Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

The prevotes have been counted and Emma emerges as a clear winner. The voting was open for a month and closed earlier today and was revealed in the #umk17 pre-show online. These votes will be added to the televotes on Saturday and together they will provide 50% of the result, the rest being given by the ten international juries .  It looks like we are going to get a fine looking show on Saturday, with proper staging for the acts. Watch out especially for Gunther & D'Sanz who make it the right kind of kitch, Norma John's simple but effective drama, Emma's fireshow and Zuhlke's pole dancers.... And then there's Club La Persé.... Are you getting excited yet? I am! 1. Emma: Circle Of Light 30,4 2. My First Band: Paradise 15,0 3. Zühlke: Perfect Villain 12,5 4. Günther & D'Sanz: Love Yourself 8,4 5. Norma John: Blackbird 8,3 6. Club La Persé: My Little World 6,9 7. Alva: Arrows 5,9 8. Knucklebone Oscar & The Shangri-La Rubies:...

YLE is publishing rehearsal clips from the #UMK17 final that takes place Saturday in Metro Arena in Espoo. Have a look (and vote in my poll on the right side when you still can!) and see what to expect! Emma - Circle of light Alva - Arrows Günther & D'sanz: Love Yourself Errr.... It seems YLE has taken the videos down....??!!  :-( (5pm local time) Oh, apparently wrong version went on and will be replaced with the right ones.  Stay tuned! to be updated....

Oh dear. If you thought Paradise had some questionable lyrics be lucky if you don't underdtand Finnish :-) My First Band has done the Finnish version with the help of the hottest sex God of the moment Pete Parkkonen, and ex-UMK artist Stig. Have a listen and ... enjoy! :-)

Less than a week to go and we will know who will win #UMK17 and become the Eurovision song contest entrant for Finland this year. Since the beginning there have been two major fan favorites: Emma and Norma John , two completely different approaches to the contest. One Eurovision by numbers, almost manufactured to perfection to fit the form, one the complete opposite. Curiously, these two were also this bloggers first instant favorites that have been later with further listenings joined by Lauri Yrjölä , Anni Saikku and My First Band . The others don't impress me that much to be honest. I had a little fun with the various polls on the internet, be they newspaper or fan websites or blogs oincluding my own little poll here on the blog (where you can still keep voting). All numbers are percentages. And indeed Emma and Norma John alone take the half of the votes in combined chart.  In the Finnish votes alone My First Band and Gunther & D'Sanz benefit from the huge boos...

76,5/120 My First Band is a five member band from Helsinki (Antti Koivula in vocals, Heikki Puhakainen in keyboards and backing vocals, Juho Vehmanen in bass and backing vocals, Heikki Kytölä in drums and backing vocals and Mikko Virta in guitars and backing vocals).  They have been at it already for 15 years and the band included pop fanatic with old soul, rock God lookalike, world traveller stuck in the 80's, a model type and one that's interested in synthezisers and sex. According themselves. Stuck together. They have toured abroad and even had a hit with Don't break my corazon there. Full time tru professionals playing now the #UMK2017 card. After all, they have been asked to do so for years now and they think it's cool and are very happy to be in the Finnish final this year. When the songs were published the tabloid polls had them on top of the list. They also won the YLE's #UMK17 preview show on New Year's eve when Jaana Pelkonen, Eini and Saara A...

The Finnish Grammys aka Emmas will be awarded next month in Barona Arena in Espoo. Here are the nominees for the best video: Cheek - Äärirajoille Isac Elliot - Baby I Haloo Helsinki - Beibi My First Band - Don't break my corazon JVG ft Anna Abreu - Huominen on huomenna Olavi Uusivirta - Kauneus sekoittaa mun pään Janna - Läpinäkyvää Stam1na - Panzerfaust Robin ft. Nikke Ankara - Parasta just nyt Kasmir - Vadelmavene This award will be voted by the public. Would you have wanted to see any of these among Eurovision preview videos?