Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song „Wolves of the Sea“ written by Jonas Liberg, Torbjörn Wassenius, Johan Sahlen and Claes Andreasson. The song was performed by the group Pirates of the Sea. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Eirodziesma 2008 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. Twenty songs were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. In the semi-finals on 2 and 9 February 2008, five entries were selected to advance from each show: three entries selected based on a public televote and two entries selected by an eight-member jury panel. Ten songs ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 1 March 2008 where two rounds of public voting selected „Wolves of the Sea“ performed by Pirates of the Sea as the winner.
Latvia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2008. Performing during the show in position 10, „Wolves of the Sea“ was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 24 May. It was later revealed that Latvia placed sixth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 86 points. In the final, Latvia performed in position 14 and placed twelfth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 83 points.
Eirodziesma 2008
Eirodziesma 2008 was the ninth edition of Eirodziesma, the music competition that selects Latvia’s entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition commenced on 2 February 2008 and concluded with a final on 1 March 2008. All shows in the competition were hosted by Uģis Joksts and Kristīne Virsnīte and broadcast on LTV1 as well as online via the website apollo.lv.
Format
The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. The two semi-finals, held on 2 and 9 February 2008, each featured ten competing entries from which five advanced to the final from each show. The final, held on 1 March 2008, selected the Latvian entry for Belgrade from the remaining ten entries over two rounds of voting: the first round selected the top three songs and the second round (superfinal) selected the winner. Results during the semi-final shows were determined by a jury panel and votes from the public. The songs first faced a public vote where the top three entries qualified. The jury then selected an additional two qualifiers from the remaining entries to proceed in the competition. In the final, a public vote exclusively determined which entry would be the winner. Viewers were able to vote via telephone or SMS.
Competing entries
Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 2 October 2007 and 19 November 2007. 88 entries were submitted at the conclusion of the submission period. A jury panel appointed by LTV evaluated the submitted songs and selected twenty entries for the competition. The jury panel consisted of Sopho Khalvashi (2007 Georgian Eurovision entrant), 4Fun (2007 Lithuanian Eurovision entrant), Christer Björkman (Head of Delegation for Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest and supervisor of Melodifestivalen), Adam Klein (British music manager), Bonaparti.lv (2007 Latvian Eurovision entrant) and Kaspars Zavileiskis (music expert and editor at FHM). The twenty competing artists and songs were announced during a press conference on 11 December 2007. Among the artists were Andris Ērglis and Roberto Meloni (member of Pirates of the Sea) who both represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 as part of Bonaparti.lv. It was later revealed that one of the selected songs „Wolves of the Sea“ had originally been written in Swedish for the 2007 edition of Melodifestivalen, titled „Här mellan himmel och jord“ and to be performed by the group Drängarna; however the song was subsequently translated to English and submitted for Eirodziesma after being rejected for the former competition.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Aisha | „You Really Got Me Going“ | Kjell Jennstig, Leif Goldkuhl |
| Andris Ērglis | „Broken Lullaby“ | Jānis Strazds, Guntars Račs |
| Borowa MC feat. Kips | „The One“ | Aigars Runčis, Ingars Gusans |
| Camillas and Vice Almana | „Mr. Weatherman“ | Romans Falkenšteins, Liva Rutka |
| Dace Planare | „One Last Touch“ | Mārtiņš Freimanis |
| Déjà vu | „I’m a Part of You“ | Mārtiņš Freimanis |
| Elizabete Zagorska | „Take Me Home“ | Elizabete Zagorska |
| Elli U and Miks feat. Pent-in Dreams | „All Come Together“ | Danne Attlerud, Thomas Thörnholm |
| Funky Drivers | „Summertime“ | Valters Sprūdžs |
| Iedomu spārni | „Put Some Love in the World“ | Mikael Erlandsson |
| Ivetta | „Observations“ | Ingars Viļums |
| Jānis Moisejs | „Fly to the Moon“ | Kjell Jennstig |
| Joran and Axlina | „More Than 27“ | Jöran Steinhauer |
| Ketta | „Lovely Dexter“ | Romans Falkenšteins, Inga Sergejenko |
| Kristīna Zaharova feat. Julian | „Until You Find a Friend“ | Jānis Zvirgzdiņš |
| Lily | „Download Your Dreams“ | Miķelis Ļaksa |
| Pirates of the Sea | „Wolves of the Sea“ | Jonas Liberg, Torbjörn Wassenius, Johan Sahlen, Claes Andreasson |
| Pīters Gārdens and Juris Vizbulis | „Memory Lane“ | Knut-Øyvind Hagen, Arve Furset |
| Sabīne Berezina | „If I Only Knew“ | Ann-Charlott Gensler |
| Triānas Parks | „Bye Bye“ | Aivars Rakovskis, Agnese Rakovska |
Shows
Semi-finals
The two semi-finals took place on 2 and 9 February 2008. The live portion of the show was held at the LTV studios in Riga where the artists awaited the results while their performances, which were filmed earlier at the Club Essential in Riga on 21 and 23 January 2008, were screened. In each semi-final ten acts competed and five entries qualified to the final. The competing entries first faced a public vote where the top three songs advanced; an additional two qualifiers were then selected from the remaining seven entries by the jury. The jury panel that voted in the semi-finals consisted of Ance Krauze (singer and vocal teacher), Intars Busulis (singer, trombonist and radio host), Māris Žigats (musician and DJ at Radio SWH), Aivars Hermanis (composer, arranger and producer), Gatis Gaujenieks (producer), Daina Markova (musicologist and content editor at LTV), Ilze Vītoliņa (costume designer) and members of the LTV working group.
