Eurovision AH Vignette: We Are The Winners!

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Article by Diana Augūnaitė | from www.DELFI.en | published on 2006-08-19

The Path of "LT United": How the Lithuanian "dream team" took Eurovision by storm
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Both Lithuanian and foreign viewers called it the upset of the millennium. Having received last place in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest semifinals, practically humiliating itself in front of the continent's audience, Lithuania returned with a resolve and a storm to Athens in 2006, roaring across the semifinals and the finals, drowning out the booing of the crowds watching and narrowly seizing first place in the contest, beating out Bosnia and Herzegovina, the runner-up, by a mere five points. This unprecedented path to victory was championed by the group "LT United", formed solely for the purpose of competing in Eurovision and composed out of six famous Lithuanian music stars - team leader and rock musician Andrius Mamontovas; post-punk musician Saulius "Samas" Urbonavičius; popstar and former Eurovision participant Viktoras "Vee" Diawara; keyboardist Arnoldas Lukošius; musician and composer Eimantas Belickas; and a late sixth member, singer and TV show host Marijonas Mikutavičius. A "dream team", if you will, or as the Lithuanians themselves might say, six "stars of the estrade".

"LT United" entered the contest with the tongue-in-cheek song "We Are the Winners", poking fun at the pandering nature of the contest by outright declaring that they are the winners of the contest and requesting the listeners to vote solely for them. While many denounced the song as egotistical and annoying (after all, the line "We are the winners of Eurovision!" appears in the lyrics 15 times), others caught the lighthearted message and the catchy tune, with the result being now known to us all.

The path Lithuania's all-star team took towards this goal is perhaps even more interesting than the results of the contest itself.

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The dream team assembled
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The idea to form an all-star Lithuanian team to bring victory in Eurovision came to the head of Andrius Mamontovas, a famous Lithuanian rock and alternative-pop musician, former member of the group "Foje". Mamontovas spoke that the idea came up to him about a year ago, and it is one he firmly believed in from the beginning. "Such belief in success has only come to me three times in my life before. We have the song which will win Eurovision and we're sending it to Greece" he spoke right after the formation of "LT United" at the tail end of 2015. The original five members of the group were later joined by a sixth - singer and talk show host, famous for the Lithuanian sports anthem "Trys milijonai" ("Three Millions"), Marijonas Mikutavičius, bringing it to the maximum of people allowed to be on the Eurovision stage at once. "I only needed a few minutes to make my choice," Mikutavičius commented on his decision to join - the idea immediately piqued his interest.

Viktoras "Vee" Diawara, the only member of the team with prior experience in Eurovision, having participated there in 2001 with the group "SKAMP", achieving the highest Lithuanian placement in Eurovision since 2006, was also optimistic on the group's chances. "This song will definitely bring the attention of European viewers," he spoke. After all, there needs to be a point when the continent starts to get sick of schlager and pop music, right?

According to Mamontovas, the idea behind the group's formation is coded in the group's name, which speaks that it's time to unite Lithuania for a common goal. The singer believed that Lithuania had failed to win Eurovision time and time again because they fought separately and all for themselves. "Our nation is small and can only succeed if it works all together. Lithuania is a nation of winners, but nobody knows that, so our mission is to inform everyone," the members of "LT United" joked on their goal. Mamontovas believed that maybe it's about time the veterans of Lithuanian music show the amateurs "which are being sent by Lithuania to Eurovision every year" how to act on the stage and how to please the public.

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For luck, the members of "LT United" broke a bag of plates before their performance - considered a good omen in Lithuania
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The qualification for the 2006 Lithuanian entry to the Eurovision song contest had been reformed after public demand. To deal with the sudden and massive surge of newcomer artists seeking to participate, Lietuvos Televizija, the national broadcaster who hosts the qualifications, divided the contest into a few newcomer qualifying semi-finals and a national final held on March 4th in Vilnius Siemens Arena, where 10 veterans and 4 victorious newcomers participated. It was no surprise that "LT United", composed of some of the famous and memorable Lithuanian music stars at the time, practically stole the show, and while the funk group "InCulto", their primary competitor, did moderately well against them, Mamontovas and his all-stars won with a 16 thousand vote difference and were nominated as Lithuania's entry in Athens. Almost immediately after, they were invited by President Valdas Adamkus to perform the song live during Lithuanian Independence Restoration Day on March 11th.

