Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Eurovision throwback! New series. I will present and comment here the contests of yesteryears picking up four songs from each year (or more). Not the ones I think are the best (now) but the songs that throwback memories when I see them in the participation list. Of course mostly they're my favorites at the time, songs that I have loved. Some have aged well, some... well, not so well.   Before 2020, the 1977 edition of Eurovision has been propably the most troubled one. The contest was postponed thanks to BBC's strike, the native language rule returned but only after Belgium and Germany had already chosen their songs (in English), the voting was interrupted several times due to errors, there were no postcards...  This was also the first ESC held in May. Pink was the color as besides white and black (and Marie Myriam's yellow) it seemed to be the only other color (some ugly marrow is spotted on occasion, too). BBC tried some camera effects (Monaco) and the contest ...

Today's birthday girl is Monica Aspelund who turns 71 today! These days she's still singing, mainly in churches with her sister Ami and studies Hebrew and religious stuff mainly. From Lappish myths and mystics to religion the step is short... Congratulations!

The second season of Tähdet, tähdet has been again a success, and no doubt thanks to some Eurovision singers: Krista Siegfrids, Laura Voutilainen, Jarkko Ahola (Teräsbetoni) have done it all the way to the almost end, while Markku Aro was voted out after his country performance. More Eurovision is added when Mira Luoti (PMMP) was eliminated to the sounds of Lapponia , and multiple national finalist Arja Koriseva made it to sixth episode. On top of that UMK host Roope Salminen is in top-4.... As is Laura Voutilainen. But as said, surprisingly and unfairly Krista Siegfrids dropped out last Sunday. She has been a real transformer and managed all genres wonderfully showing she can also sing and is a real performer and it's time to forget ding dong and see what she is all about: a true artist. Now that's she's out I'm all for Laura Voutilainen.... She's in top-4 with Jarkko Ahola, Roope Salminen and opera hunk Waltteri Torikka.

Remember Kaisa Vala from UMK 2012 who was singing about the habits of human beings and becoming for example this blogger's favorite? She has just released her new album International Shaman . I say new as it's not her first as we all might think, back in 2007 she already released ep Ghost Waltz but who ever head that? It's all in English and she says: "Today's record company politics wanted me to sing in Finnish about little things of everyday life as it's what's been selling a lot recently in Finland but I think there are already many of them around, with all my respect. Every time I talked with record company bosses they all said first they like my music. Then they asked if I could sing in Finnish?" She's also pleased about her participation in UMK 2012: "With our budget it would have been impossible to buy so much promotion time on TV and media. It has only been good for us. Of course I was a bit sad I didn't win but maybe I will ...