A Swede Leon and the English Slej

In Jurmala, in the hotel 'Baltia' hall the rehearsals for the 'New Wave 2003' contest are in full swing. It is hot here in all the meanings of the word. The daily paper 'Chas' asked the Swede Leon and the English Slej what they felt like.
 
Leon has got a beautiful suntan, a Hollywood smile and very long legs. All that speaks for itself, but not exactly what you could have thought of. The girl has two higher educations, musical and designer's.
- Leon, has your model look helped you in your career or rather interfered with it?
- Helped, I should say, very seldom, but vice versa - more often than needed. Girls with model appearance are rarely taken seriously, they are thought to be not clever, to put it mildly.
- Do you think of yourself as of a clever girl?
- Clever enough.
- You paint rather well. If you were to paint  Jurmala, what would you paint?
- The sea of blue mixed with green. Sort of sea and forest but sort of abstract. I am an abstract art admirer.
- What order number would you like for your performance?
- Of course, number 13. This is my favourite and lucky number because I was born on August the 13th. So soon after the contest I will celebrate my birthday.
- Who will support you at home and here?
- Home in Sweden my family and friends, of course. And here in Jurmala my sister Juliana.
- And your boyfriend?
- Oh, I am always a bit in love. So for me it's not so important for the moment if I have a boyfriend or not.
- You love red wine. Will you try local beer?
- In principle, I've never drunk beer in my life. But I'll make an exception for the Latvian. I'd rather try the dark one.

Group Slej is unparalleled in the style called street dance. They love to celebrate New Year on the Trafalgar Square and don't mind buying a little island for the whole group. They keep together all the time and have a contagious laughter.
- How would you call your musical style?
- It's a mixture of hip-hop and r'n'b. Though we like the classics very much, too. Two members of our group, Arida and Louise, have a father who is a classical musician. He works in London Symphonic Orchestra. So, they've been listening to music from the cradle. By the way, their father is a Latvian, though he was born in England. And their grandfather lived in Latvia.
- Oh really! And you've never been here?!
- No, it's our first time but we like it very much here. We want to memorize at least a couple of words in Latvian. Though we've managed only Russian so far, only two words: 'Privet!' and 'Poka!'
- Have you bathed in the sea yet?
- Oh, we're overloaded with rehearsals but we've got into the sea up to our knees. The water felt cold, probably by contrast with the heat. We've had a little time to research the souvenirs, especially amber necklaces. We are going to buy some.
- You are going to perform Alla Pugacheva's hit 'Pozovi menia s soboj' ('Call me with you'). What made you choose this song?
- Arida was going to a rehearsal in a taxi, and there was a Russian driver there who was listening to the song 'Pozovi menia s soboj.'  Arida liked it immensely, so she asked the driver for the cassette, then she took it to the studio and said: 'Guys, here's a cool song! We should sing it!' This is how our group recorded a remix to Pugacheva's song. Then we sent the cassette to Moscow where the General Director of the contest Alexander Rumiantsev listened to it in 'ARS' and invited us to 'New Wave.' So here we are in Jurmala. It must have been fate.

Authors: Karina Evans, Sergey Abolinysh
The Latvian daily 'Chas'