Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

The annual Tangomarkkinat circus has reached its final stage last night and tomorrow night the six finalists will battle out the crown and we will see who will follow the footsteps of Marko Maunuksela, last year's Tango King. Unlike the past two years when the winners Amadeus and Maunuksela were also granted a spot in the Euroviisut semifinal line up the winner does not get that extra award. Nothing stops him/her or any other finalist to try to get into Euroviisut 2012 anyways as the competition is open to anyone. Many are saying we should have a female winner this time after two male winners but the biggest favourite is Heikki Koskelo . He already won Suomi Iskelmä SM 2010 contest and the polls indicate him as the clear favourite. The other male finalists Tino Ahlgren and Antti Ahopelto who has taken part in both kids and teenage competition before are also strong having reached the final already before. The female favourite in the first round was Maria Tyyster who was in th...

If you check the betting odss in three different companies; Paf, Nordicbet and Unibet they all agree on the first two places: Paradise Oskar first, Marko Maunuksela second. Then we have Saara Aalto, Stala & So. and Cardiant steady on the next places in different order in different agencies followed by Father McKenzie, Johanna Iivanainen and Milana Misic syeady on the next three places. Even in the bottom-2 they agree: Sami Hintsanen is last once and second to last twice, and Eveliina Määttä the other way round. Oskar is also at the moment the fan favourite in viisukuppila.fi but Stala & So. and Saara Aalto are within 2% of votes so it's very tight. Marko? He's in bottom-3.... Will Finnish go all da da dam come Saturday night? Will granny mafia push tango king to Dusseldorf? Or will we have a surprise?

So, after the third semifinal and YLE's surprising wildcard we have the ten finalists for the Finnish final on February 12, 2011 in Turku, the European capital of culture in 2011. And there's a little bit everything from gospel to glamrock, metal to acoustic pop, radiopop and powerballads. All three qualifiers from the internet selection got to the final making way to the big changes next year in Euroviisut. Six songs are in English now and Iivanainen, Hintsanen and Misic have said they will sing in English should they win so only Maunuksela is left in Finnish, and he has said it stays in Finnish no matter what. Two big fan favourites didn't make it, Jimi Constantine and Tommi Soidinmäki and YLE's wildcard went to Eveliina Määttä instead of them. Weird. I guess I'm now for Paradise Oskar and Stala & So. With Johanna Iivanainen (in English) as the black horse... Saara Aalto - Blessed with love Cardiant - Rapture in time Father McKenzie - Good enough Sami Hi...

The first - and weakest - semifinal is over and as expected Cardiant and Marko Maunuksela with his tango royals qualified. Johanna Iivanainen took the third place by surprise and left fan favourite Automatic Eye and Jonna to wait for a possible YLE's wildcard. Johanna Iivanainen - Luojani mun Cardiant - Rapture in time Marko Maunuksela - Synkän maan tango

Tomorrow evening the Euroviisut 2011 circus kicks off in Finland with the first semifinal. It's broadcasted live from Tohloppi TV-studios in Tampere at 20.00 CET on YLE2. I guess there won't be a webcast outside Finland this time either but don't worry: I'll be here blogging live so please tune in. Eurovision 2007 hostess Jaana Pelkonen leaves her dayjob in politics for awhile and leads the show but this time she has a new partner (third in history to be exact) Tom Nylund, a familiar voice from radio. Unfortunately this seems to be clearly the worst of three semifinals. Automatic Eye, Cardiant and Jonna are expected to qualify while reigning tango king Marko Maunuksela and Johanna Iivanainen haven't convinced the Eurovision fans but everything can change when the big public will get to vote and we see and hear the live performances. The same ones would qualify with the international voters in slighty different order. Check the songs below, and especially Jonna's...

The reigning Tango King Marko Maunuksela will participate in Euroviisut 2011 with Synkän maan tango , or Tango of a gloomy land. Doen't sound very bright, does it? But then it's written by Mika Toivanen who also wrote Takes two 2 tango . The couple met during Tangomarkkinat and Marko's debut album also includes a couple of collaborations. But the whole thing is becoming a sort of tribute for Tangomarkkinat as Marko will be joined on stage by his runner up this year, Suvi Karjula, Tango Queen 2008 Hanna Talikainen, Tango Queen 2004 Johanna Debreczeni, Tango prince Esa Nummela and bandoneon artist Petri Ikkelä. "If we should win the songs stays in Finnish also in Germany. I have alsways been singing in Finnish and it would feel unnatural to change language at this point" Marko tells. He also proclaim himself as Eurovision fan." It is a must. I remember The Herrey's winning with Diggi-loo diggi-ley and that song was included in the very first C-cassette I r...

Marko Maunuksela (36) got the ticket to Euroviisut 2011 by winning the Tangomarkkinat 2010 last summer thus following Amadeus example who beat him to the crown in last edition despite Marko being the audience's favourite. He is no stranger to the stage though. He has a lot of experience as live singer, actor in musicals and opera. He is a nurse and has been working with autistic children before he won the title of Tango King. He released his first single Lintu ja pesäpuu in early 2010 following his independent releases of Olet mulle kaikki, Se sattuu   in 2009. Thanks to Tangomarrkinat he got a recording deal and the first single off his debut album Uuteen valoon (release November 10, 2010)  is Maailmanloppu . He has been featured also in various compilations Unfortunately the album does not include his great cover of Lauri Tähkä's Rakkaus ei oo pysyvää from Tangomarkkinat where he also performed Onnemme kyyneleet , Hulluna tangoon (Takes two 2 tango) and Öiset kitarat ....