"LT United's" path to Athens was unique in comparison to its future competitors. The group notably refused to perform the song nor make a rehearsal in Athens, deciding to wait for the semi-final first. They also contacted radio stations across Europe to have "We Are the Winners" removed from the playlists until 22 May. Despite this, the song became well known among the people following the contest closely, and opinions immediately started to differ. Some labeled it as egotistical and a doomed project, while others praised it for its catchy tone and lighthearted poking fun at the contest itself. Not even the Lithuanians themselves were "united" on this song.

Time quickly passed, and the anticipated 18th of May arrived. The Eurovision Song Contest of 2006, held in Athens, was hosted by actress, journalist and TV show host Maria Menounos as well as Greece's 2004 Eurovision entry Sakis Rouvas. Not all of Europe was present in the contest - Austria and Hungary had to temporarily drop out, Serbia and Montenegro did not send a representative either, although was able to vote. Card-drawing decided that the controversial "LT United" appeared in the semi-final in the fairly good position of 18th out of 23 contestants, and if there were doubts over whether this was a winning entry, they sure were gone now. The charming, energetic performance, crowned by Samas singing into a megaphone and Lukošius's maniacal dancing to the tune of Belickas's violin, made even the most opposed or apathetic viewers raise their eyebrows out of surprise. Despite some booing from the crowd after their performance, Lithuania gained a respectable 3rd place in the semi-final, easily qualifying for the finals.

It should be noted that the results of the semi-final showed that notoriety was not enough to win the contest - Belgium's entry, Kate Ryan, didn't even get into the final. So there was much more than just music star fame that was pulling "LT United" through.

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Arnoldas Lukošius letting it go
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The final of the contest took place two days later, and there, "LT United" now stood not as a controversial team taking the piss of the whole contest, but a favorite of many, and their performance there was not a drop less incredible and funny. This time, the group was the 14th in order, although that certainly didn't hurt their chances. And as the voting for the winner of the Eurovision song contest began, "LT United" started their slow climb towards victory, rising spot after spot after spot as more and more votes began to trickle in. The three-way battle between Lithuania's "We Are the Winners", Bosnia and Herzegovina's "Lejla" by Hari Mata Hari and Russia's "Never Let You Go" by Dima Bilan was the star of the show - but, in the end, with a total of five points above Bosnia and eight points above Russia, the upstart Baltic state was declared the winner of the contest.

"We Are the Winners" gained 12 points from Latvia, Ireland, United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway and Estonia - all of them being either fellow Baltic nations or countries with a large Lithuanian diaspora. 10 points arrived from Finland, Poland, Germany, Belarus, Monaco and Andorra. How much the members of LT United, the Lithuanian live viewers in Athens and all of their fellow countrymen across the globe cheered could not be underestimated - even though, if one were to go by the lyrics of their song, this shouldn't have been a surprise at all. But, then again, going from last place in the semi-final to victory in a single year is a feat that will leave many crying...

After returning to Vilnius and greeted with cheering crowds, "LT United" released their single on MP3 as their final act as a music group. In a mere two weeks, the single sold well over 6 thousand copies, going platinum, becoming the first song in Lithuania to do so in quite a few years. With this victory in Eurovision, "LT United" also granted their honor of hosting the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, which shall be held in Siemens Arena in Vilnius in May of that year.

Until we meet again!


"We Are the Winners" in the 2006 Eurovision final​
 
Augenis

Augenis

DrakonFin said:
What happened to Lordi, then?:) I guess my question is why they did not take part. And who represented Finland?
Click to expand...
Lordi simply didn't think of participating in ESC that year - after all, it's stereotypically a pop music contest, not really fit for a heavy metal band.

Finland was represented by Tomi Metsäketo, who reached the finals, but not the top 10.
 
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