News - Finland: artists tell more of their entries | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

The 12 artists chosen to appear in the Finnish 2009 Eurovision selection shows have been divided into the three heats and fans have been invited to participate as audience in the YLE Tohloppi studios in Tampere for these live shows. Tickets for the actual final in Leonardo Hall, also in Tampere on 31 January have not been released for sale yet, however, members of the Eurovision Club OGAE Finland have already been offered to a change to book their places. Tickets for the general public will be on sale on the 1st of November.

The line-up of the heats is as follows:

1st heat, Friday 9 January 2009:
Kwan
Tiara
Tapani Kansa
Riikka

2nd heat, Friday 16 January 2009:
Sani
Passionworks
Remu
Waldo's People

3rd heat, Friday 23 January 2009:
Signmark
Janita
Vink
Jari Sillanpää 

The artists have told the YLE website more of their visions for Eurovision.

Kwan are promising a good show with plenty of glitter. Lead singer Mariko won the Finnish version of Strictly come dancing in the previous season and is so a familiar face to the voting public. The band is multinational and sees that as their strength. Kwan recently performed in Moscow and talk about the scarily busy traffic in the city, and how they did not really have time to see much of the vast city in a couple of days.

Tiara works as a singing teacher in her everyday life. She says she was surprised to get the invite as she considers her style different to typical Eurovision music. She hails from Rovaniemi and reveals that she is also a distant relative of Mr. Lordi!

Tapani Kansa admits having said “never again” after his last Euroviisut participation in the 80s, but was happy to accept now as the competition has evolved and is more open than before. He hopes to
to be part of a great show with a great song, which is yet to be chosen.

Riikka says she feels already experienced in the Eurovision Song Contest as she sang backing vocals for Finland in Oslo and in Istanbul, but also was part of the interval act in Helsinki, where she was suspended from the ceiling on wires. Her song comes from the same writer as her 2004 candidate Toarie and she describes it as an melancholic, but beautiful ballad with an ethno flavour.

Sani will work closely with former band mate and experienced songwriter Maki Kolehmainen. She says she has three songs to chose for this fourth Eurovision attempt of hers. She says it will most probably be a catchy dance number, but will not have circus acts on stage with her.

Passionworks reveals that the vocals will be shared by the bands female lead singer and Toni Turunen, who is the little brother of Tarja, who was formerly the lead singer of the successful band Nightwish. The band will probably have the hardest number in this year's Finnish selection and the band trust they also have the best song.

Remu says he was dared to take this challenge by the record mogul Ile Vainio, who has been behind many Finnish successes like Nylon Beat. Remu will release an album of songs that they declare as “rock tango” and his Eurovision entry will be picked amongst the tracks from that album.

Waldo's People say they feel Finland should now try a dance act as their Eurovision entry as most other genres have already been given a chance to represent Finland. The band says they are having a hard time deciding between two equally strong songs to compete with. In any case it will be an international and energetic hit number.

Signmark have already had a good amount of publicity all over the world. The band has three members, one of them 30 year old Marko, who has also been deaf himself since birth. The band will use American Sign Language and English in their Eurovision song and are hoping to reach to a wide European audience who use sign language in their daily lives. Marko, who has followed  the  Eurovision Song Contest all his life, hopes they can once again bring something completely different to the contest.

Janita has lived the past 12 years abroad and sees that as helpful for the contest. She was surprised to get invited to take part, but is glad how the Eurovision Song Contest has changed totally in the past few years and how Lordi's victory has been important part of it. Janita has been an artist since she was only 14 years old and describes her song as alternative soul.

Vink describe their style as fast and rocky with an angle. The youthful band consisting of five scholl friends and say they are definitely in it to win. The band have roots in Finland's Swedish speaking minority, but are singing in English.

Jari Sillanpää ponders whether it will be third time lucky in fulfilling his childhood dream of winning the Eurovision Song Contest. He expects the show to something spectacularly unforeseen in Moscow. He has very fond memories of his time in Istanbul in 2004 and says the team were very well looked after by the hosts. He loved the whole experience and is hoping to go to Moscow this time with a power ballad, which would allow him to show off his vocal range.

Just over 10 000 readers of the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat have voted for their favourite artists online and Kwan are in a clear lead with 38% of the votes. In second place is veteran rocker Remu with 18% of the votes with Jari Sillanpää third with 12%.

Ilta-Sanomat poll

YLE will announce the song titles and their authors on the 5th of December, when the broadcaster's Eurovision website will also be relaunched with the new look for 2009.