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20 songs instead of 21
Latvia: Lauris Reiniks drops Eurodziesma for Irish final
Lauris Reiniks' song I Wish I Could Pretend performed by Kristina Zaharova had been submitted to both Latvian and Irish preselections. It is one of 6 songs out of 300 submitted to qualify for the Irish National Final. Meanwhile I Wish I Could Pretend entered the Latvian semifinal of Eirodziesma 2009. Guntars RaÄ?s, Reiniks' representative revealed that the decision and reason to participate in the Irish final are mostly symbolic as there are so many Latvians living in Ireland.
The rules and regulations od Eurovision National Finals determine that the author and the performer are allowed to represent one country only. Due to Lauris Reiniks' decision there will be 20 songs in the semifinal of Latvian Eirodziesma 2009 taking place on February 27, 2009 followed by the final on February 28, 2009.
- Eurovision 2003 - Latvia: F.L.Y. singing Hello from Mars
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Interesting! Latvians in Ireland, next, thing we know there will be Irish in Latvia.
The song is nice but we have to hear all 6 entries to make up our minds.As long as there's no puppets with feathers this time, I believe Ireland is safe:-)
the guy is sooooo pathetic. he knows that in Ireland are many Lartvians and Lithuanians and he thought he had more chances to win there....
jesus....
Why is Ireland sleeping so deeply the last years??????
yer dustin was a joke .. he should never have been put in the final 6 last year .. but who put him there the same old stupid RTE so called eurovision expert panal who put this song through .. time for linda and co to resign ..
Xenophobia has several names and faces, as far as I can see. There are plenty of examples in ESC history of countries that accepted the participation of foreigners and that actually got some good results at the score ranking. One thing is for sure: not many countries would accept Dustin as their representative. Ireland can be proud of that.
what angers me more is that this song got through and the likes of lamph did not .. this song has no hope of winning eurovision ... and i dont agree that its ok to send someone from a different country .. its about national pride how can someone from latvia feel national pride singing for ireland??
leonards ozols,
Wow wow wow...as far as I remember Helena never sung for Sweden... She is born in Sweden, but never heard of her singing for Sweden in ESC...
I can understand some irish people concerns, but honestly I don't think it's such a big deal. We are a big European family. And as we remember, Sahlene from Sweden once represented Estonia and scored well, then Helena Paparizou sang for Sweden in 2002 and scored well too etc. I believe people just listen to a song and watch the show during esc and if they like it they vote, no matter what country it is!
p.s. btw: I found an english story about this here: www.laurisreiniks.com
yes i have heard the song its on youtube .. and to be honest it has no chance what so ever of winning eurovision .. im irish why would i want someone from another country representing me .. the reason we enter as Ireland is to pit the best of Irish against the best of other countries .. Ireland entering with Latvian singer means nothing to me as an Irish person ..
@Connor Devine...well, do you know the song? It is real good plus a guy from Belarus is currently causing a big hype and hysteria for Norway - so why shouldn't a latvian singer work for Ireland? Can only be better than Dustin lol
How on earth did Lamph not make it to the final 6 and this did .. lamph's song is 100 times better than this .. and as an Irish person i want someone from Ireland representing me not someone from latvia or any other country for that matter .. Foolish for them entering the Irish Eurosong and foolish for RTE to put them into the final 6.
Sorry it wont be LAMPH - apparently they havent qualified to the final 6
If you google Lamph and Roisin Dubh you will the hear the Eurovision 2009 winner that was not given the opportunity
No worries about Latvian man winning - it will be Lamph and Roisn Dubh for Ireland
Latvians and all other countries are welcome to live in Ireland as we do in other countries
That's right. They sent "I Wish I Could Pretend" to Ireland after Latvia anounced that we withdraw fom Eurovision. That was the only reason. And I am glad about their desicion!
I believe they sent it to Ireland after Eirodziesma was originally cancelled.
If LTV said 'no' then okay, look elsewhere. But to choose to try to represent another country other than your own (when they want you in the semi finals) seems a bit odd to me. Besides, Dustin the Turkey will be such a hard acto to follow! LOL
It was Maja Slatinsek last year. 
By the way Kristina has a 2nd song in Eirodziesma "Angel of mine", I wonder what will become of that?
@ emma .. it wasent confirmed on there youtube profile they said they didnt make it
yeah ireland has loads of immigrants from east europe 1 in ten people are an immigrant so there's like 1 millon of them most are polish and english . And 9 out of 10 are from Eu .
Flowerofthesouth: Yes, I think Ireland has the highest proportion of Eastern Europeans out of all the western european countries
really theres lots of latvians in ireland?
"Mi Remina" - huh!? What am I writing, I mean "Mi Reina", I cleverly combined two names into one!! 
Mi Remina: The womans name was Maya but I don't remember the surname . . . she was also a backing singer for Slovenia in 2006
that sounds really bad if Ireland had to pick a Latvian song..
Ι'm glad because now maybe my favourite song will win in Latvia. Tic tac, I love that little song 
Last year, a young lady from Slovenia had submited her song to Romania and Ireland. Her song was selected by both countries, but she opted for Ireland, I just don´t remember her name. The song was something like Time to rise. Such conflicts happen and I can only hope Ireland will never send a puppet to ESC again.
This reminds me of the time when Ich Troje won the Polish national final, and then took part in the German national final afterwards (with a different song!). Had they won in Germany god knows what would have happened 
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