Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

There are familiar names and faces in the Sandhja's backing group Akkabellas. Besides being her friends for a long time, they are all true professionals.  Jenni Lambert may not ring a bell but if I say Lili Lambert and UMK 2014 and The Voice? She's been also backing names like Snoop Doggy and Elastinen besides her solo career.  Reetta Korhonen as a name may not also be familiar but if I say she's the girl who kissed Krista in Marry me in Malmö? Yup, she's the one.  Then we have Linda Ilves and sisters Heini and Tuuli Ikonen from the talented Ikonen family, that includes also among others their bother Osmo who almost got to Moscow back in 2009 with Signmark. All three have a lot of talent and experience in music. 

What happens when you are the world's only deaf rapper? Signmark, runner up in Euroviisut 2009 with Speakerbox is denied by Gramex the royalties as an artist "because he doesn't produce sound". Makes sense but is it fair? "The past six years I have tried to make them understand I write the lyrics and arrange the music to fit the sign language. I even suggested they could fit me in the conductor category but that wasn't ok either. maybe in the next album I has to clap my hands or something to produce a sound?" Gramex has paid him royalties when he has been the producer, but he would like to be recognized as an artist, too. "It's not about the money, it's the principle" he concludes. Signmark has been busy ever since his breakthrough and even if he has had a few gigs in Finland over the year, too, he has been busy abroad. "The United States, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France.... Ethiopia was amazing, there...

Now this comes as a surprise! Osmo Ikonen who tried in the Finnish Euroviisut in 2009 with Signmark ( Speakerbox ) and the year later solo ( Heaven and hell ) is apparently behind the Polish entry Jestem , now in English First class ticket to heaven . He has written the song with Brian Allan and Magdalena Tul herself. Once the Finnish media finds out there will surely be a Poland-Finland battle in the first semifinal..... And is that him in the backing vocals in the English version?

Saara Aalto (22) is no stranger for Euroviisut. She has been in the backing choir of Heidi Kyrö in 2004, Hanna Marsh in 2008 and Riikka in 2009. In 2010 she participated in the internet selection for the first time and now again and she made it and qualified to the semifinals with her ballad Blessed with love . In 2007 she also participated in Talent Suomi and reached the top-3. At the moment she's prepairing her solo debut album with her partner Teemu Roivainen and arranger Pessi Levanto. It will be released March 5, 2011. At the moment she's also in Wicked musical that runs in Helsinki City Theatre. She's a real Eurovision fan and tells in Viisukuppila's interview: "I've been a fan since 2002 when I was 15. My favourites are Stronger every minute , I'm not afraid to move on and Molitva . Even if these are all ballads I also like the Eurovision dance songs, they're great to party with! The best Finnish song is Signmark's Speakerbox . I was in t...

Let's have a look at the male artists now. As I wrote earlier this was much more difficult and I have included a couple of real wildcards here. Cristal Snow should make a comeback. His second album is doing great and he's another artist with Chisu link with whom he duets in Wicked that Chisu also produced.  Tommi Soidinmäki has already declared he's aiming for Eurovision. Welcome! Here's Kotkan siivet that sounds very Eurovisionesque.... Signmark should try again just like Cristal. He was awesome the first time around and the second album is just brilliant but hasn't set the charts on fire yet. Euroviisut and re-release would push it to gold I'm sure. Here's his latest, Against the wall. Janne Raappana tried with the internet selection last year so there's hope he will do it again. He's a good singer and makes a great job with this cover,  Biagio Antonacci's Jos vain voisin . Jukka Huhta is a real newcomer releasing his first single this s...

Signmark goes New York! As his Facebook writes: A live Sign Language flash mob music performance led by world’s first Deaf hip-hop artist Signmark will take over New York City 23rd of September, in Washington Square Park at 5pm.As a part of the Deaf Awareness week the Silent shout group wants to start a m . ovement through a collective cultural act towards building a society where everyone has the equal opportunity to participate and dream.The idea of this flash mob event is to get the crowd to sign in sync with ASL a chorus line with Signmark LEADING. The song is called “Against The wall”.Everyone is free to join the performance, for the aim is to build bridges between different cultures and make it easy for everyone to try how much fun signing could be. The Silent Shout group would like to encourage everyone to unlock his or her potential and be a part of the signing live performance! In order to join, you only have to learn the signs in advance from the Internet and be ...

Signmark's long awaited second album Breaking the rules finally sees the light on April 21. Ten new songs including the Euroviisut 2009 runner up Speakerbox and radiohits Smells like victory and Against the wall are included. The CD comes with a DVD with videos to all songs in sign language. Extras are included as well, like the Silent shout happening in Helsinki, Signmark's story and Signmark goes to Hong Kong.

Share the moment? Yes indeed. The interval act in Oslo 2010 will feature one of the latest trends, Flash mob event! Sounds good on paper at least. Here's the video for the moves , so start learning! One of the most famous Flash mob events took place in Stockholm to honor Michael Jackson last year, and in Finland Signmark did one for their video, too. One of the best ever is the Frozen Grand Central in New York, happening when all this was still so new no one knew what is was all about!

It was a success for Flashmob and Signmark. Over 250 people gathered in Narikkatori in Helsinki to do the chorus of Signmark's coming single Against the wall in sign language. Today also their latest single Smells like victory shot to #1 in the most wanted songs' play list on YLE. See & hear more here .

