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 ). Two ladies battled it out with Katri Helena taking the crown ahead of legendary ode to the Lapland exotism in 1970s.  1979 Katri Helena - Katson sineen taivaan 29,8% 1977 Monica Aspelund - Lapponia 21,3% 1973 Marion Rung - Tom tom tom  16,0% 1975 Pihasoittajat - Viulu-ukko  14,6% 1976 Fredi & Friends - Pump pump  8,6% 1974 Carita Holmström - Älä mene pois 3,3% 1972 Päivi Paunu & Kim Floor - Muistathan  2,2% 1971 Markku Aro & Koivistolaiset - Tie uuteen päivään   2,1% 1978 Seija Simola - Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus  2,1%

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 ...

  Finland celebrates its 100th year as an independent state and has ever since searched for its place in Europe and the world, between East and West. Sometimes with less success. As we speak in 1939 we were at war again with Soviet Union but - let's make a huge change of subject here -  since 1961 Finland has been taking part in the Eurovision song contest (and we also took part, and won twice, the copycat contest behind the Iron curtain, Intervision song contest). It may have taken awhile before we won, but it never stopped us taking part. EBU did, in those crazy 1990's-early 2000's. Let's look back in coming days as a countdown to the Big Day some of the most memorable and significant entries from Finland..... Monica Aspelund 's 1977 entry Lapponia is one of the most iconic Finnish entries, and one of those taking a large serving from the mythology with added flavor from Lapland. This is exotism we should have used more often, this blogger thinks. It...

Ami Aspelund turns 64 today. Congratulations! Ami was already a veteran in the Finnish national selection when she finally won in 1983 after being a runner up in 1982 . She also participated several times after ther win scoring a third place again in 1988 . These days she still sings, often with her sister Monica, but the repertoire is more poetic and religious. 

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!

What would the New year's even be without the Mother of all countdowns and Eurovision charts, the already legendary Top-250! Is there another way to countdown to a new year (on ESCRADIO ), the year of Copenhagen 2014? I don't think so! Start voting here and meanwhile you can check last year's countdown here . This will be the 6th edition and so far the winner has always been a different one, will Loreen be the first ever double winner?  Where will Emmelie finish? Will Mengoni rule here, too? It's all up to you, so vote vote vote! ESC Top-250 is a collaboration between 12points.tv, ESCRADIO, INFE International, OGAE International, EurovisionBelgium.blogspot.com, SongFestivalweblog.nl and yours truly.

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 ...

This is old news as this single was released already in 2010. It was such a success I heard it only now :-).  In some strange way it works though. Monica Aspelund of course did it greatly back in 1977 but these heavy tenors add a new dimension to the song and yes, it should have been a hit, but... Northern Kings are of course Teräsbetoni's Jarkko Ahola, Nightwish's Marco Hietala, Sonata Arctica's Tony Kakko and JP Leppäluoto of Charon and Harmaja. Four great voices doing covers of all sort of songs for fun when not too busy with their own bands. They might have been busy lately as their latest album is from 2008 and this Lapponia is their latest release. But there's a rumour they are planning their third album with original material. Eurovision 2012 anyone?

We all know Monica Aspelund and Lapponia . But not much of her is heard since early 1980's when she moved to Florida with her son after divorce. She did return for the musical Cats in Helsinki in 1986, and 1997 she performed with her sister Ami. She's been singing on Caribian cruise ships and doing jazz and evergreen gigs in Florida. But guess what? She has moved back to Finland and is slowly starting her career here again. She has already some projects - again with Ami - and is looking at her options. She also rethinks about her past: "If I had stayed in Finland after Cats I may have gotten other musical roles. Also I should have maybe invest more on the Swedish market when I was younger. But my music is more jazz-oriented than pop. But it's in the past, can't think about it now. In a way I feel like I'm in the starting point again, it's very exciting! Luckily my voice is still good, actually better than ever " And you may not know that we have had on...

January 22, 1977 the Euroviisut final was won clearly by Monica Aspelund's Lapponia . She already tried the Lapland exotic the year before with Joiku without success. The voting started well in Wembley, too, when the first, Irish, jury gave her 12 points! Until then it was the first ever time Finland was leading alone and sadly the last 12 we ever got until Lordi.... In the end she got 50 points and 10th place. She recorded the song in various languages and the instrumental version by Paul Mauriat was a minor hit, too. French . Multilingual 2003 .