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Lithuania returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1999, having withdrawn after their debut entry in 1994. Lithuania's second Eurovision entry came from Aistė, who performed "Strazdas" at the 1999 Contest in Jerusalem. "Strazdas" was performed in Samogitian, a dialect of Lithuanian.
"Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka 1999[]
For Lithuania's return to Eurovision after five years, the Lithuanian broadcaster Lietuvos radijas ir televizija (LRT) held a national final to select the second Lithuanian entry.
The final, hosted by Vilija Grigonytė and Vytautas Kernagis, was recorded on 27 December 1998 at the LRT studios in Vilnius during the television program Muzikinis viešbutis, and was later aired on 31 December 1998. Both televoting and jury voting was used during the show, however only the votes of the jury decided the winner. The televote results showed that RebelHeart had won with 40%, with Aistė Smilgevičiūtė coming second with 33%. The jury selected Aistė with "Strazdas" as the winner, with only the points of the top four songs being announced.[1]
Aistė opened the 1999 contest, performing first in a field of 23, preceding Belgium in the running order. "Strazdas" received 13 points, placing 20th in a field of 23.[2] As such Lithuania was relegated from the 2000 Contest, due to low average scores over the past five years.
Lithuania
Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest