Latvia
Tautumeitas – Bur Man Laimi
Tautumeitas—six women with a shared background in ethnomusicology and a wardrobe sponsored by Baltic linen—are here to whisper, chant and clap their way into your mildly enchanted heart. With Bur Man Laimi, Latvia delivers a welcome reprieve from the turbocharged camp and novelty chaos that dominates this year’s contest. It’s all very wholesome, very earthy, and just a little bit like being trapped inside a wellness retreat you didn’t sign up for.
The first minute is genuinely lovely: droning harmonies, curious instrumentation, and a sense that the wind might change direction any second. But then it keeps going. And going. Until the hypnotic repetition of hand-fluttering, face-framing gestures starts to feel less like ancestral ritual and more like a misfired Vogue routine in a mysterious forest.
There’s beauty here—just not enough variety to sustain it. By minute three, you’re mentally checking the BBC schedule to see if Shetland: The Prequel has started, because this would make perfect background music. Expect the on-stage tree, the sacred lighting arc from the video, and possibly one member of the group communing silently with a rock.
5 points