All entries in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are known, but the actual contest is still two months away. As a warm-up, we introduce one of the entries every day in random order. Part seven is dedicated to the entry from Latvia.

Basic information

Performer:	Intars Busulis
Song:	Probka (Ð�Ñ�обка – Traffic jam)
Language:	Russian
Music:	K�rlis L�cis
Lyrics:	J�nis Elsbergs, Sergej Timofejev
Draw:	3rd in the second semi final

The song

Probka, which was originally performed in Latvian as Sastr�gums in the national final, is a classic up-temporock song. The lyrics tell a story of the singer fighting himself through a traffic jam, which is most likely to be symbolic for today's busy world, to get to a woman he spotted in the crowd jumping over the roofs:

Эй, воз�ми мен� наве�� � �обой!
Я ���ал ���би�� �ебе о�бой,
Я �о�� г�л��� по бампе�ам,
Я вед� не п�ивин�ен наме��во!

Hey, lift me up to you!
I don't want to give up anymore,
I do want to walk on buffer-bars,
Nothing can really stop me!

The singer

Intars Busulis launched his musical career in 1999 as part of the boy group Caffe. The band took part in the Latvian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest twice: in 2002, they finished 12th out of 15 participants with Amberland and in 2003, they reached 12th place yet again with the song I am yours. The same year,Intars Busulis leftthe band to start his solo career facing mainly on jazz music.

He took part in various jazz festivals in Latvia, Estonia, Finland, France, Lithuania and Canada and starred in the musicals Cabaret, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mass. In 2007, he entered Eirodziesma again, thistime as a solo artist. With the song Gonki (performed in Russian), he finished fourth in the televoting in the second semi final but still made it to the final as the winner of the jury voting. He would finish second overall behind Bonaparti.lv.

In 2008, he released his first solo album and the song Brīvdiena would become a huge airplay success. In 2009, he entered the Latvian national final for the fourth time and could win the selection this time. Probka will be the first Eurovision Song Contest entry entirely performed in Russian since t.A.T.u.'s Ne ver, ne bosya in 2003.

National selection

Latvia introduced a new version of Eirodziesma this year. Instead of two semi finals, one semi final with 20 participants was heldand ten acts qualified for the final through televoting. The winners of the semi final were Kristina Zaharova & Annija Putnina, who would finish second in the national final. Intars Busulis won the national final – he had finished fourth in the semi final.

Latvia in the Eurovision SongContest

Latvia was the last Baltic country to debute in the Eurovision Song Contest when it did so in 2000. Brainstorm finished third in Stockholm with the song My star marking one of the most impressive debuts to that date. In 2002, Marie N won the contest with I wanna and after disappointing results in 2003 and 2004, Latvia would be in the final every year after.However,they havebeen finishing outside the top ten since 2006.

Nov�lam Latvijai un Intaram Busulim pan�kumus un veiksmi Maskav�!

Videos

The live performance in the national (semi) final:

The preview video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6RBnqB6vfw&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

Intars Busulis in 2007 with Gonki:

The hit song Brīvdiena:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh_mrWDw_O8&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

Intars Busulis in Cabaret:

Other parts of this series

1. France
2. Portugal
3. Romania
4. Denmark
5. Netherlands
6. Cyprus

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Irish entry.

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