PSA: If you don’t know what the Eurovision Song Contest is, then I recommend you to watch this funny but highly informative video, ironically made by an American. What is your favorite entry this...
PSA: If you don’t know what the Eurovision Song Contest is, then I recommend you to watch this funny but highly informative video, ironically made by an American.
What is your favorite entry this year and why?
Mine is Latvia’s song, Bur man laimi by Tautumeitas. You can watch their live performance at Latvia’s national contest (which took place in February) here.
Full disclosure: My wife is Latvian, and I have lived in Latvia with her since 2018, so I’m 100% biased in this opinion. In my defense though, Latvia’s entries throughout the last few years have been underwhelming in my opinion. I did enjoy Eat Your Salad by Citi Zēni in 2022, because it was catchy, but that’s about it.
But this year, Latvia shot it out of the park for me. I will go as far as to say that Bur man laimi is the best song in terms of “artistic value” at the contest. I hope that it makes it at least to the finals. I would be very happy if it placed in the top ten.
I was over the moon when they won the Latvian Supernova 2025 contest. Apparently, the jury tied them with two other participants out of the ten finalists, but ultimately took the title because they had been given the most votes by the public:
They took to the Supernova stage, where Latvia decide upon their Eurovision entry, against 9 other finalists. Tautumeitas performed their song Bur Man Laimi, which means “A chant for happiness,” in amongst a floaty fringe curtain and a series of rainstorms. They delivered catchy folk pop with a dreamy vibe, tight dance moves, and some impressively high notes. Both the public and jury were rightly impressed. But when all the votes were counted, the points were tied three ways.
I have known the Tautumeitas for many years and love a lot of their songs. They are commonly thought of as an “ethno-pop” group, but they have created all kinds of music. It is true though that a lot of their pieces are centered about folklore, and are inspired by the famous dainas:
A daina or tautas dziesma [“folk song”] is a traditional form of music or poetry from Latvia. (...) Latvian dainas often feature drone vocal styles and pre-Christian themes and legends, and can be accompanied by musical instruments such as Baltic psalteries (e.g. kokles). Dainas tend to be very short (usually four-liners) and are usually in a trochaic or a dactylic metre. Dainas are being translated into English by Latvian American Ieva Auziņa-Szentivanyi.
Lyrically, dainas concern themselves with native mythology and traditional festivals but, in contrast to most similar forms, do not have any legendary heroes. Stories often revolve around pre-Christian deities like the sun goddess Saule and the moon god Mēness. There are dainas that do not have a mythical theme as well – many simply describe the daily life of agrarian society and nature. However, these still often include personifications of natural phenomena. Another major theme is the human life cycle, especially the three major events: birth, wedding, and death (including burial). The dainas concerning birth are deeply emotional, and usually feature a mother figure not only as the person who gives birth but also as the one who determines the fate of the child. These also often feature the fate deity Laima and were historically sung immediately after birth, which traditionally took place in a bathhouse. (...) The dainas devoted to death describe an individual preparing for death and often relate to funeral customs. These often feature a female god related to the world of the dead, variously known as kapu māte, veļu māte, zemes māte or smilšu māte (mother of graves, mother of dead, mother Earth, mother of sand). The first collection of dainas was published between 1894 and 1915 as Latvju Dainas by Krišjānis Barons. There are well over two hundred thousand collected dainas in written form.
Notice the “fate” (or “fortune”) deity “Laima” mentioned there. I’ll come back to her.
I showed the song to an American friend who told me that she liked it, but didn’t appreciate the repetition of the stanzas. Well, that’s intentional. Dainas are usually short poems with just two or three stanzas. Hundreds of thousands of them were written by ancient Latvians, who survived the horrors that their people endured under the Russians and Germans since the 12th century, preserving their way of life and wisdom through song and poetry in written format (and previously through oral transmission) once Europe acquired the printing press.
I’m not Latvian nor an expect on the subject matter, but the way that I see it, the vast majority of these dainas are themed around nature and perseverance. These are two traits that really define Latvian culture and the Latvian people as a whole.
First, they are very connected to nature. Even young Latvians today still know a lot about the natural world and enjoy spending their time outdoors, participating in traditional rituals and seasonal activities throughout the year, all around the many beautiful forests, plains, and lakes of this green country. Latvians gift each other flowers for absolutely no reason, all the time. When my wife manages to get me out of the house, she loves pointing at random plants and telling me what they are called and how they can be used. Foraging berries and mushrooms is a popular family activity. Whenever there is a weekend that’s extended by holidays, the capital city turns into a ghost town, because they all retreat to their countryside homes. They’ve even managed to grow their forests.
Second, perseverance is one of their defining traits of character because they have an attitude of “better things are yet to come”. That’s why, I think, you also often find words like ozols (“oak tree”, which I see as a symbol of strength and endurance) as well as laime (“good fortune”, I would translate it as, rather than the usual “luck” or “happiness”). And yes, the word “laime” and the name of the fate deity “Laima” are related. Even a famous brand of delicious chocolate is named after her. The depth of the word “laime” can’t be summarized by a single English word, I think. Latvians use it in so many different contexts, but there’s almost always an undertone of “gratitude for the blessings that fortune brought about” to it. It’s really hard to convey the word’s breadth of meaning, but I think that the ladies conveyed it really well through their performance.
I don’t know about the translation of the title of the song. I would have gone for “conjure me good fortune” instead, but my own Latvian is still only at an intermediary level. Probably best to ask a Latvian about all of this if you want an informed opinion. Maybe the Tautumeitas (“tautumeita”, or “folk girl” itself being an ancient, archaic word with a much deeper meaning) chose to go with “a chant for happiness” to keep it simple for international audiences. I feel confident telling you that the title means a lot more than that though.
Yesterday I collected some 10 or more reaction videos to the song and watched four of them. In one, the lady actually started crying. All of the others loved it. Nothing but praise for the song can be found in all the comment sections. People say (and I agree) that they feel connected to nature listening to it.
This song is the winner of the contest for me. These six stunningly beautiful ladies put a lot of thought behind it’s composition. It masterfully integrates ancient Latvian lyrical and music culture with modern instruments. The vocal harmony is as professional as only Latvia’s best-trained vocalists can be (and let me tell you, music education is a big deal in Latvia). The performance spectacularly illustrates the deeper meaning of the lyrics. The song and visuals are an explosion of Latvian culture.