November 15 was the deadline to submit entries for the Latvian national final Eirodziesma 2004. The Latvian broadcaster LTV received 69 songs. It may be called a kind of record. Previously, the biggest number of songs was 68 (in 2002).
This year, in comparison with the previous ones, artists were not expecting for the very last moment. The bulk of the songs was submitted on the day before the deadline. To avoid unpleasant surprises, artists decided to submit their songs earlier.
For the time being, the authors� and performers� names are not announced by LTV. Both popular and unknown artists and performers submitted their songs, there are also the ones who took part in the Final last year. 53 songs are in English, 12 � in Latvian, 3 � in English, 1 � in two English and Latvian.
“On behalf of Latvian TV, we�d like to thank the musicions for responsiveness. They have appreciated the opportunity to demonstrate their performance not only to the Latvian audience, but also to the whole Europe, thus, representing our country in the world”.
The entries will be evaluated by international jury of 10 members � musicians, journalists and fans of the contest from Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Sweden, German, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Cypras, Slovenia. The name of the jury members will be announced in the beginning of December at the press conference organized by LTV.
Recalling the previous years, the statistics is as follows:
1) 67 songs in 2000
2) 45 songs in 2001
3) 68 songs in 2002
4) 57 songs in 2003
Eirodziesma 2004 will take place on the 28th of February in the Venstpils Olympic Centre, as well as in the previous two years.
