Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Pitkästä aikaa ( After a long time ) is the very fitting name for the new Virve "Vicky" Rosti album, her first solo effort since 2007 to be released on September 19, 2014. The first single is Leikitään . But that doesn't mean she hasn't been around lately as she's been doing some reality entertainment on TV (where she even got to experiment singing in italian some opera ) and apparently she's on the road all the time alone or with her nostalgy band project Menneisyyden vangit . This is only her 8th solo album even if next year marks her 40th year in the business despite being only 55. She shot to the fame back in 1975 with her debut hit  Kun Chicago kuoli . Five hit albums followed with hits like Tuolta saapuu Charlie Brown , Näinkö meille täällä aina käy and Oon voimissain . She's also known for several other well done covers like Jolene and Rahaa, rahaa, rahaa , Sorry jos oon lady , Koputa puuta , Menolippu ,....  Come 1980's and the cov...

The 37th Syksyn Sävel was held in MTV3 studios in Helsinki tonight. Unfortunately it was a poorly staged rather amateurish offering this year with songs that could have taken part in the 70's or 80's mostly but that's no wonder when you look at the artists internally selected for it - most of them had their last hit in the 70's or 80's, or in some cases 90's. With a few exceptions who indeed turned out to be the best ones. Suvi Teräsniska was high above the rest with her elegant, dramatic pop perfection Täydellinen elämä . No wonder she scored almost 30% of the votes. Milana Misic had also a very strong song, with a touch of French chanson. Stig from UMK continues going more and more mainstream and he was rather enjoyable. Finally Neljän Suora , one of the rare acts actually being popular in the 2010's also had a song that will be another hit for them for sure. Finally, a hands up for Vicky Rosti , who looked more stunning than ever and also seemed ...

Atlético Kumpula takes its name from a neighborhood in Helsinki where the guys come from. The band is made of Kyösti Salokoski, Janne Friman (Freeman's son. He took part in UMK last year), Valtteri Pöyhönen, Samuli Luoma, Miikka Paatelainen and Rasmus Pailos. Kyösti has written their song Paperilyhty (Paper lantern). He's no stranger in Finnish music business as he has been writing songs to many top artists like Jenni Vartiainen, Annika Eklund (incl. Shanghain valot ) and Mikael Konttinen and is also known from Scandinavian Music Group. The guys have already played together in various bands and combinations over the years and released their debut album in spring 2012. Their folk sound is mixed with 60's schlager. Kyösti tells when he moved back to his childhood quarter this kind of songs started pouring out of him that he wanted to sing himself and do them just the way he wanted to do them. The band says they are not bothered to be labeled as "organic music...

YLE has published the votes Finland gave and who were in the jury. The Finnish jury was Anni Hautala (radio speaker), Kristiina Wheeler (singer), Freeman (singer), Maki Kolehmainen (composer, producer) and Leri Leskinen (musicians, producer). They gave the following points: 12 points to Sweden + televotes = 12 10 points to Estonia + televotes = 10 8 points to Denmark + televotes = 5 7 points to Spain + televotes = 3 6 points to Russia + televotes = 8 5 points to Iceland + televotes = 7 4 points to France + televotes = 0 3 points to Germany + televotes = 1 2 points to Albania + televotes = 6 1 point to Norway + televotes = 0 0 points to Ireland + televotes = 4 0 points to Serbia + televotes = 2

The last qualification round of UMK came from Helsinki Ice hall where we had the stage, the greenroom but empty hall giving a very strange feel to the whole thing. Anyways after the interview with The Rasmus , the round up how the 540 songs came 40, then 12, then 8 and finally only six tonight they started telling us who the online voters had sent to the final: Mica Ikonen, Pernilla Karlsson, Ville Eetvartti while Kaisa Vala was in danger of dropping out. Then Iconcrash and Stig to the final and Freeman joins Kaisa Vala on stage tonight and faces the judges. They performed again after Anna Abreu was interviewed. She will have her biggest show ever on UMK stage. After the Madonna's SuperBowl performance it was reported she was mad about her as her planned show was very similar to Madonna's and now needed to be redone to avoid copycat label. (Yeah right!). So then to the judges Anna Laine, Jorma Hietamäki, Vallu Vaipio, Anna Puu and Tomi Saarinen. They praised Kaisa Vala, the w...

Tonight there will be the last qualification round for the seven entries left in UMK aka Uuden musiikin kilpailu, ex-Euroviisut. First they were 540, then 40, then 12 and tonight they will be only six. Televoters will take five of them to the final, and the judges will send there also one of the two leftovers. So, one will be so close, 24 hours, from the final but will be left out. I would kick out either Freeman or Stig (for the simple fact he can't sing) but I'm afraid both will go on tomorrow's final. My favourites are Kaisa Vala as she is the most intteresting, fresh new artists here, and Mica Ikonen for the simple stage presence and voice!The songs still in the run are: Freeman & Uusi Fantasia - Noitanainen Iconcrash - We are the night Kaisa Vala - Habits of the human beings Mica Ikonen - Antaa mennä Pernilla Karlsson - När jag blundar Stig - Laululeija Ville Eetvartti - Lasikaupunki

So, tonight's UMK is over and we have a result. This week I don't totally agree with the judges but hey, that's life. Aura Pineda is out. The judges thought she's a good singer and she is, and the song is a good schlager hit which is it but somehow it wasn't honest. Indeed she said in interview she "wants to sing all sort of music" in a way that it sounded like she's not that into the song herself. Could be. Surprisingly also Leola was kicked out. They praised the solist and the song and wondered if she would go solo anytime soon. Even if the song came alive on stage like never before it lacked originality reminding many Finnish current artists (Irina meets Stella for example). So, welcome back nest year! Iconcrash did it. They thought they were ambitious stadium rock. A good song. Freeman also did it but they were very disappointed Uusi Fantasia band was not with him but five backing singers. He better bring them along (after all it's labeled ...

So far the show has been a rating disaster and people have showed little interest, even amongst the fans it seems. Tonight again six acts will perform to the judges who will then drop two of them. They are Aura Pineda, Freeman, Iconcrash, Kaisa Vala, Leola and Ville Eetvartti . As this is a recorded show the real thing happens elsewhere at the same time: the eight qualified ones + the wildcard voted online from Martina, Jessica Wolff and The Spyro will perform in Club Dom in Helsinki live infront of a live audience and judges. And here is the change: apparently when this airs on February 17 the public can vote five acts directly to the final, and the judges will add one more. So far there has been no talk about public voting at this stage so is this an attempt to try to make the show more interesting and viewer friendly? The show starts tonight at 20.00 CET and you can watch it live on YLE Areena . I will of course post after the show my comments and thoughts.

Freeman (60) is a real veteran who scored a couple of evergreen hits in the 1970's and has ever since toured Finland up and down playing in bands of those who were big at the time. In the 1990's-2000's he's been touring with some other artists in the same situation as Menneisyyden Vangit (Prisoners of the past) with Vicky Rosti singing their own hits and covers. He has released four albums between 1976-2011. Last year Uusi Fantasia, a group of young musicians asked him to sing the lead in Liian myöhään and all of sudden he was hot again. And now he's in UMK with them and Noitanainen .