Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Some more Vain elämää season 13 goodies, including Pete Parkkonen, another hotly tipped for UMk 2023 covering both Meiju Suvas and Erika Vikman, and another one from Erika Vikman. Enjoy! Pete Parkkonen - Pure mua (orig. by Meiju Suvas. a cover of Azucar Moreno ) Jyrki 69 feat. Erika Vikman - Sä teit tän laulun (orig. Yona ) Yona - Valo (orig. Light by Redrama) Pete Parkkonen - Syntisten pöytä (orig. by Erika Vikman )

Another name from the latest season os Vain elämää is Meiju Suvas, who is also heavily hinted as possible UMK artist next year. She's not a stranger to that affair having already participated in Euroviisut, the original selection show already in the 1980's and has also tried to get to UMK with Playing with fire two years ago. The funny cougar (63) with a lot of self irony and dirty mind did leave her mark also in these covers: Aina (Orig. Let go by Redrama) Irti (Orig. by Yona ) Hetken ikuinen (Orig. In your dreams by The 69 Eyes) Ei nyt (Orig. by Pete Parkkonen ) BONUS: Cicciolina

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 .

Join me for tonight's UMK 2014 final from Barona Arena in Espoo. Krista Siegfrids will perform, so will Redrama with Kristinia DeBarge . The judges have again their 50% share of votes and the rest is decided by the televoters. Tonight 8pm CET. #JoinMe! 20.30 Here we go! Live on internet UMK+ will be on backstage.....We have Krista Siegfrids who is finally giving farewell to her wedding dress! No more of that aftet tonight and she's ready for new adventres. And more comfortable dresses! Reija Väre and Elias Koskimies are with her there, too....  They have created together the opening number..... Toni Wirtanen next. He tells the judges are in contact with the artists even after the contest, when the pressure and stress is over. Like in a few days. Then we have Clarissa and Josh . They plan to work together even in the future, no matter what happens tonight. They are extra happy for the video they just released andit was watched by some 3000 people in 24 hrs.... Ne...

Another list, this time the most downloaded and streamed songs in Finland in 2013, check out the full Top-100 here . Again Finns rule 6-4 against the foreigners but the top spot goes to Avicii. No trace of any Eurovision songs, except Norwegian national finalist and OGAE Second chance winner Adelén with Bombo at no.38 and ex-Eurovision Arash with Sean Paul at no.52 with She makes me go . Last year Loreen's Euphoria was the no.1.  1. Avicii: WAKE ME UP 2. Haloo Helsinki!: VAPAUS KÄTEEN JÄÄ     3. Sini Sabotage ft Ville Galle: LEVIKSET REPEE 4. Cheek: TIMANTIT ON IKUISIA    5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft Wanz: THRIFT SHOP     6. Daft Punk ft Pharrell Williams: GET LUCKY     7. J. Karjalainen: MENNYT MIES 8. Redrama ft A.J. McLean: CLOUDS     9. Cheek ft Jukka Poika: JOSSU     10. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft Ray Dalton: CAN'T HOLD US

Once again the excellent Listablogi has collected the charts and here is the Top-10 most played songs in radios in Finland (Check the full top-100 here ). In 2012 the second most played one was Loreen's Euphoria , but this year Eurovision winner is nowhere to be seen. Krista Siegfrids is at no.68 with Marry me . Remarkable is that only Avicii manages to squeese in among the Finnish acts! The highest chart position in brackets. 1. Haloo Helsinki!: VAPAUS KÄTEEN JÄÄ (1) 2. Juha Tapio: TSNEH (TYKKÄÄN SUSTA NIIN ETTÄ HALKEEN) (2) 3. Haloo Helsinki!: MAAILMA ON TEHTY MEITÄ VARTEN   (1) 4. Cheek: TIMANTIT ON IKUISIA (1) 5. Jenni Vartiainen: JUNAT JA NAISET (1) 6. Elokuu: TÄNÄÄN LÄHTEE (1) 7. Redrama ft A.J. McLean: CLOUDS (1) 8. Avicii: WAKE ME UP (1) 9. Erin: EI TAIDA TIETÄÄ TYTTÖ (1) 10. Anssi Kela: LEVOTON TYTTÖ (1)

But in this case same old isn't bad thing at all! Presenters will be once again Ilkka Uusivuori and Anne Lainto . They did a good job last year so why change? The judges haven't changed either so it's Aija Puurtinen, Redrama, Toni Wirtanen and Tomi Saarinen .  The selecting process is pretty much the same as before as well (all programmes YLE2): 10.12 names of the lucky 12 artists will be revealed   26.12 UMK 2014 will kick of with a special showing how the judges selected the 12 lucky ones among the 420 songs sent in.  28.12 the first six artists perform to the judges 4.1 the other six artists perform to the judges 11.1 first live show with six artists. One of them is voted by combined jury and televote straight to the final, another one is eliminated for good 18.1 same as 11.1 with the remaining six artists 25.1 the remaining eight (two have been eliminated, two have been sent to the final) perform live. Two will be eliminated and there's...

