Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2001 The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song " Fly on the Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers. Organised by the E ...

with the song "Too Much" written by

Arnis Mednis Arnis Mednis (born 18 October 1961) is a Latvian singer. He represented Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, ...

and Gustavs Terzens. The song was performed by Arnis Mednis. The Latvian broadcaster

Latvijas Televīzija Latvijas Televīzija (''Latvian Television'', LTV) is the state-owned public service television broadcaster in Latvia. LTV operates two channels, LTV1 in Latvian and LTV7 (previously called LTV2) in Latvian with selected programming in Russian ...

(LTV) organised the national final ''Eirodziesma 2001'' in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2001 contest in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark. Ten songs were selected to compete in the national final on 24 February 2001 where a public televote and four thematical jury groups selected "Too Much" performed by Arnis Mednis as the winner. Latvia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2001. Performing during the show in position 9, Latvia placed eighteenth out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 16 points.

Background

Prior to the 2001 contest, Latvia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest one time since its first entry in 2000 with the song "My Star" performed by Brainstorm which placed 3rd. The Latvian national broadcaster,

(LTV), broadcasts the event within Latvia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. LTV has selected their entry in 2000 through the national selection show ''

Eirodziesma Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song " My Star". Latvia won the contest in 2002, with Marie N and the song " I W ...

'', a selection procedure that was continued in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2001 contest.

Before Eurovision

Eirodziesma 2001

Eirodziesma 2001 was the second edition of Eirodziesma, the music competition that selects Latvia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The final took place at the LTV studios in Zaķusala,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

on 24 February 2001, hosted by Horens Stalbe and Dita Torstere and broadcast on LTV1.

Competing entries

45 entries were submitted for the second edition of

, ''Eirodziesma 2001'', following a submission period and a jury panel appointed by LTV evaluated the submitted songs and selected ten entries for the competition. Competing entries were presented to the public on 27 January 2001.

Final

The final took place at the LTV studios in Zaķusala,

. Ten acts competed and the song with the highest number of votes based on the combination of votes from four thematical jury groups (4/5) and the Latvian public (1/5), "Too Much" performed by

, was declared the winner.

Promotion

To promote "Too Much" as the Latvian Eurovision entry, Arnis Mednis performed during the Lithuanian Eurovision national final '' "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka'' on 9 March 2001.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom seven countries in the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

contest competed in the final on 12 May 2001. On 21 November 2000, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Latvia was set to perform in position 9, following the entry from

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

and before the entry from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Latvia finished in eighteenth place with 16 points. The show was broadcast in Latvia on LTV1 featuring commentary by Kārlis Streips. The Latvian spokesperson, who announced the Latvian votes during the final, was

Renārs Kaupers Renārs Kaupers (sometimes anglicised as Reynard Cowper; born 1 September 1974, in Jelgava) is a Latvian pop/rock singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter who is the vocalist of the band Prāta Vētra (known internationally as Brainstorm). Bio ...

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Latvia and awarded by Latvia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Estonia in the contest.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...