EUROVISION FINLAND 65: HOW IT ALL STARTED - EUROVIISUT 1961
Finland will take part in the Eurovision song contest 2026 for the 59th time. Finland has taken part every year since its debut in 1961 - 65 years ago - except in 1970 (when boycotting along with Austria, Norway, Sweden and Portugal the voting system and previous year's chaos) and due to being relegated in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003 thanks to those insane rules back then. Over the years Finland was considered quite an under achiever with last places coming this way a bit too often in the first decades. In this series I will go through the first contests, how we came up with the eventual entry and we can remember from the other songs from those years.
Eurovision song contest started in 1956 but in Finland television was only starting with test programming in 1957. A couple of years later things were settled and Finns who had tv got to see Eurovision 1960 and since Sweden, Norway and Denmark were already in the Finnish public demanded we participate, too. Under pressure Yle launched an open contest to find the entry for 1961. As it was song contest for composers it was that literally: composers were asked to send only the notes of their entry. Yle as organizer then took care of the lyrics, arrangement and top artists to perform them. And they received 280 entries.
Out of the 280 entries Yle chose eight to work with. During January 1961 they were played in radio and as test music for television, always two at the time. Yle had chosen as the artists Laila Kinnunen, Ritva Mustonen, Brita Koivunen and Kai Lind to perform the songs. Each had two songs and audience was able to vote by postcard one to the live televised final. This way we lost Laila Kinnunen's Jossain meren rannalla, Brita Koivunen's Pikku piccolo, Ritva Mustonen's Kun kevät saapuu and Kai Lind's Pistäydun naapurissa. None of these songs were recorded and released but some footage remains.
Sunday February 12, 1961 the first ever Euroviisut finaali took place in Helsinki's Työväenopisto. For unknown reasons Brita Koivunen declined the offer and was replaced by Christina Hellman. The songs were rearranged to a bigger orchestra and a nine member jury chose the winner. They were supposed to decided right there but the task was too hard so the result was announced the day after in radio and tv's evening news.
Eino Hurme's first composition Valoa ikkunassa with lyrics by Sauvo Puhtila was chosen and it is rumored the jury chose Laila Kinnunen rather than the song and she was already very experienced artist and had sung abroad as well. The song however became Top-10 hit in Finland. The B-side featured Pikku ikkuna, Kai Lind's entry. Also Portinvartija was recorded (but by Seija Järvinen) and released while Puuttuva lehti was forgotten and archived.
In Cannes Eurovision 1961 Finland performed 4th between Austria and Yogoslavia and placed 10th out of sixteen with six points received from Italy (2), UK (2), Denmark (1) and France (1).
Laila Kinnunen (1939-2000) was one of the most popular Finnish singers in the late 1950's and 1960's. Her debut single Lazzarella (1957) was already a huge success and the hit singles followed one after another. She sung in various languages (Finnish, Swedish, English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Russian, Afrikaans, Hungarian and Hebrew) and performed abroad as well She recorded everything from bossanova to jazz, from folk songs to musicals besides traditional schlager. She was back at Euroviisut in 1962 with Lumineito, 1966 Muistojen bulevardi, 1967 with Unohdusta ei ole (she later represented Finland in Intervision song contest and placed 4th with this) and Revontuli and 1969 with Potkis. By 1970 she was pretty much withdrawn from public eye and struggled with alcolism and became almost a hermit, especially after her failed 1980 comeback attempt with Kohtalon lapsi.
Ritva Mustonen (b.1940) was a popular singer at the time with first hit already in 1958 and she has recorded about 60 songs and is a music teacher. She was back in 1965 with Lapin taikarummut replacing Erkki Pohjanheimo who couldn't perform his own song as being hired by Yle shortly before.. Her husband is a guitarist and her daughter Mari Laurila was a child star with several recordings incl Pippi Longstocking.
Kai Lind (b.1937) was the teenage girls' top favorite at the time. He was also one of the Four Cats singing group. Besides recording artist he's actor both on films and television, has done musicals. He was back in 1962 performing Tipi-tii and Pikku rahastaja as an alternative to Marion, in 1964 Satelliitti kahdelle and finally 1965 with Mon amie, mon amour.
Christina Hellman (b.1942) was an unknown then and disappeared from the spotlight soon after. She might be the quite famous Swedish actress though?
Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!
Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?
Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )
Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well... The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam...
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...
The boys of Blue have posed nude again. This time for the Attitude magazine's annual Naked issue and they are also in the cover. Watch the video of the shooting here . Band member Duncan, who is bi-sexual, recently told The Daily Star : “We are getting our kit off for Attitude magazine like the McFly boys did. I’m up for showing everything off. I’m happy enough about the size of my manhood. ” Extra media attention won't hurt their changes in Germany to win it for the UK for the first time since 1997... They will and they can!
Well, almost. The boys celebrated their 650.000th follower on Twitter by being photographed fresh from shower as promised. It's not the first time they drop their clothes as you see here . Meanwhile their second album is nearly here and the title track Young love is hitting the charts....
Eurovision song contest 2005 winner Helena Paparizou has been enjoying Top-5 hits every year since 2003 with the exception of 2010 and 2014, this latest one being already her 27th! And Haide is charting also in Bulgaria and Finland, of all places. The catchiness of her hits has changed less over the years than her face.... Here's the English version , below the Greek version.
The old rivals have put their bras (or the lack of them) in peace and entered the studios together to record Blondie's boombastic Call me . Life could be worse.....
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