Euroviisut 2011 participant and Tango King 2010 Marko Maunuksela has released a new single Maailman loppu (End of the world). Sounds very typical Finnish schlagerpop aimed for tango folks. Let's see if this is what he will offer in Euroviisut or is that going to be poppier? His debut album Uuteen valoon will be released on November 11 so it also must include his Euroviisut entry! Track list is here .

YLE has received 277 demos for the open web competition for the Euroviisut 2011. That is slightly more than last year. Now a jury will listen all fo them and the ones selected will be announced September 30 along with the 12 invited artists. Three out of the songs in the internet selection (October 1-15) will get a ticket to the semifinals. In the final there will be then 15 songs like last year. One of the slots is reserved for the reigning Tango King Marko Maunuksela. Last year Heli Kajo got a free ticket to the semifinals coming from the open competition, but this year YLE will most likely pick up more songs like that from the demos sent in.

The Tango king 2004 Tommi Soidinmäki who has been a bit away from the spotlight - his latest album is from 2007 - has set a new goal: Euroviisut 2011 as he states in a recent interview. Tommi started singing at 4 and soon participated in children's singing competitions and later on went on to win as adult Lavatähti 2000, Ponnahdus pinnalle 2001 contests for new voices and then Tango king in 2004. In 2006 he was nominated for the best newcomer of 2005 in Iskelmä radio. He has released three albums to date. Here are some of his songs: Sinut , Laulu joutsenien , Takapenkin kuningatar , Korkan siivet . Will he do a comeback in Euroviisut 2011 where he will eventually meet the reigning tango king Marko Maunuksela?

Marko Maunuksela (36) was crowned the new Tango King last weekend in Seinäjoki's Tangomarkkinat and got also a free ticket to the Euroviisut 2011. He was my favourite from the beginning and has proved already he is confortable with poppier material as well than only tangos, like Anssi Kela's 1972 and Lauri Tähkä's Rakkaus ei oo pysyvää . And of course Hulluna tangoon (Takes two 2 tango) He has released three promosingles so far: Tämä yö / Se sattuu in 2008, Olet mulle kaikki in 2009 and Lintu ja pesäpuu in 2010. He was also present in last year's tango compilation where he did Hernandon salaisuus . You can listen more of him on his MySpace . He has been singing since 2001 in Marit ja Mikot choir and ever since as a solist in various occasions. In 2007 he won Somero soikoon singing contest, and came 3rd in last year's Tangomarkkinat where he was also public's favourite in a big gala concert.. "I was left with a bit bitter taste in my mouth from last year...

My favourite and semifinal's winner Marko Maunuksela held it til the end and took over the crown as the new Tango King from Amadeus tonight. Marko (36) managed to win over the voters this year and the past 24 hours has been a real emotional roller coaster for him as he lost his beloved grandmother last night. He was in top-4 already last year but was second to Amadeus Lundberg.

The six finalists for the Tangomarkkinat final have been televoted moments ago and my favourite Marko Maunuksela has emerged as the main contender for the title this year. He reached the final also last year. He scored 15,1% of the votes followed by Mia Leivo 13,3%, Juha Hautaluoma 12,3%, Maria Tyyster 12,3%, Tapani Kangas 10,3% and Suvi Karjula 8,3%. The final will be on Saturday night.

The biggest music festival in Finland with Euroviisut kicks off its final stage today. The various semifinal stages are over and the finalist will start their fight for the crown of Tango King or Tango Queen, still firmly in Amadeus's head until Saturday evening. Last year the winner got a free ticket to the Euroviisut final and even if Amadeus was a strong contender for the victory with Anastacia he failed to make the superfinal. In 2010 the finalist are: Maria Tyyster from Lappeenranta, Mia Leivo and Suvi Karjula from Tampere, Sanna Arell from Uusikaupunki, Sanna-Marika Jääskeläinen from Helsinki, Juha Hautaluoma and Tapani Kangas from Seinäjoki, Marko Maunuksela from Ilmajoki, Tino Ahlgren from Turku and Tuomas Kaikkonen from Oulu. The semifinal will take place July 8 and six artists will make the final on July 10.  I guess the winner has an option for Euroviisut 2011 again. YLE broadcasts both finals live on TV, radio and internet. My fafourite might be Marko Maunuksela w...

Amadeus Lundberg, a 20-year-old gipsy singer has just won the 25th Tangomarkkinat, thus becoming the Tango King 2009. So, how did the evening progress? First each of the six finalist sung a classic tango. In general all did a great job with their songs. I wasn't so convinced with Amadeus and Marko which put me a bit in crisis. The four remaining performed a "modern tango" or rather a tango adaption of a recent hit. They were announced one by one and had to draw an envelope to hear which song they were to sing. First Kaija Lustila made a fantastic performance of Uniklubi 's Näiden tähtien alla and made me add her to possible top-2 proving she can cross over to pop. Amadeus Lundberg then performed Lauri Tähkä & Elonkerjuu 's Rakkaus ei oo pysyvää . He is young and "unpolished diamond" as the jury said and I'm not sure if he can drop the tango singer's maneuvers. Still very interesting and pleasant version lacking the rage of Lauri Tähkä. Nex...

We have now the six finalist chosen by televoters. Tomorrow the final takes place and it's only the jury that makes decisions. First they will drop out one male singer and one female singer. Out of these four they will pick up the final two who will battle it out in the final round. Jurors have stated the standard is very high and the winner won't necessarily be chosen by singing skills only, but the one who feels right for the job might be chosen. Which makes me think again Marko Maunuksela over Amadeus Lundberg. We will see...