Interview to Aarzemnieki - Latvia representatives for ESC 2014

Aarzemnieki... ''Eurovision is about surprises and positive moments''

OGAE RoW Latin America -  first of all thank you for your time and al also, congratulations for winning the 2014 Dziesma.

How was the musical way of each member of the group to become Aarzemnieki today?

Aarzemnieki - Jöran, the lead singer, was composing songs in Latvian, including the smash-hit - the farewell song to the Lat currency „Paldies Latiņam!“ (“Thank you, Lat!”), later, the song became a Youtube sensation.  The popularity was so large that he decided to come to Latvia.. Otherwise he just loves to sing in as many languages as possible.

Katrina plays violin and cello. She has a folk-music band called “Dimantas” (family name of Katrīna), which consists of her and her two sisters.

Raitis has been playing drums, singing in his band “Manta” and also enjoying to teach small kids to play drums.??

Guntis can play a lot of instruments - he has learn professional saxophone play. He has composed many songs for theatre plays and now - our “Cake To Bake”.

OGAE R.O.L.A. - Many fans have a large doubt, what does the name of the group means?

Aarzemnieki means “foreigners”! :)  

OGAE R.O.L.A - What was the reason to participate this year in the Dziesma?

Aarzemnieki - Soon after Jöran had moved to Latvia and formed the band Aarzemnieki, there was a selection for Eurovision in Latvia. As he always has been a big ESC fan, he decided to take part and just sing this joyful song and share it with Europe. Unexpected we won. That´s what the Eurovision is about - surprises and positive moments.

OGAE R.O.L.A. - What was the inspiration for Cake to Bake?

Aarzemnieki - The song says - don’t be too proud to admit to your fails or lack of knowledge, go and ask for help and learn something new. Basically - everything is possible, like to “melt the ice of the polar caps”, for instance :) (a line from the song)

Your entry have a good portion of tenderness for many fans, but for you, what is the entry’s contribution to the competition and the audience?

We want to go on that stage and perform by showing how much we enjoy “Cake to bake”, this contest and our audience. This is gonna be our contribution - ask people to forget about the competition for 3 minutes and sing with us!

OGAE R.O.L.A. - This year the country genre have a strong presence at the festival, what makes Latvia’s entry, different from other participants?

Aarzemnieki - In our performance there are whether big stage effects nor sound effects, this naturalness makes our performance different from other participants.

OGAE R.O.L.A - ESC is a festival followed by thousands of Latin Americans, how would you like to get  your music into our continent?

Aarzemnieki - With answering this interview and hoping that many Latin Americans read it :)

OGAE R.O.L.A. - Next year is the Eurovision’s 60th edition, why Latvia would be the ideal place to host this special edition?

Aarzemnieki - Riga, the capital of Latvia is the city where you should spend your every summer, why not to start the next year! It is wonderful! And if the busy city life is too much for you and if you prefer calmer regions then we have beautiful nature just few kilometers away.

OGAE R.O.L.A. - Thank you very much again and good luck in ESC

''Cake to Bake'' is Latvian's entry for ESC 2014

OGAE RoW Latin America is part of OGAE Rest of the World