Follow ESC and other musical news in Latvian language.

Muzikas zinas

Следите за новостями Евровидения и музыки на латышском языке.

Names of participants of Operacion Triunfo 2 have been announced. They are Ainoa, Beth, Cristie, Danni Ubeda, Elena Gadel, Enrique Anaut, Hugo, Jano, Joan Tena, Mai Meneses, Manuel Carrasco, Marcos Elis, Marey, Miguel Angel Silva, Miguel Nandez, Nika, Saray, Tessa, Tony Santos and Vega. More on this event - check official site.

Soon our site will start launching 2003 countries pages. And probably Spain will be among first. Coming up!

В ближайшее время наш сайт начнет запускать отдельные страницы, посвященные странам - участницам Евровидения 2003. И скорее всего первой будет именно страница Испании. Ждите!

Actually now it seems like confirmed fact that Oleksandr Ponomaryov will represent Ukraine in ESC 2003.

He was selected in May 2002, and as Yuriy Aivazyan, first vice-president of NTCU broadcaster said in his latest interviews "We have not so many singers of European class, that's why we selected person who is awarded "Best Ukraine singer" for 5 years in a row.

Answering question why Ukraine decided to join contest only now, Mr.Aivazyan said, that they were afraid of costs, cause according to rumours participation fee was 100000 US $. But recently we found it's not that expensive, last year as pasive participant we payed only 15000 US $.

- сайт Олександра Пономарьова.

LTV is to give press-conference on October, 9 to reveal some aspects of ESC 2003 including logo and concept of the contest.

The theme of contest is however already known. It is "Rendezvous".

Тема конкурса однако уже известна. Это "Рандеву", то есть встреча.

Greek broadcaster published rules for 2003 national final. Deadline to submit songs written by Greek composers and artists is December, 2

Deadline for submission of songs for Latvian national final is also set, it is November 15th, and for Estonia it is December, 9th.

Some changes in Operacion Triunfo 2. During first show jury will select 16 of 20 candidates, but one more will be saved by public voting, and total number of contestants will be 17.

Аналогичную дату установило и телевидение Латвии - 15 ноября. Для Эстонии крайний срок установлен на 9-е декабря.

Небольшие изменения в Операции Триумф 2. Во время первого шоу жюри отберет 16 из 20 кандидатов, но телезрители получат возможность спасти еще одного, что сделает число участников равным 17-ти.

Slovenia made public details of their national selection process 2003. Anyone can enter his songs till Nov,27. Final will be held at Feb,15, on one night but in two rounds. In first 16 songs will be performed, and voted for by televoting and jury. 3 best qualify for 2nd round, songs are performed once more and winner will be chosen by televoting only.

Rumours suggested that Olexandr Ponomaryov is selected to represent Ukraine in ESC 2003.

Now Ukranian broadcaster is searching  for good song and invited all songwriters to submit their entries. No national final will be organized.

Estonia's economy recorded a record surge of seven percent in the second quarter of 2002 and part of the growth is thought to have been caused by the organisation of Eurovision song contest in Estonia in May, Hansa__ Markets analyst Maris Lauri told Estonian daily Aripaev Online.
With many people in Tallinn for the week for the contest, restaurants and hotels posted a growth of eleven percent in the second quarter, compared to two percent growth in the first quarter. "This was probably caused by the bigger number of clients brought to Estonia by the Eurovision song contest," Lauri added.

Ресттораны и отели зафииксировали рост в размере 11 процентов во втором квартале по сравнению с 2х процентным ростом в первом. "Это было вызвано увеличением числа клиентов, которые прибыли на конкурс Евровидение", - добавила Лаури.

SVT took a close look at the voting results of the past ten years to find out which countries gave points to Sweden. They concluded that in 2003, all generous countries for Sweden will participate in the contest except Denmark. "Just like in 1999, when Charlotte won the contest in Israel", SVT says.

Christer Bjorkman is in overall charge of the 2003 Swedish national finals, which once again will feature four heats and a national final in March at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. He will select the jury members who shortly will consider the songs submitted and head up discussions on the artists invited to take part.

