Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

First of all I have to say I agreed with the judges. Those two songs were the right ones to be kicked out at this point. They said Aamuyön ikuisuus was unreal in surrealistic way, a real Finnish schlager colored with blue and white and indeed it is. But the performance was very stiff with shaky vocals so that's all there was. Kirahvi nimeltä Tuike's song was "exactly what UMK is all about" said the judges. Yet it was out. Unfinished, not ready concept yet and in the end not so original. Add static performance. And were they serious or pulling their leg? The other four continue to the club gig where their live performance skills are concidered. Mica Ikonen has no need to worry as the judges were already very impressed with his vocals and presence. Aili and Pernilla need to improve a lot as they gave a very amateurish performance even if Aili got one of them crying with emotion. And very nervous, too. Their songs carried them forward but will it be enough? Stig seemed ...

Jari & Taika, the band that is leading the liking poll in UMK's website and is a hot favourite to win the national final next February has made a promise: if they win they will drive to Baku across Europe with their Zetor tractor! That would be their PR-tour as they would drive the Zetor to city squares and play mini concerts on the trailer. Anyways, the band that consist of amateur musicians who in real life are farmers, service man, mechanic and a weather technician. The singer Jari Mustajärvi tells the song came to him one late night in spring 2011, thus the title Aamuyön ikuisuus (Eternity of the late night/early morning). He had it on his hard disc that broke down. Because of the tsunami in Japan it took 8 weeks before he got a new one, then there were the farming work to be done in summer before he got to working on it again. He thinks all that was faith. This way the song had time to develop and mature in his mind. Then he sent it to UMK just that people would here it. ...

There has been over 100.000 "Tykkää" aka "Like" in UMK's songs since they were made public. As we know the jury that will choose the 12 semifinalists amongst the 40 songs will keep a close eye also on this, and other movements in social medias. But then who knows what they will choose? If we look at the top-5 since the liking started the most solid performer has been Jari & Taika that debuted as number 2 and moved to number one and has stayed there since. Also Iconcrass and Raita Ilomäki have stayed in top.5 for five weeks already. The Spyro and Jessica Wolff have climbed there later on. You can check the full list here . This is how the top looks like this very moment I am writing this: 01. Jari & Taika - Aamuyön ikuisuus (6303 tykkää) 02. Jessica Wolff - Better (5191 tykkää) 03. Raita Ilomäki - Usko rakkauteen (4846 tykkää) 04. The Spyro - Teleport My Heart (4838 tykkää) 05. Iconcrash - We Are The Night (4617 tykkää) 06. DCX - Erase You (460...

YLE's UMK website has a sort of fan barometer that has no real count in the selection of the finalists but the jury will keep an eye on that and may be a bit influenced by it. Martina has taken the lead and as number one we have a real surprise, Jari & Taika's Aamuyon ikuisuus . Old-fashioned soft little ballad that owes a lot to 1970's hits. There's something very likable about it, I must admit even if the genre isn't exactly something this blogger is really fond of. But considering there's a real retro boom in Finland and teenagers and 20somethings have discovered the 1960's and 1970's cover hits and schlagers and play them in the parties and sing in karaoke this will be dangerous if chosen for the final 12. And no, this is not a joke entry.... The band was formed in 2004 and plays "dancable music" and this might be their big break through!