenced track, with the singer telling his lover that "when there is nothing else, I think that I still have a song I can sing to you" and explaining that the song in question is one about happiness in the world. He sings that this is the kind of happiness which comes unexpectedly, "and takes us by the hand".
As of 2008 this is the only Latvian Eurovision entry featuring lyrics in Latvian. Having debuted at the 2000 Contest
, Latvia has been able to take advantage of the "free language rule", as well as the prevailing wisdom that English-language songs place higher than those in other languages.
The song has been recorded in a number of other languages. The duo is credited with recordings in Lithuanian
, Estonian
, Ukrainian
, Dutch
, Polish
, Russian
, Finnish
and English
, as well as a Latvian
-Belarusian
bilingual version.
All versions, except the English
one, were made available for free download in MP3
format in both high and low quality, from the Fomins and Kleins website. This website is no longer in service. The website was mainly in Latvian
, with just one page in English
which was just a sentence telling visitors that they could download the song in all the different languages.
It is not quite clear as to why the English
version was not included. It did, however appear on a few rare one track promo CDs.
In the semifinal, the song was performed fourth, following Switzerland
's Piero Esteriore & The MusicStars with "Celebrate" and preceding Israel
's David D'Or
with "Leha'amin
". At the close of voting, it had received 23 points, 17th in a field of 22, and missing out on the top-ten cutoff to qualify for the final. As a result, Latvia's next Contest appearance would also be in the semi-final.
It was succeeded as Latvian representative
at the 2005 Contest
by Walters & Kazha
with "The War Is Not Over
".
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
The Eurovision Song Contest 2004, was the 49th Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing "Everyway That I Can"...
, performed in Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
by Fomins & Kleins
Fomins & Kleins
The Latvian rock band Fomins & Kleins was founded at the end of 2002.Its members Ivo Fomins and Tomass Kleins were already accomplished and recognized rock musicians. Both are from the western Latvian port city of Liepāja, which is famous for its rock music traditions - many famous Latvian rock...
.
The song is a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
-influenced track, with the singer telling his lover that "when there is nothing else, I think that I still have a song I can sing to you" and explaining that the song in question is one about happiness in the world. He sings that this is the kind of happiness which comes unexpectedly, "and takes us by the hand".
As of 2008 this is the only Latvian Eurovision entry featuring lyrics in Latvian. Having debuted at the 2000 Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2000
The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the 45th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 13 May 2000 at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, following Charlotte Nilsson's victory in Jerusalem the previous year. It was the first time since 1996 that the contest was held on mainland Europe. The...
, Latvia has been able to take advantage of the "free language rule", as well as the prevailing wisdom that English-language songs place higher than those in other languages.
The song has been recorded in a number of other languages. The duo is credited with recordings in Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, as well as a Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
-Belarusian
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
bilingual version.
All versions, except the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
one, were made available for free download in MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format in both high and low quality, from the Fomins and Kleins website. This website is no longer in service. The website was mainly in Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
, with just one page in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
which was just a sentence telling visitors that they could download the song in all the different languages.
It is not quite clear as to why the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version was not included. It did, however appear on a few rare one track promo CDs.
In the semifinal, the song was performed fourth, following Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
's Piero Esteriore & The MusicStars with "Celebrate" and preceding Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's David D'Or
David D'Or
David D'Or is an Israeli singer, composer, and songwriter. A countertenor with a vocal range of more than four octaves, he is a three-time winner of the Israeli "Singer of the Year" and "Best Vocal Performer" awards. He was also chosen to represent Israel in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, at...
with "Leha'amin
Leha'Amin
"Leha'amin" was the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, performed in Hebrew and English by David D'Or....
". At the close of voting, it had received 23 points, 17th in a field of 22, and missing out on the top-ten cutoff to qualify for the final. As a result, Latvia's next Contest appearance would also be in the semi-final.
It was succeeded as Latvian representative
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times, for unknown reasons only debuting at the 2000 contest, where Brainstorm came 3rd with the song "My Star". The country's first, and so far, only win came in 2002 when Marie N and her song "I Wanna" beat favourite's Malta by 12 points,...
at the 2005 Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th Eurovision Song Contest, which was held at the Palace of Sports, Kiev, Ukraine. The winner was Greece's My Number One, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and performed by Swedish-born Greek singer Elena Paparizou, who scored 230 points,...
by Walters & Kazha
Valters & Kaža
Valters and Kaža, sometimes spelt Walters and Kazha is a Latvian duo who represented their homeland in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. The slow ballad-like song, "The War Is Not Over", finished in 5th place despite having a considerably large lead at some point during the voting...
with "The War Is Not Over
The War Is Not Over
"The War Is Not Over" was the Latvian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, performed in English by Walters & Kazha.The song is a gentle ballad with somewhat elliptical lyrics...
".