We continue our tour around the Baltics and pay Latvia a visit. Only somewhere along the way we think we made a wrong turn and ended up in a bar in Nashville.
On second thought we can imagine Riga being chuck full of trendy hipsters drinking whiskey in speakeasies while left wing country music gently floats from the loudspeakers in the background. And this year’s Supernova winner Carousel fits right into this equation.
Guess that’s how globalization works, and Latvia has been far from traditional and old-fashioned in Eurovision for quite a long time now. Electropop from Latvian/Russian/Burkinabè Aminata, bossa nova rhythms from Latvian-Brazilian Laura Rizzotto and bold electro/rock/hip hop fusion from Triana Park tells us that Latvia has a national selection show which is experimental and diverse. It also suggests that Supernova has a different viewer demography than what you typically will find in the Nordic countries where families gather in front of the telly on a Saturday night and usually make sure that an inoffensive, uncomplicated tune is sent off to the international final.
Perhaps Supernova is being aired on big screens in the trendiest hangouts around the country and the Latvian hipster kids vote like maniacs for their favorites. In which case we don’t mind. Eurovision would be so boring without a broad spectrum of genres and country music has found its rightful place in the line-up.
That Night is a quiet tune that bobs along and we’re afraid it’s a little too uneventful and repetitive to make much of an impact in Tel Aviv. Placed in the first half of the second semifinal it runs the risk of sinking without a trace. It all comes down to staging, we suppose. If the duo Sabine Žuga/Maris Vasilievsky manages to recreate Ilse DeLange/Waylon magic it might end up doing quite well.
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