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%

Kaija Kärkinen is maybe having one crazy night  tonight as it's her 55th birthday! Congratulations! Kaija was a unknown acting student from Lapland when she entered Euroviisut 1991 and won ahead of several big and famous names. She travelled to Rome and later married the song's composer and they formed a succesful duo. After 11 albums, a couple of kids and several hits they are still together and active. Oh Roma amoR! She's also the chairman of the Finnish organisation of songwriters and composers.

What would be Eurovision without rumours? When these people spend time together for two weeks, and even meet each other all over Europe the weeks before every year there are some minor or major romances, some getting public most being kept secret. Not all end up Like Finland's Kaija Kärkinen falling for her composer Ile Kallio under the magic spell that is Rome 1991. Ten albums and two sons later they are still together..... The whispers from Stockholm tell Moldova's Lidia Isac and yet unnamed member of Cypriot Minus One are hitting it off ..... so it's not Juri, the cosmonaut. Is she seeing falling star with an alter ego? And then every year someone seems to be pregnant, or at lest rumored so. Lat year it was the Dutch Trijntje Oosterhuis. This year it's apparently Malta's own Ira Losco. That would explain that horrible sack she's wearing and the shapeless rack under it. Oh, we do like a bit of a juicy gossip. Stay tuned. Update May 8: Ira Losco ...

YLE has revealed the spokesperson for the Eurovision song contest 2014 final. It's rapper-producer Redrama, who has also been UMK judge for the past two years. He's apparently quite taken by the honor and promises to do his best in the short but demanding task. Also the Finnish jury for the Eurovision 2014 has been revealed and includes Kaija Kärkinen, who represented Finland back in 1991 with Hullu yö . The other ones are lyricist Saara Törmä, producer and composer Rake Eskolin, radio DJ Jaako Hurme and Clarissa, who took part in UMK this year with On top of the world .

After four years of silence Kaija Kärkinen and Ile Kallio are back with a new album Köyhän naisen paratiisi or Poor woman's paradise . This time the album also includes several covers, like Joan Osborne's God is one of us or Jumalan jos näkisin . The couple has been together since the 1991 Eurovision in Rome where their love story started during those crazy nights of Hullu yö . 

Kaija Kärkinen & Ile Kallio have recently released their 10th album together after a break of 3 years. Their album sales are nearing 200.000 in total making them the most succesful song writer couple ever in Finland. It all started of course with Euroviisut 1991 that Kaija won with a song Hullu yö (also recorded in italian and english) written by Ile. They fell in love - not in Rome as the legends goes but during the recording of her debut album before Rome - and the rest is history. Saman taivaan alla (Under the same sky) is the name for their latest offering. They will perform live next Wednesday October 8 in Espoo's Sellosali. Tickets from here http://www.tapahtuma.tv/index.php?kaupunki=espoo&topic=&vv_kk=1-2008&tuote_ID=16994

"We must have done something right and not screw it all up" commented Jaana for her and Mikko's invitation laughing. Finland celebrates its 90th birthday and Independance day with the annual reception, this time under the worst possible weather for the fancy hairdos and dresses: strong winds and rain/snow coming down horizontally... No wonder a few "wild" hairdos were to be seen on TV... Eicca Toppinen of Apocalyptica arrived with his actress girlfriend. Katri Helena, proudly displaying brand new Pro Finlandia medal arrived together with Jari Sillanpää , while Jaana Pelkonen came along and looked stunning in her yellow dress by Teemu Muurimäki from Dolce & Gabbana. Also Kaija Kärkinen and Ile Kallio (ESC 1991) were invited once again... Mikko Leppilampi arrived straight from LA with his wife Emilia. He moved to the States right after Eurovision to study and work. Eurovision Dance Contest winners Katja Koukkula and Jussi Väänänen were amongst the fi...