Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Yle organized among its other consolation Eurovision 2020 programming also a voting to find out the most loved Finnish entries of each decade ( here ). And there was no dount Kätkä sisters took home the victory. Bye bye baby has become an evergreen, a classic and a song everyone knows still. Despite the very disappointing 22nd place (Finland was in top-5 in the betting odds on the eve of the final) Finns didn't put the girls down but treated them as heroes and in the summer 1994 Bye bye baby was playing everywhere. The way it should be! Otherwise the 1990s were the sad sad decade for Finnish Eurovision, being made to stay home by the rules in 1995, 1997 and 1999.  1994 Cat Cat - Bye bye baby  55,3% 1991 Kaija Kärkinen - Hullu yö  17,5% 1993 Katri Helena - Tule luo  12,8% 1998 Edea - Aava  6,1% 1992 Pave Maijanen - Yamma yamma   3,8% 1994 Jasmine - Niin kaunis on taivas  2,4% 1990 Beat - Fri? 2,2%

Jasmine turns 41 today. Her Eurovision adventure in 1996 was full of drama; in the national final her microphone didn't work and she had to sing again. Then the voting failed and the winner was revealed only days after. She made it to the Eurovision from the pre-selection as the last one kicking out Germany and Israel for example after a tie with Hungary. Then in the final she had the hair disaster and started singing in a wrong place. All this said, it's a jolly lovely little tune she recorded in many languages and far better than its reputation. Jasmine did gigs abroad and released two albums and then vanished from the spotlight only to emerge later in some YLE's Romani programmes.... Congratulations!

Amadeus Lundberg is, as we know, one of the 12 invited artists to take part in Euroviisut 2010. If he wins he will be the first gypsy male singer to represent Finland while Jasmine was the first and so far only female gypsy singer to do so back in 1996 with Niin kaunis on taivas , one of the most underrated Finnish entries in Finland. But it could have been Anneli Sar i already 20 years before her. And guess what? Anneli Sari is Amadeus's aunt! Anneli Sari is maybe the most known female gypsy artist in Finland. Her first published recording was the Finnish version of Gigliola Cinquetti's Eurovision 1964 winner Non ho l'etá . She was the same age as Gigliola and the version is very well done. Later she made a career singing tangos, gypsy music and some pop as well, also participating in Euroviisut in 1974 with Jäähyväiset (5th) and in 1976 with Mustalaiskaravaan i (2nd). Later she concentrated in chancons and moved to Paris and performs there, making occasional concert t...