The third Finnish semi-final will be held at YLE’s Tohloppi studio this evening. We’ll have a look at who has experience and who are the newbies? We’ll also find out why there is song in American Sign Language and who sings soul and r’n’b?
Signmark is something new in the Eurovision Song Contest world. He is first deaf artist. But he is not the first to use sign language in the competition, we all remember Walters and Kazha’s (Latvia 2005) stage performance. His song, Speakerbox, is rap or hip-hop in American Sign Language. But he is not alone, there are others on stage too. Mr. Osmo Ikonen is featuring with them, and he composed their entry with Mahtotapa and Sulava, who are the other team members.
Janita is well-know star in Finland. She is participating for the second time in the Finnish national final. Her first time was in 1994, when she finished 3rd with Enkeli. This time around she is singing entry called Martian. She wrote the song with Tomi Sachary. Her entry is in her usual music style of soul and r’n’b.
Vink is another new name to the Eurovision Song Contest and they come from Lohja. Their entry is called The Greatest Plan and it is pop-rock. The band includes the bass guitarist Riku Loman, guitarist Tom Grönroos, vocalist Mats Kindstedt, drummer Ankka Alanen, and the guitarist Tomi Aremaa. They wrote their entry together.
Last, but certainly not least, is Jari Sillanpää. He represented Finland in 2004 in Istanbul with his entry Takes Two to Tango. He also participated in the national final of 1998 with entry Valkeaa unelmaa and finished up second. Then he had same lyricist, Pekka Laaksonen. But his entry’s, Kirkas kipinä, composer is very well-known in the Eurovision Song Contest and its Finnish preselections. Mr. Petri Laaksonen has composed both Eläköön elämä by Sonja Lumme (Finland 1985) and Sata salamaa by Vicky Rosti (Finland 1987). He has also composed other entries from the Finnish selections: Amor, Amor by Ami Aspelund (3rd in 1988), Oi äiti maa by Anneli Saaristo (3rd in 1989), Gabriela by Arja Saijonmaa (3rd in 1990), and Oot voimani mun by Anna Eriksson (2nd in 2000). Kirkas kipinä can be described as very Finnish ethnic ballad.
