Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 19 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song "My Star". Latvia won the contest in 2002, with Marie N and the song "I Wanna", defeating Malta by 12 points. Latvia is the second former Soviet country to win the contest. The 2003 contest was held in the Latvian capital Riga. The country achieved its third top 10 result in , when Walters and Kazha finished fifth with "The War Is Not Over". Latvia did
Culture of Latvia Orthodox Christian minorities. Latvia is divided into several cultural and historical regions: Vidzeme, Latgale, Courland and Zemgale. Sometimes, Sēlija and Maliena are also distinguished. Latvians have the rich heritage of traditional folklore, especially folk songs. Dating back well over a thousand years, more than 1.2 million texts and 30,000 melodies of folk songs have been identified. A form of traditional architecture in Latvia is log houses. The position of houses differs among regions. In western Latvia, single farms are more popular and in villages, the houses are positioned in a circle around a central square. In eastern Latvia, villages are