Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Zoli Adok has been busy all year on stage in various productions. Last weekend premiered Monty Python's Spamalot in Theatre Madách where he plays Prince Herbert right after he finished with Kontakt . He has also had time to record some new music and a new single and video is coming up soon!

The media has put in the front line Amadeus Lundberg - as expected - with Maria Lund, Veeti and Eläkeläiset. The fans seem to think mostly that there are better, bigger and more interesting names amongst the 30 artists that made it to the internet selection than the 12 artists directly invited by YLE and chosen with the record companies. One must say none of the major record companies is dominating this time as the 12 artists come from 10 different companies. Or rather 11 as one of them, Heli Kajo has no contract at the moment. Iltalehti is running a poll "Are you happy with the chosen artists" and when writing this 83% saying NO . Ilta-Sanomat has a poll of who would be the best represant and after 3000+ votes Eläkeläiset is leading (30%), followed by Maria Lund (27%), Amadeus Lundberg (15%), Veeti Kallio (11%) and Pentti Hietanen (7%). UPDATE: The situation in polls has not changed even if the number of votes has doubled or tripled over the evening.

Saara Aalto - Ment to be Markus Ahola - Kadotaan Aia - Ruma Henrik Anttila & Krister Anttila - Yhtä juhlaa Sonja Bishop - Why don't you Blackbird - Did I say that I loved you Blackstream - Divine Saga Bloom - Love like this Bääbs - You don't know tomorrow Camilla Petra - Your world is still waiting for me Captain Cougar - Too late Daisy Jack - Fridays Marcus Granfors - Always Janne Hurme - Not even on Sundays Sofia Järnström - Miss magic Pauliina Kumpulainen - Niin kävi taas Jukka Kuoppamäki - Ystävät! Netta - Stronger Linn Nygård - Fatal moment Paul Oxley - Hope Janne Raappana - Elina Rock'n roll Sensation - Listen to the radio Geir Rönning - I hate myself for loving you Laura Sippola & Tuki - Morse for nature Sister Twister - Love at the first sight Juhana Suninen - Vastaa! Sanna-Mari Titov - Tunnustuksen tapaisia sanoja Roni Tran - Star power U.O.M.A. - Kaupunki Villieläin - Ei minua

Let's have a quick look at the songs in the internet selection that were chosen from the 267 demos sent in. Amongst writers we have several familiar names. Taikapeili girls Hanna-Riikka Siitonen (also daughter of Fredi and multi-ESC backing vocalist) and Nina Tapio (also ESC backing vocalist) are partly behind the song by Aia. Sonja Bishop and Jukka Kuoppamäki have previously taken part in Euroviisut, so has Norvegian Geir Rönning who also won in 2005. Roni Tran and Pauliina Kumpulainen are of Idols fame, Linn Nygård and Sister Twister have represanted Finland in the Nordic Junior Melodi Grand Prix. Saara Aalto charmed the folks in Talent Suomi last year. Juhana Suninen is a tenor. British Paul Oxley was a huge name in the 1980's with his Paul Oxley's Unit and Jussi Hakulinen of Yö fame is one of the best known rock writers. Besides these there are several familiar names from the previous selections, a lot of Finnish Swedes (as always when there's an op...

And here comes this year's rock band: Monday. Founded by Tuomas "Gary" Keskinen, ex- Technicolor and Negative with Salla Lehtinen (vocals), Henkka Mannio (drums), Jussi Savola (bass) and Pete Eskola (keyboards, backing vocals). They have released their debut album earlier this year that rock critics liked in Finland and abraod and they have been all the way to Japan to promote it. The first single Monday was a hit in Sisuradio in Sweden.

Another not surprising name here along with Osmo. She has been all over the place the past two years. She has released a very succesful album with swing retro pop versions of Finnish pop-rock songs, won Tanssi tähtien kanssa and represanted Finland in the Eurovision Dance Contest . She released her new album Tahdon today (now that is strange... why not wait til December?). She is also daughter of Tamara Lund and Romanian opera singer Alexandru Ionitza, who took part in Euroviisut three times in the 1960's.

Nina Lassander (22) has just graduated from Berklee Collage of music in Boston and has been working on Finnish swedish speaking tv's summer show Fångad av en sång the last three years. She is currently recording her debut album and considers the invitation as a big honor (and it is).

If you say Kuunkuiskaajat (Moon whisperers) it says nothing. If you say Värttinä you go Aaah... (or you should!). These two girls, Johanna and Sussu, have been singing in Värttinä for many years but have now left the Carelian etno behind and do some retro schlager á la Laila Kinnunen and Harmony Sisters. (Hmm, sounds suspiciously similar to Maria Lund....)

His name might not be a household one but he has written over 50 songs to artists like Jippu, Katri Ylande, Paula Koivuniemi, Sami Saari and Annika Eklund just to name a few, and has played/sung in bands like Aikakone, several musicals (he has also written three himself!), He has released two solo albums so far with radio hits Timo tahtoo , Auta mua, Marikan haaveet, Mä en pelkää mitään and Joensuu - New York.

I was going to tip Veeti , and propably have last year or so, and it is great to see him here. He's got a very good voice, a precense you can't miss (voted many times the sexiest man in Finland). He has been around since forever doing solo music, in various bands, accapella group Veeti & The Velvets, Leningrad Cowboys... He is currently recording his second solo album and has already scored a radio hit from it, Oot niin kaunis . He is also very popular and ladies will have hard time to choose between superhunky Veeti and cute Amadeus :-)

Heli Kajo is a totally unknown 25-year-old music teacher from Helsinki. She loves high heals, champagne and everything French. Her music is said to be very Finnish with French atmosphere - whatever that means but sounds interesting. She says each and every her song is born with a lot of crying, laughter, drinking a bit too much and questioning Why? Actually she sent her song to the open contest but YLE liked it so much it is here!

As I tipped Osmo Ikonen is here and solo this time around. Last year he provided vocals to the runner up, Signmark. He comes from a musical family and he plays cello, violin, piano, bass, drums and guitar - one man band! Besides that he is also composer, writer, arranger and producer. He also plays keyboard in Sunrise Avenue and released his debut album last year and scored a radio hit with Storm. He's got a great voice and is a very talented artist and it's great to have him here!

I guess no one saw this coming. Tenor Pentti Hietanen has been around 25 years, has sold 3 gold discs and one platinum and sings opera, operetta and poppier music at times but to link him with Eurovision? Interesting choice. He was just singing in the opera choir in Savonlinna Opera festival in 1986 when the leading singer lost his voice and he had to step in. The rest is history....

Eläkeläiset (or Retired) will provide the humor number this time, it seems. The band that started as a joke has been around since 1994, has stopped several times but always bounced back. Their genre is humppa versions of rock classics. They have a record deal in the central Europe and in Russia and have toured all over the continent. Still.... seriously?

BOB has been playing together since 2008 but the various members have been palying together or separately in different bands since 1998. The members are Kimmo Blom (vocals), Pekka Rautio (guitars), Teijo Jämsä (drums) and Janne Antikainen, whose parents Jarkko & Laura sung for Finland in ESC 1969! Teijo Jämsä also has Eurovision connection: he played with Russian Natalia Podolskaya in ESC 2005. For me they are completely unknown as a band.

As previously announced the reigning Tango King Amadeus Lundberg is taking part in Euroviisut 2010. He's maybe the hottest artist in Finland at the moment, being even more popular than Jari Sillanpää at the time of his reigh. Amadeus is young with the voice and good looks, is set to start his first big tour in November and recording his debut album. At a quick glance of the other artists he has a very good chance to go to Oslo, too.

Amadeus Lundberg Boys Of The Band (BOB)   Eläkeläiset   Pentti Hietanen   Osmo Ikonen   Heli Kajo   Veeti Kallio   Antti Kleemola   Kuunkuiskaajat   Nina Lassander   Maria Lund   Monday

Aamu-TV just told there will be 30 songs in the internet selection, chosen out of the 267 demos receives. Three of them will be voted to join the 12 invited artists, one of them now confirmed Amadeus Lundberg.

Judging the photo on YLE's website announcing the announcement today features Jaana Pelkonen and Peltsi Peltola so it might be a safe bet to say they will host the Finnish Euroviisut once again. Jaana of course was also the lovely hostess in Helsinki 2007....

YLE announces the 12 invited artists today and I announce the brand new partner site, 3minutes so please check them out!      Maybe you know them already? They have been featuring my stories for some time now so why not make it official? I have stolen an article or two from them, too. We hope to develop even better things for you to enjoy, here and there.

Jari Sillanpää's double album Kuin elokuvissa that was recorded in Abbey Road studios in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra this summer is released today. A little teaser here .

Sydänjää is title of Laura Voutilainen's album that is released today. It can be translated either Heart's ice or Heart remains. The first single Kuulta kyselen is already a success debuting as #4 in Radio Suomi's playlist, local radio station's play lists's #2 and SunFM's #1. You can listen to it in her MySpace .

I have opened Facebook profile for this blog, please do join in! Let's see who are reading this!

Esctoday.com has been running a poll to find out the ultimate Eurovision entry of the 2000's. More information and how to vote here And here are the 24 entries that made it to the final. If you want to see who didn't make it here is the semifinal one and two .

Well not tomorrow but the day after tomorrow, October 1. Tomorrow we will know the song titles and artists, how many they are and how the selection will happen. Three out of these will be voted to join the semifinals in January and who knows if this open contest will produce the winner in 2010? All the information coming uop right here tomorrow afternoon! Stay tuned!

Tomorrow we will know the 12 invited artists YLE has invited this year for the Finnish selection with collaboration of the Finnish record companies. I will be online in the late afternoon and will bring you all the information and bios and all I can find out about the artists in the evening. Stay tuned!

While waiting for the new Laura Pausini live album and three new songs, including Con la musica alla radio and a tribute to Michael Jackson, Heal the world let's have a look at her duets that could already be collected on one album, they are so many! Some have been recorded and even released as singles, others have been just one off live performances or album tracks. The latest one is Primavera in anticipo (It is my song) with James Blunt. Before that she did a remake of Tiziano Ferro's Non me lo so spiegare/No me lo puede explicar with him and was featured in Nek's Sei solo tu/Tan solo tu . She did with Hélene Segara On n'oublie jamais rien on a vit avec and with Sin Banderas Como tú y como yo . Then we have Miguel Bosé and Te amaré , Michael Buble and You'll never find another love like mine , Charles Aznavour and Paris au mois d'aout and Juanes in Il mio canto libero/Mi libre cancion . She has taken the challenge to sing with the two tenors as well:...

Koit Toome who sung for Estonia in 1998 Mere lapsed has released a new live album Sügav kummardus õpetajale and has also a new single out , Kaugele siit . He has also an acoustic version of it here . He has made a succesful career in Estonia both on stage and on record since and was dating another Eurovision artist Maarja-Liis Ilus for a long time. Musicals he has starred in Estonia, Finland and Germany include Chess, Rent, Hair, Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. From October 2009 to May 2010 he will be starring in Tarto's Vanemuine Theater in Ämbliknaise suudlus (Kiss of a spiderwoman)

The winner of the Cerbul de Aur or Golden Stag 2009 in Romania, Italian Antonino Spadaccino (26) declares in a recent interview he wants to do Eurovision, but as Italy is not participating hopes that some other country would be interested. "I want to do Eurovision but need to find a country that would adopt me. I got to Cerbul only thanks to my manager who sent in a demo. In Italy I don't do any festivals or contest anymore. I have tried to enter Sanremo twice but they have just laughed at me, even making fun of me sending me away by saying "Salutaci gli Amici tuoi! (translates to Greetings to your Friends" Antonino won the talent reality contest Amici four years ago. "Maybe Malta or Switzerland would be interested in me" he goes on.   "I was sure I would go home empty handed from Romania thinking the local artist would win again but when I heard "And the winner is Antonino" I didn't realize anything anymore. I cried like a baby - ...

Janita has finally released her new album Haunted. You can watch the video here . And more of her on her MySpace . She took part in Euroviisut 2009 with Martian .

The little birds are telling Elisabeth Andreasson has sent in a song to Melodifestivalen. Just imagine her on stage in Oslo singing for Sweden.... shivers! She is one of the most succesful Eurovision artists in history: singing for Sweden in 1982 Dag efter dag as Chips with Kikki Danielsson (8th), winning it for Norway in 1985 in Sweden with La det swinge as Bobbysocks with Hanne Krogh. In 1994 she was there again for Norway and dueting this time with Jan Werner in Duett (6th). Her first only solo appearance took place in 1996 when Norway last hosted the show and she took the homecountry to 2nd place with I evighet . Besides that she has taken part in Melodifestivalen also in 1981 with God morgon (2nd), 1984 Kärleksmagi (6th), 1990 Jag ser en stjärna falla (7th) and in 2002 with Kikki Danielsson and Lotta Engberg and Vem é dé du vill ha (3rd). In Norway she took Winds of the Northern sea to 2nd place in 1998 and the same trio Kikki, Bettan & Lotta tried their luck in Norwa...

Gianni Morandi wraps up 45 years of career with this 3-CD with his biggest hits all remastered, many duets and some new tracks. All is included from his Eurovision 1970 entry Occhi di ragazza to Si puó dare di piú , Sanremo 1987 winner with Umberto Tozzi and Enrico Ruggeri, from In amore with Barbara Cola, Sanremo 1995 runner up to Fatti mandare dalla mamma and C'era un ragazzo come me che amava i Beatles e i Rolling Stones

Wow, isn 't this ironic? I just wrote about Madonna and all of sudden the flag of the Vatican makes its first appearance here on my blog! Allora, fratelli santi, benvenuti nel mondo Eurovisivo e Madonnaesque! :-)

Madonna's double-CD Celebration with 34 of her hits chosen by her and her fans plus two new tracks Celebration and Revolver was released today in Finland and sold already over 24.000 copies gaining platinum status. It also becomes the most sold foreign album in Finland in 2009 so far. Next week the DVD collection with 47 videos will be released, 18 of which has never been available on DVD before. Celebration the single also returns to #1 in charts after 8 weeks of which this is the 6th week as number one after a #3 debut and dropping to #4 last week. There's also the fan video for Celebration .It made it to #1 also in Italy, #3 in UK, #5 in Canada, Germany and Switzerland. And it also became her 40th Billboard Dance/Club play chart #1!

Wess or Wesley Johnson has died in New York. He represanted Italy along with Dori Ghezzi in 1975 with Era , one of the most memorable Eurovision songs ever.

It seems that Luxembourg is not returning after all, and Austria will not return claiming "the contest is ruined by the rules" and they rather use the 400.000 euros needed for something else. Oh well, whatever.

Laura Pausini has been nominated again for Latin Grammys: En cambio no as the record of the year and Primavera anticipada for the album of the year. She won her first Latin Grammy in 2005 for Escucha , and two years later for Yo canto , both as Best Latin pop album. In 2006 she also won "the real" Grammy for Best Latin Pop album.  She's currently touring both Northern and Southern America before returning for Italy and further 11 concerts in her longest world tour to date. In November a live album Lauralive will be also released. While waiting for that she will release new material on Friday: Con la musica alla radio/Con la musica en la radio

Jade Ewen, the UK entrant in Moscow 2009 puts her solo career on hold after two singles, Eurovision It's my time and follow up My man and joins Sugababes, one of the most succesful girlbands in the UK. The band started back in 1998 and with the departure of Keisha Buchanan that Jade will replace also the last original member is out. Six out band's 25 singles so far have made it to #1 in the UK: Freak like me , Round round , Hole in the head , Push the button , Walk this way and About you now . Theuir latest single Get sexy made it to #2.

Ruslana was a special guest act in the 6th Asia Song Festival in Seoul in South Korea and came back home with two trophys: The Best artist award and an award for the contribution to the cultural exchange between Ukraine and Asia. Asia Song Festival was held in the SkyBox stadium of Seoul in front of 45,000 people and was broadcasted in 20 countries across Asia while 14 countries took part. She was also the only guest out of Asia and has been invited to take part in the 2010 edition as well. She also plans to record a duet with some local star before that. Congrats Ruslana and Wild dances still rule!

As the trend has been the past few years the Eurovision stars and winners are also nominated in the MTV Europe Music Awards in various countries. Previous winner Helena Paparizou is running for the best Greek act, and another previous winner Dima Bilan is after his 5th consegutive win as the best Russian act but faces the competition of national finalist Sergey Lazarev . Kenan Dogulu who came 4th in Helsinki 2007 for Turkey is nominated for the best Turkish act and finally Lovebugs that didn't bite so well in Moscow 2009 is looking for a revenge as a possible best Swiss act. Vote in respective websites. The 2009 MTV Music awards takes place in Berlin on November 5, 2009.

Jari Sillanpää's new album Kuin elokuvissa (Like in the movies) is out soon. Recorded in London's legendary Abbey Road studios with London Philharmonic orchestra it includes, as the name suggests, evergreens from the movies. It's apparently also one of the most expensive Finnish albums made and quite risky business for Jari himself as the money comes mainly from his own pockets. The album will be out October 7 when he starts his Kuin elokuvissa tour in Finland.

YLE's website reports EBU expects Italy back in Eurovision 2011. Austria and Luxembourg should return next year, and Liechtenstein that has applied for EBU membership should also make its debut in Oslo 2010. That would make it 44 countries there.... if Czech Tepublic's withdrawel really happens.

Ok, she is propably out of the question because she is starring in musical The Producers (and apparently a certain Melodifestivalen dictator has something against her...) Anyways, Pernilla is the only one of these three special girls that came out in early 1980's and have been dominating the scene since, the other two being of course Carola and Lena Ph . Pernilla was a superfavourite in 1985 with Piccadilly Circus but managed only 4th place. In 1991 she and Lena Ph joined forces "to beat Carola" as Lena jokingly stated with Tvillingsjäl that Lena wrote and Pernilla sung - suffering from a severe throat infection. We all know what happened to Carola's entry while the the other team didn't even make the final. In 2003 she was back in Melodifestivalen with Jan Johansen and they came close to winning with Let your spirits fly , 2nd place. Since then she has reportedly tried to enter many times but never accepted. Like this I min värld in 2008 or Don't say g...

While the national selections for Junior Eurovision are going on around Europe and Ani Lorak's been confirmed as host all sort of rumors about the real thing are beginning to be the order of the day. Austria returns - or then not. Andorra stays home - or then not. San Marino returns - well, most likely but not surely. Luxembourg should make a come back - or then maybe not. Liechtenstein is still in the running - or has it ever been for real? Has the local TV ever confirmed anything? Is it just wishful thinking by the fans? Poland on the other hand has confirmed they will be in Oslo. And Italy will be still out. And apparently there will be no ban or such for Azerbaijan nor Spain for the irregularities in and after the 2009 edition. EBU had to change the text in the rules to make it sure nothing like that what happened in Azerbaijan could happen again. Or if it will they have means and rules to back up a ban or sanction.... Katerina Avgoustakis has been rumored to be in Oslo...

I'm old enough to remember the original Fame and here it comes again, nearly 30 years after. Here is the original musicvideo for Fame title song sung by Irene Cara and the new one sung by Naturi Naughton. The original film from 1980 was later followed by TV-series ( Madonna auditioned amongst others but was not taken). Nothing to do with Eurovision but good memories. Sweet memories. Fond memories.... I can do anything better than you can , Life is a celebration ,  I still believe in me ,  It's gonna be a, long night ,  Be my music and Starmaker And yes, even Carola did Fame and Flashdance in her first tour in 1983! (And yes, I did see her live!). Even The Toppers did it (and no, I wasn't there...)

Sanremo 2009 was rather simple affair with two categories, Artists and proposals (instead of the old Big and Newcomers). The 16 Artists were chosen from 104 applications, and the 8 Proposals from 146. Along the festival on stage sanremofestival.59 was conducted in internet with 470 applications, amongst them Miodio who reached the final stage with Evoluzione genetica . Other previous winner or Eurovision artists were Alexia , Albano , Marco Masini , Fausto Leali and Francesco Renga . Iva Zanicchi was eliminated the first night. Albano and Sal da Vinci were eliminated the second night but were granted wildcards on the third.  In the end only the top-3 was announced and Sal Da Vinci with Non riesco a farti innamorare came third, Povia with Luca era gay second (so, for the second year running a gay themed song came second!) and Marco Carta won with La forza mia . He is one of the youngest winners ever and comes from a Idols like reality show Amici that he won in 2007. He got ove...

The annual Ladies Night show will be held in Stockholm on September 26 and Andreas Johnsson, Martin Stenmarck and Mikale Tornving will entertain the only female crowd. The tour starts from Västeros September 18 and ends in Helsingborg in November 7. This is the fourth tour and Martin Stenmarck has been in all of them.