Signmark will be filming the new videoclip in Narinkkatori in Helsinki today and even BBC will be there so if in Helsinki be there, too! You should be there 13.50 today and you can be part of this video with hundreds of people doing the chorus in sign language. More information here .

Here it is finally, Signmark's new video Smells like victory , the first release from the worthcoming album.

Signmark will be in Helsinki's Narinkkatori October 24, 2009 from 2pm to 4pm for human rights giving a silent shout! Together our voice is stronger against discrimination. Silent shout –group wants to draw attention to human rights. Human rights belong to everyone everywhere without any discrimination. The sign language Silent Shout will take over Helsinki city Kamppi. This is your chance to be a part of the positive movement right from the start. World’s first Deaf rapper Signmark is leading the silent chorus and his music video is filmed at the event. Come and be a part of the performance, movement and chorus. Make a difference using sing language. This Flash mob is a unique chance to be a part of live rap chorus signing for the human rights. Come along and sign with us in the first Silent Shout event. We are signing Signmark’s song Against The Wall. You will also take part of Signmark’s music video that is been filmed in the event and it will be released February 2010. More...

Signmark or Marko Vuoriheimo gets the Vuoden Kieliteko award this year for his barriers breaking communication and courage to use his own language, in this case sign language. The award is given annually by the Federation of Foreign language teachers in Finland. Congrats! Signmark is soon to release their second album that will be once again a double CD/DVD one.  Here is Our life .

As I tipped Osmo Ikonen is here and solo this time around. Last year he provided vocals to the runner up, Signmark. He comes from a musical family and he plays cello, violin, piano, bass, drums and guitar - one man band! Besides that he is also composer, writer, arranger and producer. He also plays keyboard in Sunrise Avenue and released his debut album last year and scored a radio hit with Storm. He's got a great voice and is a very talented artist and it's great to have him here!

Signmark & Brandon, his voice, were performing tonight in Helsinki as part of the Helsinki Festival and the Night of the arts. Fresh from signing an international record deal with Warner they did a few new songs from the forthcoming album before closing in with Speakerbox . And I can tell the new material sounds great! And mind you, I don't like rap generally. Can't wait for the album that will come out in February in the formula already tested with the debut album: it will also include the DVD with a video for each song with sign language.

Signmark who was the runner up in Euroviisut 2009 with Speakerbox has signed an international recording contract with Warner. He is the first deaf artist in the world to do so! This means also that he will definitely change the sign language used from the Finnish to the US English one. The new and his second album will be released in February 2010 but the first single will be out already in September. Tomorrow he will be performing in Helsinki as a part of the annual Night of the Arts. http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8YzAo2haKI

Waldo's People wins Euroviisut 2009 and has to cut his hair off, as promised if he wins! So he lost his control after all. The fight with Sígnmark ft Osmo Ikonen was tough: 1. Waldo's People - Lose control 45,1% 2. Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox 41,2% 3. Passionworks ft Tony Turunen - Surrender 13,7% Waldo's People won also viisukuppila.fi's Fan Award. Total of 275.000 votes were given tonight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yym5iP1ptjE

Jaana Pelkonen and Peltsi Peltola are presenting live from Tampere Fair and Sports Center the Finnish final for Eurovision song contest 2009 in Moscow. Tonight's propably the coldest night of the year with temperatures around -20C in most parts of Finland but in the sold out hall it's hot with 1.800 people! Before the final there will be a second chance round for the songs that didn't qualify directly. The entry chosen tonight will be Finland's 43rd entry. Finland has had a very rocky past in the contest finishing usually in the last places until the monstreous victory of Lordi in 2006. Finland has now been present in the final ever since. The show has started with Teräsbetoni presenting a new version of their last year's winner Missä miehet ratsastaa .The stage looks pretty fantastic! Jaana looks very glamorous tonight and Peltsi, well... casual as always. THE SECOND CHANCE ROUND : 01. Passionworks fr. Tony Turunen - Surrender Passionworks is the big fan favourite...

Signmark has won with 46,5% the third semifinal, and it is actually the highest score this year! Also Jari Sillanpää qualified with 34,0%. The finalists in Euroviisut 2009: Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox 46,5% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhB7DLdJWPU , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghdojpRrOTY Jari Sillanpää - Kirkas kipinä 34,0% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gu8b9p3Gxw Waldo's People - Lose control 44,3% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji1qCTYSxAg , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybbNQnSPseA Remu - Planeetta 28,6% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im-EQkI5g-I , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE6QPkGxKhY Tapani Kansa - Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei 37,4% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqRfpVvLPuM Kwan - 10.000 light years 31,9% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5qDcKrppN0 Second chance: Two of these songs will join the finalists. The second chance round will be held at the beginning of the final next Saturday, January 31. Riikka - Meren http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwfIlRpWYp...

The show is about to start live from Tohloppi TV-studios in Tampere. Jaana and Peltsi are now on stage and here we go. First a recap of what's happened so far and some Moscow info about the semifinals etc. First one tonight is Signmark & co. He has previously told this song is written specially for Euroviisut, not to promote them or their new album but to write a good Eurovision track. The song is performed in English and American signlanguage. They also tell they stand for all minorities. Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox The band is on stage, rapping is good and clear, Osmo's vocals are great and Signmark's signs flawless. Well I can only guess about that obviously. This would be a very interesting choise for Moscow. If Lordi got all the heavyrockers in Europe to vote for them, could Signmark get all the deaf people vote for them? And they are millions.... Next is Janita, who is seeking revenge for her 3rd place back in 1994. The song is from her worthcoming album ...