A headline that intrigued me the other day was “Joran Steinhauer, the son of a parish priest from Germany, is Latvia’s contender in Eurovision 2014.” Looking into this further, I discovered that Joran Steinhauer performs with a small group called Aarzemnieki, which is the Latvian word for “foreigners.” Steinhauer is described in articles as having been a YouTube sensation a few years ago with his affectionate farewell to the Lat currency (it was replaced by the Euro).

Then this spring, he wrote a song in English about making a cake that was chosen by a contest in Latvia to be their entry in the Eurovision contest.

It just gets curiouser and curiouser, eh?

I will admit that after reading all of this, I saw potential for a blog post about how Eurovision often includes slightly wacky songs.  I did not expect either of the Aarzemnieki songs to be anything but odd. I mean, one song — with a German singing in Latvian about Latvian currency — became a YouTube sensation?  And the Eurovision entry is about making a cake?  These songs must be totally bizarre and/or or some type of send-up of standard pop-songs/power ballads, right?

Well, actually, no. It turned out that both of Steinhauer’s songs were something altogether different: simple, cheery songs that can put a smile on your face as you hum or sing along to the catchy little melodies:

• Paldies Latiņam – “Thank you, Lat” – a fond farewell to the Latvian currency
• Cake to Bake – Eurovision 2014 entry for Latvia

I found myself unexpectedly liking them a lot.  Instead of the endless power ballads that are now in fashion at Eurovision and all sound the same, these are more like pop folk songs with melodies more like a Peter Seeger or Peter, Paul and Mary tune.  Both of the Latvian songs have cute, sweet videos that include everyday people having fun in time to the music. I especially like the Cake to Bake one and because it’s sung in English, it’s easy to follow along with the gentle humor in the song. Quite fun!

Now, unfortunately, I don’t think winning the Eurovision 2014 title is going to be a piece of cake for Aarzemnieki. They need to make it into the top 10 in tonight’s semi-final phase in order to get to the finals on Saturday night. But Cake to Bake is an appealing little ditty that reminds me in many ways of what was fun about the song Tomorrow, sung by the young Maltese pediatrician song at Eurovision 2013. Malta made it into the finals last year and ultimately came in 8th. It would be great if Latvia could do that well, too.

Of course, based on their track record so far,  Aarzemnieki might actually have a chance to do even better than Malta did. Against all odds, they won the Latvian competition in the spring, winning over several more established Latvian music artists to get selected to go to Eurovision. And the cake song lyrics talk about how the singer has already done all sorts of impossible things, everything from finding Atlantis to talking to unicorns. So anything could happen.  As long as they find the right recipe,  their song could well take the cake — and the title — at Eurovision 2014. 😉