New Wave contest to leave Jurmala

RIGA - The international pop-music contest and festival ''New Wave'' will not take place in the Latvian coastal resort city of Jurmala anymore, because all cooperation possibilities with Jurmala City Council have been exhausted and its organizers will choose some other city as the festival venue; Riga is one of the candidates, as Russian composer, millionaire and "New Wave" organizer Igor Krutoy informed in a statement printed in the newspaper "Cas" today.

Krutoy explains that "New Wave" organizers and Jurmala City Council are no longer able to cooperate.

As reported, yesterday, several social networking sites mentioned that the festival will not be held in Latvia anymore.

As LETA was informed by Latvian composer and one of the festival's patrons - Raimonds Pauls, he has heard the rumors that the festival will not take place in Jurmala anymore, and finds this not surprising, because there have been disagreements between Jurmala city and the festival's organizers in the past.

On the other hand, LETA found out from the Jurmala City Council that it has not received any official information as yet that the festival will not be held in Jurmala this summer.

The festival's official web-site also has no information that the festival will not be held in Latvia this summer.

This year's ''New Wave'' was scheduled to take place in Jurmala from July 24 to 29, and tickets are already being sold.

Last year, the festival celebrated its 10th anniversary.