Latvia clinches Eurovision

Latvia's Marie N swept to victory in the Eurovision Song Contest in Tallinn for her swaggering performance of the energy-driven Latin dance tune "I Wanna" on May 25.

Latvia now has the daunting task of hosting next year's feast of musical kitsch, after Estonia was deemed to have put itself on the map with one of the slickest Eurovisions in years.

Latvia pipped Malta to the post, taking 176 points to the 164 awarded to Malta's Ira Losco for the song "Seventh Wonder." Swedish singer Sahlene, representing Estonia, came in third with 111 points.

At a packed 1:15 a.m. press conference the artist, whose real name is Marija Naumova, expressed shock at the result, which came after favorites Germany and Sweden were soundly trounced.

"I don't quite understand what is happening," she said.

A hush came over the sea of reporters and camera crews as Naumova gave an impassioned rendition in her native Russian of "Ave Maria," a song written for her by Latvian composer Raimonds Pauls.

Latvia could have "a little bit of problems" organizing next year's event, added Naumova, whose age is a close guarded secret.

Her victory confirms the commanding role the Baltic states have come to play in a contest aspiring artists have seen as a catapult to fame since Swedish group ABBA hit the big time with "Waterloo" in 1974.

Last year Estonian duo Tanel Padar and Dave Benton took the prize in Copenhagen, and the year before the Latvian group Brainstorm was propelled to international prominence after coming in third.

Just hours after her victory Naumova, who has recorded albums in Latvia, Russian, English and French, had been contacted by six record companies interested in working with her.

"I really hope I can make my career in Europe, because Latvia is a little bit small for me," she told reporters.Returning home she was greeted with flag-waving, daffodils and a police escort at the border, before speeding to an effusive welcome in Riga's Dome Square and a huge bunch of flowers from President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

"Next year we have the possibility to accomplish something beautiful due to this success," said Vike-Freiberga.

"Thank you again, Marija."

Naumova was soon being showered with more than flowers.

Riga Mayor Gundars Bojars, who phoned her immediately after her win, announced the city council would reward Naumova with 10,000 lats ($16,100), thus sealing his claim to host next year's event in Riga, despite the obvious lack of a venue.

A temporary roof could be built over the city's stadium, he said.

The head of Latvia's Eurovision delegation, Aivars Babris, said Latvia would be calling on Estonia for help. The port city of Ventspils, whose ice-hockey arena hosted the national Eurovision final, might be a more suitable venue, said Babris, who was one of those behind Riga's 800th birthday anniversary celebrations in Riga last summer. That event, which passed off without a hitch, proved Latvia's ability to stage large events, he said.

The Culture Ministry, meanwhile, proposed the government give Naumova 10,000 lats, the same amount awarded to the country's Olympic winners in the past, plus 5,000 lats for the other artists in the "I Wanna" team.

Estonia's Sahlene, 26, said she was satisfied with third place and opined that it was Naumova's performance, including her risquï on-stage costume transformation, that won over audiences, rather than the music itself.

"I would not say the Latvian song was so great," said Sahlene.

As for Estonia's performance as hosts it was "the best organized contest probably since Birmingham in 1998 or Dublin in 1997," said devoted Eurovision watcher Paul Gomez of the United Kingdom's Radio Development Group.

Eurovision can do wonders for the image of lesser known countries, said Gomez.

"Latvians are very keen to do it, and I'm sure that they'll do it and get a lot of support from neighbors," said Gomez.

"They've put Estonia on the map. It's brought a lot of money into the country. So Riga and Latvia will see it as the same opportunity, that this is a chance to attract a lot of investment, lots of people to come here to show the world that they've moved on."

The 23 video clips and animated cartoons which peppered this year's Eurovision played on such traditional fairy tales as Pinocchio and Little Red Riding Hood to give a witty view of Estonia, including Estonians' fondness for beating each other with birch twigs.

The "Princess Who Never Smiled" portrayed an Estonian's efforts to get a little princess to laugh by showing her a map of the world and a map of Estonia. The message: Estonia is a small world.

"It's good if a nation is able to laugh at itself and maybe we have to explain this to our people too," said Raivo Suni, the contest's communications manager.

Even Rene Vilbre, who masterminded the clips' production for Estonian Television, seemed surprised at their success and calls for them to be released on video.

"They were primarily meant for one-time screening at Eurovision. Besides, it all has just ended, so I can't say anything about the future of the clips," said Vilbre.

The one embarrassment for the Baltic states was the 22nd place given to Lithuania's Aivaras Stepukonis with "Happy You."

"A death sentence," was how he described the likely reaction from Lithuania's media.

Stepukonis, a U.S. educated philosophy and theology graduate, and ex-lead singer of the band Footprints, donned a beret and brightly striped jumper for a performance which harked back to the 1960s hippie generation.

He added: "There were no mistakes from my side. No falling, mispronouncing, going out of time, nothing like that. You can do something completely right, but people might not see it.

"You can always find problems everywhere. You wake up in the morning, look at the ceiling and find at least one thing that is wrong. I feel okay. I'm an artist and I've done my job. My responsibilities end here."

A defiant Stepukonis said he might use his impending notoriety to attack the practice whereby neighboring countries' TV viewers vote for each other at Eurovision.

"I will be told that I went and screwed it up and because of that Lithuania is not going to participate next year. It will be real pressure. Now I have to come up with arguments.

"One thing I noticed is that there is too much neighborliness involved. It is about political solidarity. That bothered me," said Stepukonis.

Inevitably tempers frayed among some countries whose songs under performed. Many of the 150 Spanish journalists who made the trek to Tallinn were seeing red at the failure of "Europe's Living a Celebration," sung by ruby-lipped Granadan Rosa, to seduce the continent.

The contest cost 122 million kroons ($7.18 million) to organize, while the Estonian Tourist Board reported that local businesses received about 75 million kroons from tourists in the week prior to the contest.