Introduction

There has been a traditional national final in Ventspils, Latvia with two semi finals. The group PeR had two songs in the final. With “Here We Go” they have reached the super final and at the end they could get the highest votes from the expert jury and from the televoters.

The Name of the group PeR stands for “Please explain the rhythm” and consists of the two singers Ralfs Eilands and Edmunds Rasmanis and has been founded in 2007. The style of their music can be described as vocal and beatbox music. They have entered the Latvian national final already in 2009, 2010 and 2012. In 2012 they came 2nd with the song “Disco Superfly”.  They have gained valuable experiences at festivals throughout the Baltic countries. In 2011 they have reached the second place in the Chart Base Top 100 in Denmark. Furthermore PeR has received several awards like the “Best New Artists” in the independent music charts and a nomination as “Best European Alternative Video” with the song “Go Get Up”.

The song for the ESC is called “Here We Go” and it is a fresh and modern song, with a happy melody and rap elements. Latvia will start in the second semi final which is normally the stronger one, so the competition seems to be a bit harder. If PeR is going to work on a convincing choreography which stands out of the others this might have a good chance in the final.

History

Participations: 14

Debut: 2000

Biggest success: 1x 1st place “I Wanna” by Marie N in 2002, 1x 3rd place “My Star” by Brainstrom in 2000, 1x 5th place

In the short history of Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest success came in the third year after the debut. In 2002 Marie N. could convince the juries and televoters with „I wanna“. Latvia describes itself as “the land that sings” which origins in the long singing tradition which takes place in singing festivals all over the country. This can also be said from the neighbour country Estonia. The best ranks could be reached by “My star” by Brainstorm in 2000 (3rd) and “The war is not over” by Walter & Kleins in 2005 (5th).

In the last four years Latvia could not reach the grand final anymore, even if the Latvian songs seem to be contemporary. Compared to the more successful neighbour Estonia, Latvia has not found it’s clear successful line, all Latvian entries are totally different from each other, even if the Latvians love to sing, but obviously don’t hit the European taste unfortunately.