Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  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. For the 1964 national Eurovision selection Yle invited ten composers, each with two songs but only one of them made the final cut. The composers had free hands who to invite to perform it all the way to Copenhagen as there was no will to cause commotion by changing artist afterwards, a bit like Portugal in the 2020's, The ...

Yle organized among its other consolation Eurovision 2020 programming also a voting to find out the most loved Finnish entries of each decade ( here ). The 16-year-old Marion Rung's chirpy ode to the spring has become a classic and no wonder takes the 1960's trophy easily.  1962 Marion Rung - Tipi-tii 34,6% 1961 Laila Kinnunen - Valoa ikkunassa  14.7% 1966 Ann-Christine - Playboy 11,2% 1964 Lasse Mårtensson - Laiskotellen   10,8% 1967 Fredi - Varjoon - suojaan  8,8% 1969 Jarkko ja Laura - Kuin silloin ennen   7,2% 1968 Kristina Hautala - Kun kello käy  6,5% 1965 Viktor Klimenko - Aurinko laskee länteen   5,2% 1963 Laila Halme - Muistojeni laulu   1,1%

2016 has been a sad year in entertainment industry and also in the Eurovision world. So many familir names have left us. Here are some of them.... Sir Terry Wogan , the face of the British Eurovision at the age of 77. He commented the Eurovision for the BBC from 1971 to 2008, and hosted the show in 1998. He died of cancer. Kevin aka Danny Finn of Prima Donna (UK 1980). He was married to Eve Graham and they both were also part of The New Seekers. He was 70. Jānis Vaišļa of Pirates of the Sea (Latvia 2008) died at the age of 46 of heart complications. He had also competed in The Amazing Race with fellow pirate Alexandra Kurusova. Lola Novaković (Yogoslavia 1962) died at the age of 80. Roger Cicero (Germany 2007) died at the age of 45 of a stroke. He was to start a new tour and projects after releasing two albums in 2015. The Eurovision 1957 winner Corry Brokken (The Netherlands) dies at the age of 83. She represented the Netherlands also in 1956 and 1958. In...

It has been a very sad year for Eurovision Finland this 2016. After Lasse Mårtensson (ESC 1964) and Riki Sorsa (ESC 1981) also Päivi Paunu (ESC 1972) passed away a couple of days ago. Of cancer like so many others. Considering before this year all but two Finnish stars were alive ( Laila Kinnunen ESC 1961 and Kirka ESC 1984) now we have lost already five.  Päivi Paunu made a name in folk circuit in Helsinki suburbs in the early 1960's, and soon she was in recording studio and her first single and album were released in 1966. Two years later she scored a megahit with Oi, niitä aikoja and she was co-starring two big summer tours in the late 1960's. Slowly her musical styled became more schlager-pop. Her singing career faded away when she started studying but she continued singing in the girlgroup Mirumaru in the early 1980's and doing some occasional small private concerts. She's also related to the famous Von Hertzen Brothers - she was their uncle's wife...

This has been a sad Eurovision weeks for Finland. Riki Sorsa (ESC 1981) passed away just before the first semifinal, and now we are reached with news that Lasse Mårtenson (ESC 1964) has left us, too. Besides his own song he was very much involved in the Finnish Eurovision history as composer.  He wrote a total of 14 Euroviisut entries, winning twice: Marraskuu (1963), Laiskotellen (1964) , Iltaisin (1965), Ge mig en grabb (1965), Pieni sana (1966), Ken hän on? (1966), Revontuli (1967), Sua kutsun, Maarit (1967), Varjoon - suojaan (1967 ), Pilvilaulu (1971), Hän on mennyt vuorten taa (1973), Laulun kuulen (1974), Fasten seatbelts (1975), Kuusitoista hyvää vuotta (1977) He was 81.  Rest in peace. 

Riki Sorsa make a comeback as singer after 13 years since his last album. In between he has battled and won throat cancer that was to put an end to his singing altogether. The album Kun tunnet rakkauden , his 13th and to be released in October, features covers from the 1930's to 1970's with a jazzy feel. "Since I got back the gift of voice, I want to do something deeper and more mature. These songs belong to the common musical heritage " he says. The songs include the first single Laiskotellen , that is none other than Lasse Mårtensson's classic and the Finnish Eurovision entry in 1964, but also Marraskuu , Hymy , Joet tulvimaan itke and Vippaa mulle vitonen . Riki Sorsa represented Finland in Euovision song contest 1981 with Reggae Ok! In 1985 he was the runner up in the national final with fantastic Haaveissa vainko oot mun?

Janne who I hear you ask? If I say he has written more Euroviisut entries than anyone else (except Lasse Mårtensson or did Janne pass him already this time with Jessica Wolff's Better ? Someone correct me?). He has tried since 2004 with songs like A little crazy and Cider hill , just to name a couple. His song Birth by KAT-TUN, a Japanese boyband topped the Japanese charts last week. But hey, he wasn't the first Finn to achieve that: just two weeks earlier Samuli Laiho wrote the Sexy Zone's number one single, With you . Both songs have been co-written by Japanese Daichi. But there are still more Finnish songwriters with success in Asia right now. In Taiwan Rainie Yang had a number one album this fall in South Korea and one of the songs is written by Jussi Nikula, Jaakko JS16 Salovaara and Popparazzis. In Taiwan Super Junior boyband scored also a number one album recently and Be my girl from it was a #3 hit, written by Aku Rannila, Henry MGI Lanzi & co. And we aware,...

No, not the Swedish one but one of the greatest Finnish singers ever, Carola Standertsköld-Liemola who died this day in 1997 at the age of 56 of Alzheimer's. She started singing in 1962 and soon was scoring big hits like Kielletyt leikit , Nuori tumma , Rakkauden jälkeen   and Mä lähden stadiin together with Lasse Mårtenson, who also penned her first Euroviisut song Ge mig en grabb in 1965. She was back in Euroviisut 1966 with Meren laulu and tried for the third and last time in 1971 with Ei koskaan (with Aarno Raninen). In 1970's she scored other hits like Herrojen kanssa pellonlaidassa , Penkki, puu ja puistotie (Un banc, un ambre, une rue) and Rakastan saavuthan (Aprés toi). She took then a break but returned in the 1980's with two more albums, including hits Sydämeen jäi soimaan blues and Maria, Maria . She had one of the finest voices ever, singing also jazz and blues, chancons like La mamma , and latin influenced material like Agua de beber and  Perfidia and ...

Lasse is one of the grand old men of the Finnish music industry and has penned many wonderful songs over the past five decades, enough to have a tribute album made of his songs by young up to date artists in 2006 followed by a tribute concert, something that he apparently wasn't very pleased with... He disapproved the new arrangement of the songs and the whole project. "A tribute? I feel more like my work's put in shame! No one asked me. I feel my identity and artistic image has been abused" he commented. Maybe he is just too old (73) to appreciate the new rap and hip hop versions? He was very productive in the Euroviisut in 1960's: in 1963 his Kaikessa soi blues was a runner up and another song 4th, in 1964 he won with Laiskotellen, in 1965 his song Iltaisin won but was not sent (see post below), in 1967 new comer Fredi won with his song while Danny came second and Laila Kinnunen 6th... He also wrote four more entries (or there could be more but I am a lazy resea...