Urban Trad’s “Sanomi” was the first Eurovision Song Contest entry performed entirely in a constructed language.
Belgium entered the song in the 2003 contest, held in Riga, Latvia. “Sanomi” was written and performed by Urban Trad, a Belgian musical group, and its invented language was designed to let listeners focus on the sound and emotion of the performance rather than on the meaning of recognizable words.
The song finished second, narrowly missing victory behind Turkey’s Sertab Erener and “Everyway That I Can”. Its result demonstrated that a song did not need a conventional national or widely spoken language to connect with the Eurovision voting audience.
This fact is often confused with songs containing invented words or short nonsensical sections. “Sanomi” is distinctive because the entire vocal text uses the constructed language, rather than merely including a refrain or isolated phrase in one.