Christer has told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet that next year's Swedish entry should be "an uptempo Swedish Schlager in English sung by a solo girl, or a girl group."
Writers have until October 15 to submit potential songs to the organisers. SVT are hoping to beat the record 1830 entries received in 2002. The titles of the short listed songs are expected to be announced sometime in November, with performers confirmed in January 2003. The 2002 Melodifestival will be held in Stockholm on March 15 2003.

СВТ детально рассмотрело результаты голосования последних 10 лет, чтобы выяснить какие страны чаще всего голосуют за Швецию. Выяснилось, что все эти страны, кроме Дании примут участие и в конкурсе 2003. Так было и в 1999 году, когда Швеции удалось одержать победу.

Кристер Бьеркман вновь будет отвечать за проведение национального отбора, который как и прежде будет состоять из 4-х полуфиналов и финала в марте на Глобал Арена в Стокгольме. Он выберет членов жюри, которые рассмотрят выбранные песни и  выберут подходящие.

Кристер сказал  в интервью газете Афтонбладет, что песня следующего года должна быть "шведским шлягером, с быстрым темпом и исполняться девушкой или группой девушек".

Авторы  должны до 15 октября подать заявки. СВТ надеется побить рекорд 1830   заявок прошлого года. Названия отобранных песен будут объявлены в ноябре, а  имена исполнителей будут названы в январе. Финал намечен на 15 марта 2003.

The launching date of the new Operacion Triunfo was announced today. Show will get started on October, 7th. Before actually show starts TVE introduces all participants in "Operacion Triunfo: the Academy" which is broadcasted daily on TVE 2. Also "Operacion Triunfo - The Movie" was already broadcasted, a documentary on participants 2001-02.

The Cabinet of Ministers today allotted LVL 5.3 million for organization of the 2003 "Eurovision" song contest, including  funds to be invested in Latvian State Television (LTV).
About LVL 2.6 million (1LVL=1,6USD) of the sum are meant for investments in LTV, Minister of Culture Karina Petersone told reporters.
According to the minister, the government will have to adopt a separate decision on allotting money for security measures during the song contest, and on advertising the contest abroad.
Thanks to the allotment, the cost estimate for the 2003 Latvian Song and Dance Festival could be cut, because LTV will not have to rent the required equipment but will use its own.
The money that is to be received by LTV will ensure better quality work from LTV in the future, including improved broadcasting of sports and entertainment events, the LTV director general Uldis Grava added.
LTV will receive LVL 547,000 from the sum this year, the rest of investments will have to be approved by the next government from the next annual budget, the National Radio and Television Council's chief Ojars Rubenis said.
LTV's task force for evaluating options for organizing "Eurovision" said initially that total costs could be LVL 5-7 million.
The government ordered LTV to submit a precise estimate by September 1, so that it could decide on allotting the funds.

Правительство Латвии сегодня на своем заседании обсудило вопросы финансирования конкурса Евровидение и приняло решение ссубсидировать 5.3 млн латов (9 млн евро). Половина из этой суммы (2.6 млн) пойдет на покупку нового оборудования.

Министр культуры Карина Петерсон сказала, что правительство также выделит отдельные суммы на обеспечение безопасности и рекламу конкурса.

ЛТВ получит 930 тыс. евро от суммы в 2002 году, на проведение жеребьевки и других подготовительных мероприятий в конце ноября. Остальные средства будут  выделены из бюджета следующего года. Общие затраты на проведение мероприятия по предварительным   подсчетам составят от 9 до 12 млн. евро.

Для ЛТВ принятое решение также смягчит финансовые проблемы в других областях, например намного дешевле обойдется проведение фестиваля песни и танца, ведь оборудование не придется брать в аренду, а будет использовано оборудование, купленое для конкурса Евровидение.

It seems that Portugal remains in for 2003 contest, after a big rumours  RTP decided to continue their project "Operacao Triunfo" to reveal name of ESC contestant.

