"The War Is Not Over" was the Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Eurovision Song Contest 2005

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th Eurovision Song Contest, which was held at the Palace of Sports, Kiev, Ukraine. The winner was Greece's My Number One, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and performed by Swedish-born Greek singer Elena Paparizou, who scored 230 points,...

, performed in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 by Walters & Kazha

Valters & Kaža

Valters and Kaža, sometimes spelt Walters and Kazha is a Latvian duo who represented their homeland in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. The slow ballad-like song, "The War Is Not Over", finished in 5th place despite having a considerably large lead at some point during the voting...

.

The song is a gentle ballad with somewhat elliptical lyrics. The duo sing that "The war is not over, everyone knows it/It's just a reason to make us believe/That someone's the loser, someone's the winner", which can be interpreted as a call to their listeners not to believe what official sources say.

Early recordings featured the lyrics "That someone is loser, that someone is winner". These were replaced by the above line in deference to English grammar.

The duo performed the song seated on stools with acoustic guitars. The final chorus, however, was performed standing up and using sign language

Sign language

A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...

 to accompany the lyrics.

As Latvia had not qualified for the final at the 2004 Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2004

The Eurovision Song Contest 2004, was the 49th Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing "Everyway That I Can"...

, the song was performed in the semi-final. Here, it was performed fifth, following Moldova

Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

's Zdob şi Zdub

Zdob si Zdub

Zdob şi Zdub is a Moldovan band, based in Chişinău, whose work for the last several years has combined elements of hip-hop , hardcore punk and comical lyrics with traditional Romanian folk music. The name is onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat...

 with "Boonika bate doba" and preceding Monaco

Monaco

Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

's Lise Darly

Lise Darly

Lise Darly is a French singer and was selected to represent Monaco in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev....

 with "Tout de moi

Tout De Moi

"Tout de moi" was the Monegasque entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, performed in French by French singer Lise Darly....

". At the close of voting, it had received 85 points, placing 10th in a field of 25 and thus qualifying for the final (the top ten did so).

In the final, the song was performed twenty-third, following Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

's Vanilla Ninja

Vanilla Ninja

Vanilla Ninja is a three-piece Estonian girl band which has enjoyed chart success in a number of countries across Europe, especially in Estonia, Germany and Austria....

 with "Cool Vibes

Cool Vibes

"Cool Vibes" was the Swiss entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, sung by Estonian girl band Vanilla Ninja. The song was composed by David Brandes and "Jane Tempest" , and was written by Bernd Meinunger, under the pseudonym "John O'Flynn"....

" and preceding France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

's Ortal with "Chacun pense à soi

Chacun Pense À Soi

"Chacun pense à soi" was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, performed in French by Ortal....

". At the close of voting, it had received 153 points, placing 5th in a field of 24, thus qualifying Latvia for the final at their next Contest appearance.

The song had received 12 points from Ireland, Lithuania and Moldova.

It was succeeded as Latvian representative

Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times, for unknown reasons only debuting at the 2000 contest, where Brainstorm came 3rd with the song "My Star". The country's first, and so far, only win came in 2002 when Marie N and her song "I Wanna" beat favourite's Malta by 12 points,...

 at the 2006 Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2006

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May and 20 May 2006 . The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi . The Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song "Hard Rock...

 by Vocal Group Cosmos with "I Hear Your Heart

I Hear Your Heart

"I Hear Your Heart" was the Latvian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, performed in English by Vocal Group Cosmos.The song is entirely a cappella, in line with the group's usual musical style. Lyrically, the group sings about the sound of their lovers' hearts, which can cut through the...

".

This song was later recorded by the Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 pop-group Michael Learns to Rock

Michael Learns to Rock

Michael Learns to Rock are a Danish pop-soft rock band that performs songs in English. Formed in 1988, the band has sold over 11 million records worldwide, mainly in Asia, and in addition, another 6 million or more paid downloads for their single "Take Me To Your Heart" which was awarded "Most...

 on their Eternity-album released in 2008.