Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

While waiting for the entries for UMK2023 aka Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest let's look back at some of the best non winning ones from yesteryear. Composer Petri Laaksonen was at it again and the sad faith was, as rumored, Yle was determined to have a Swedish language song winning Euroviisut 1990 and voilà. In the Top-3 this was the only song in Finnish. Arja Saijonmaa, mostly known for Eurofandom for her Melodifestivalen entries performed Gabriela with all her might but nothing to do. Sadly this song was never promoted nor released properly and only a limited print promo 7" exists. Which I have.  And yes, you guessed it. The winner Beat with Fri? came shared last with 8 points in Zagreb. No further comment.

SVT revealed the artists and songs for the Melodifestivalen 2019 and most names were already leaked beforehand so there were only three surprises among the 28: Zeana feat. Anis Dom Demina, Omar and Pagan Fury. And minor surprise that LIAMOO and Hanna Ferm were actually together in a duet. Besides Arja Saijonmaa also High15 has a Finn in it. Göteborg, February 2, 2019: Anna Bergendahl - Ashes to ashes **** AC Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljungren, Erik Bernholm, Anna Bergendahl Nano - Chasing rivers **** AC Lise Cabble, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, Thomas G:son Mohombi - Hello ****  FINAL Alexandru Florin Cotoi, Thomas G:son, Mohombi Moupondo, Linnea Deb Zeana feat. Anis Dom Demina - Mina bränder * 5th Thomas G:son, Jimmy Jansson, Anis Don Demina,  Pa Moudou Badjie Arja Saijonmaa - Mina fyra årstider * 7th Arja Saijonmaa High15 - No drama * 6th Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Kate Tizzard Wiktoria - Not with me *** FINAL Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Wiktoria Joha...

Finland celebrates its 100th anniversary as an Independant state in 2017 and Finland is filled with events all year long ( like this one ). After the event in Tallinn earlier this summer this weekend its Sweden's turn to join in the fun and Stockholm hosts a three day event STHLM/SUOMI in the same place where the Eurovision Village was, Kungsträdsgården. Besides the more serious stuff and the obvious food, sauna and Moomin trolls, the agenda is filled with entertainment. Krista Siegfrids was obviously present, as was the most famous Finn in Sweden, Arja Saijonmaa along with  Anna Järvinen, Linda Lampenius, Waltteri Torikka and quite a few Finnish artists and of course a lot of local names.  Krista was excited and overjoyed to perform to the Swedish royals and Finland's presidental couple in the opening gala dressed up like princess (Madeleine, anyone?) , and later that night put on her microshorts and charmed the folks with her usual show, presenting among others h...

Now that was a surprise! A nice one! Excellent one! Readers of my blog know I'm not the biggest Melodifestivaen fan and I do find it way overrated. Great entertaining show yes, musicaally interesting and great? Not so much. Anyways, Krista Siegfrids continues her never stopping career going onwards in Meldoifestivalen. She has told she was asked to take part last year but said nej as the song didn't quite convince her. Now she has co-written her entry and follows Arja Saijonmaa's footsteps becoming only the second Finn to be in*. Arja scored a second place, with one point behind the winner back in 1986 with Högt över havet and returned in the 2000's with less success. Will Krista become the third time lucky Finn? Maybe not, but this is her a huge opportunity to sell her bubbly personality and music to the Swedes. After all, she has always been the odd happy "Swedish like" artist in Finland. If only she could spread that positivity, fun and happiness to oth...

Arja Saijonmaa has released a new album in Sweden Dig har jag kär aka My Swedish songbook . It's her first studio album in Swedish since 1999. Her latest studio album is Rakkaus on rohkeutta from 2006 in Finnish. Altogether this is her 25th studio album. Enough of numbers. Arja is coming to Finland this November for a couple of concerts to celebrate her 70th birthday and career that has been going on for over 40 years in Finland, Sweden, Norway and elsewhere including touring the world with Mikis Theodorakis. She has sung everything from Finnish tangos to Swedish schlagerpop, etno music, French chansons and political songs. Besides a singer she is also an actress in theater, movies and television, she's well known human rights activist, she has even written a book about Finnish sauna. And an autobiography that has been published in Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and Greek. And she's a real diva, too. What else can you ask? She's no stranger to Eurovision either. I...

Update:"Mä laulan sulle tänä iltana" she said before her MF performance. I sing to you tonight, dedicating her song to her Finnish grandmother :-) Anna Järvinen (42) finally takes part in Melodifestivalen tonight. Her song Porslin was selected already last year but she backed out in the last minute. "I haven't performed live for seven years" she tells Finnish media. "I'm a teacher, I teach Swedish and English and I have been doing that besides composing and writing new songs the past few years" . She admits of being very, very nervous. She has released three albums so far, collected awards and nominations by critics but is still maybe a little unknown to the wide audience.  This rather reserved and shy artist has two daughters (6 and 8) from her previous partner. Now she's dating Matias Palme, the youngest son of assassinated prime minister Olof Palme. She was born in Helsinki and when she was six she moved with her mother to Stockho...

This is one of Finland's "What if..." songs. A scandal when juries left it third - placing two songs in Swedish before it - gaining only 89 points against the winner's 95. Even more of a scandal when the actual winner Beat scored yet another last place for Finland, only a year after Anneli Saaristo's fantastic 7th place with another latin flavoured song La dolce vita ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCakl5j-dSQ