Latvia confirmed date for National Final 2003. It will take place on February,1 probably on same venue like last year: Ventspils Olympic Center.

UK begin their preselection campaign -show "Fame Academy", following very popular format of "Operacion Triunfo". As :: doteurovision :: reported show will feature twelve contestants who will be cut off from the outside world at the ?35 million mansion whilst they receive expert tuition in a bid to turn them into musical superstars. Opening is scheduled on October, 4. For more check this article.

Латвия определила дату нац. финала- 1-е февраля, он пройдет скорее всего на том же месте, что и в прошлые годы, Олимпийском центре в Вентспилсе.

Великобритания начинает свой проект-  шоу "Академия славы". Он практически повторяет известный формат "Операции Триумф". 12 конкурсантов будут отрезаны от мира в загородном особняке, где они пройдут специальные курсы песенной подготовки. Условия жесткие: подъем в 6, отбой в 11, курение запрещено, и всего один телефонный звонок в неделю. Каждую неделю трое худших студентов выставляются на голосование, публика оставляет одного, судьбу оставшихся решают сами конкурсанты, в итоге один вылетает. Победитель получает огромный приз, контракт от известной звукозаписывающей компании и становится участником конкурса Евровидение. Премьера шоу назначена на 4-е октября.

In time when Lauris Reiniks still celebrates his success in Latvian charts (3rd week on top, see below), another candidate for ESC from Latvia Janis Stibelis (placed 7th at last year preselection, 3rd at Jurmala "New Wave" fest) is leaving for Moscow to take part at annual event "Song of the year", scheduled on 21 of September, where he'll perform song "Love has come"

Today "Baltic Record Groop" label issued official announcement that should put end to all rumours on "I wanna" similarity with Ricky Martin's "She bangs". As official announce says: "According to STIM (Swedish copyrights organization), which studied carefully both songs we can conclude following: there is no connection in any level between both songs, and so no ground to investigate copyrights matter."

As for Marie herself - now she is staying in Helsinsdorfa, Germany, where she is taking part in fashion festival. On Sept, 22 is scheduled  her concert in Liepaja, Latvia. And later - Aug 24-29 she is planning trip to UK, Romania and Greece. Also she continues working on new album, presentation is scheduled for December.

Что же касается самой Марии, то в  настоящее время она принимает участие в фестивале моды, проходящем в Германии. На 22 сентября запланирован ее концерт в Латвии, а поозднее она планирует совершить турне по   Великобритании, Румынии и Греции. В тоже время она продолжает работу над выпуском нового альбома, который запланирован на декабрь.

LTV set dates for suplement of the equipment: Nov, 1, mobile TV broadcasting station, Nov, 8, videomontage desk, Nov, 11, communication center, Nov, 12, videosignals mixing desk. All business partners are welcomed to help, though still no real money till next year budget approval will be provided. Possibly some equipment will be rented in Sweden and Estonia.

Arvids Babris, executive producer for ESC 2003, announced that drawing ceremony and announcement of hosts will probably take place at special meeting in Riga in late November. He also confirmed that logo for the contest was approved with some minor changes.

Mr. Ruurd Bierman, the chairman of the EBU Eurovision Reference Group, said in his latest interview to Dutch radio that so far no solution for year 2004 was found. EBU will discuss this matter at following meeting somewhen in January. Options they are considering include: extra evenings for the show, regional preselection, or putting a limit to number of participating countries by increasing entrance fee. Countries taking part should be able to organize contest theirselvs next year, in case if they win. The telephone vote rule was confirmed. From now on all participants will be obliged to stage a telephone vote and will no longer be allowed to use a jury to award points or a combination of jury and telephone vote. But he also mentioned that televoting rule is applied only to countries, whose 80  per cent of surface is covered by mobile network, so Russia is excluded from this rule. Also in question under it are Ukraine and Turkey.

Older news are now put into archive.

Part 1 (prior to 17.09) - here.

Более старые новости отправлены в архив.

Часть 1 (до 17.09) - здесь.