Semi-final 1 – 2 February 2008
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Televote | Result |
| Votes | Rank | |||||
| 1 | Janis Moisejs | „Fly to the Moon“ | 5 | 2,397 | 4 | Eliminated |
| 2 | Borowa MC | „The One“ | 10 | 1,714 | 6 | Eliminated |
| 3 | Joran and Axlina | „More Than 27“ | 7 | 1,994 | 5 | Eliminated |
| 4 | Ketta | „Lovely Dexter“ | 6 | 500 | 10 | Eliminated |
| 5 | Sabīne Berezina | „If I Only Knew“ | 1 | 3,765 | 2 | Advanced |
| 6 | Funky Drivers | „Summertime“ | 3 | 923 | 8 | Advanced |
| 7 | Pirates of the Sea | „Wolves of the Sea“ | 9 | 12,01 | 1 | Advanced |
| 8 | Elli U and Miks feat. Pent-in Dreams | „All Come Together“ | 8 | 1,503 | 7 | Eliminated |
| 9 | Elizabete Zagorska | „Take Me Home“ | 4 | 775 | 9 | Advanced |
| 10 | Déjà vu | „I’m a Part of You“ | 2 | 2,947 | 3 | Advanced |
Semi-final 2 – 9 February 2008
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Televote | Result |
| Votes | Rank | |||||
| 1 | Aisha | „You Really Got Me Going“ | 2 | 1,751 | 4 | Advanced |
| 2 | Dace Planare | „One Last Touch“ | 4 | 1,07 | 9 | Eliminated |
| 3 | Ivetta | „Observations“ | 7 | 1,603 | 6 | Eliminated |
| 4 | Camillas and Vice Almana | „Mr. Weatherman“ | 5 | 1,398 | 7 | Eliminated |
| 5 | Pīters Gārdens and Juris Vizbulis | „Memory Lane“ | 6 | 2,303 | 2 | Advanced |
| 6 | Iedomu spārni | „Put Some Love in the World“ | 10 | 1,17 | 8 | Eliminated |
| 7 | Lily | „Download Your Dreams“ | 9 | 987 | 10 | Eliminated |
| 8 | Kristīna Zaharova feat. Julian | „Until You Find a Friend“ | 3 | 1,709 | 5 | Advanced |
| 9 | Triānas Parks | „Bye Bye“ | 8 | 3,387 | 3 | Advanced |
| 10 | Andris Ērglis | „Broken Lullaby“ | 1 | 7,256 | 1 | Advanced |
Final
The final took place at the Olympic Center in Ventspils on 1 March 2008. The ten entries that qualified from the semi-final competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting. In the first round, the top three songs advanced to the second round, the superfinal. In the superfinal, „Wolves of the Sea“ performed by Pirates of the Sea was declared the winner. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included 2007 Latvian Eurovision entrant Bonaparti.lv, 2008 Azerbaijani Eurovision entrant Elnur and Samir, 2008 Czech Eurovision entrant Tereza Kerndlová, 2008 Lithuanian Eurovision entrant Jeronimas Milius and 2008 Maltese Eurovision entrant Morena.
Final – 1 March 2008
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
| 1 | Déjà vu | „I’m a Part of You“ | 1,485 | 7 |
| 2 | Kristīna Zaharova feat. Julian | „Until You Find a Friend“ | 862 | 9 |
| 3 | Sabīne Berezina | „If I Only Knew“ | 5,142 | 5 |
| 4 | Pirates of the Sea | „Wolves of the Sea“ | 16,818 | 1 |
| 5 | Pīters Gārdens and Juris Vizbulis | „Memory Lane“ | 1,932 | 6 |
| 6 | Funky Drivers | „Summertime“ | 1,245 | 8 |
| 7 | Triānas Parks | „Bye Bye“ | 5,656 | 4 |
| 8 | Elizabete Zagorska | „Take Me Home“ | 599 | 10 |
| 9 | Aisha | „You Really Got Me Going“ | 8,021 | 3 |
| 10 | Andris Ērglis | „Broken Lullaby“ | 10,751 | 2 |
Superfinal – 1 March 2008
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
| 1 | Pirates of the Sea | „Wolves of the Sea“ | 29,228 | 1 |
| 2 | Aisha | „You Really Got Me Going“ | 22,721 | 2 |
| 3 | Andris Ērglis | „Broken Lullaby“ | 21,58 | 3 |