Both Aija Puurtinen and Redrama have "leaked" they are back as jugdes or rather mentors in the coming UMK 2014. Both were also involved in the second season that resulted in the win of Krista Siegfrids. Officially the judges will be revealed by YLE in November. She says in today's Iltalehti: "The experience was much more positive as I expected. I'm very interested in finding new music makers and new music. This job gave me the chance to advice, teach and mentor new talents. I wasn't only a judge, I was very close to the artists and supported them. I have been asked to do Idols most every year but I don't like that. It's way too one sided and judgemental. I don't like all that elimination business.!" Redrama has been busy working on his new album in between UMKs and has even scored a hit with Clouds , the first offering off it and featuring A.J. McLean of Backstreet Boys. Very catchy and groovy it is, maybe we could have something like...

Redrama will be once again one of the judges for UMK 2014 or Uuden musiikin kilpailu aka ex-Euroviisut. The submission is due September 16, 2013 so there's still some time to send in entries. He spoke about UMK in YleX radio interview: "It's really cool to be part of it again, it was a great experience and gave me a chance to listen to all kind of music that I would never have heard otherwise. I ask all of you out there to send in your best song, not a leftover from your last album. UMK can give you visibility that those participating in The Voice of Finland or Idols can only dream of. It's all about the song, not the performance. The possibility to end up representing Finland in the Eurovision is alone a good enough reason to take part. It's also proven out that getting a recording deal thanks to UMK is much easier than Idols or Voice. Most of the 12 artists or bands this year have gotten pretty far and it's mostly thanks to UMK. This said, I want also ...

Iina Salin (27) is from Mikkeli but lives now in Helsinki, a singer, musician, vocal coach and music teacher. She also sings in Emma Salokoski Voices and was also a finalist in UMO's new talent contest earlier this year. And now she chose UMK instead of The Voice so that she can sing her own song. She likes soul and dance music and lists Madonna as one of her favorites along with Aretha Franklin but feels most confortable singing disco and pop songs. Coffee and chocolate keeps this energetic woman going.  What did the judges say? Toni Wirtanen: I must give credit that she comes in with the chorus, the strongest part of the song.  Aija Puurtinen: Very strong start indeed. Tomi Saarinen : Best in this clearly is the singer. You can hear she's been doing it a lot. Redrama : Even if the chorus is very strong I don't think it comes out strong enough. I would make it even stronger as now the beat is the same all through the song.  Toni: With better...

Last Panda is a rock band from Oulu but all the guys originate from Kemi, even further north in Lapland. They declae they represent proudly the whole of northern Finland!  The band is Henry Ossian, HC Knuuti, Laze, Aapo Väinämö and Matt. The song is written by Henry Tikkanen, Aapo Immonen and arranged by Last Panda. They grew up together and went to same schools so besides music they also share long friendship. They had done the demo and decided to send it to UMK to get some feedback from professionals, as in today's Finland there's no way for small bands to get noticed when suitable TV-programs are missing at the moment. Except now there's UMK where you have at least a chance to get some feedback and maybe even notoriety. The band is ready to break it big and dreams of living of what they love the most: music. They also want to look like a band on stage and think about their look. The black eye make up is no glamrock inspired thing but refers to panda ...

YLE has finally published their plan for this year's UMK aka Uuden musiikin kilpailu, ex-Euroviisut.  The 12 chosen ones will be announced on December 3, 2012 and we will get to know them all better on December 27. After that two shows will follow when they will be introduced better to the judges and us on January 3 and 10. After that follow three live gigs from Circus nightclub in Helsinki (January 17, 24 and 31) and finally the big final with eight remaining artists in Barona Arena in Espoo.  The judges are Toni Wirtanen (of Apulanta fame), Aija Puurtinen, Redrama and Tomi Saarinen so this time at least that part seems to be rather solid block of people.  The hosts will be Ile Uusivuori and Anne Lainto.  In the three live gigs the jury and the audience will decide who go further, in the final there should be televote only. 

Vår tid - Vårt land or Our time - Our land is a single recorded by some Finnish Swedish speaking artists  under name Artister för tolerans och öppenhet (Artists for tolerance and openness) including Paradise Oskar, Geir Rönning, Elin Blom,  Nina Lassander, Ville Pusa - all known from Eurovision or Euroviisut, Swedish Idol or MGP Nordic along with Fredrik Furu, Andre Linman, Redrama, Frida Andersson and Krista Siegfrieds. I don't know what's the purpose of this affair? Is it pro-Swedish language, that some feel is threatened in Finland after True Finns election thriumph? As you may know Finland is a bilingual but the talk of making Swedish voluntary instead of obligatory in the school goes on since forever, and the chance this happening is maybe bigger than ever now (yet very far becoming a reality, me thinks). Finland has had several songs in Swedish in the national Eurovision finals over the years but only once a song in Swedish has won ( Fri? in 1990) which surely wasn'...