International Pop Music Festival in Jurmala /Latvia/

New Wave International Pop Music Festival will open in Jurmala (a Latvian resort) on Wednesday, July 31st. The festival will last till August 4th.

Alla Pugacheva, Filipp Kirkorov, Kristina Orbakaite, Valery Leontyev, Alexander Malinin, Laima Vaikule, Leonid Agutin, Angelica Varum, Alsou, Toto Cutugno, Lou Bega and other Russian, Latvian and international pop stars will participate in the festival.

The final of the international contest of young singers will be held as part of the festival at the Dzintari concert hall. The jury, headed by famous composers Raimond Pauls /Latvia/ and Igor Krutoi /Russia/ will evaluate the vocal of 15 singers from 10 countries - Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Israel, Spain and the USA.

The contest will be held in three stages. The participants are to present a retro-hit of their country, written before the 1990s, a retro-hit in a foreign language and an original song.

The international jury will choose the winner by means of open voting. The first prize is 20,000 US dollars, the second - 15,000 dollars and the third - 10,000 dollars. Three more laureates will get 3,000 dollars.

The ORT channel will broadcast all the concerts of the Jurmala festival. Some 40 million spectators from 45 countries are expected to watch them.