May 16, 2009
Norway wins Eurovision Song Contest, Latvia left in dust
Norway has won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, gaining the right to host next year’s competition. Belarus-born performer Alexander Rybak and the song “Fairytale” earned an amazing 387 points.
Eurovision this year was held in Moscow. A total of 25 countries, including Estonia and Lithuania, competed in the May 16 final in Olimpisky Indoor Arena.
Latvia’s Intars Busulis, who decided to sing the song “Sastrēgums” in Russian rather than Latvian, failed to make it out of the semi-finals held May 14-15. The song, with music by Kārlis Lācis and lyrics by poet Jānis Elsbergs, was turned into “Probka.”
Norway walked away with the contest. Really, it killed, setting a new record for total points. As voting results were announced from the 42 countries participating in Eurovision, the real battle was for second place. Iceland and Azerbaijan exchanged spots at least a couple of times, but in the end the island nation took second with 218 points.
Estonia’s Urban Symphony held up honorably, earning 129 points and sixth place.
Andris Straumanis is editor of Latvians Online.
The article may be found online at http://latviansonline.com/blogs/article/5581/
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