Third Finnish Semi-Final
27^th January 2006

By Jukka Väisänen

I had a very secure feeling when I weny to Tohloppi studios. This semi-final included songs only in Finnish. And I had nothing against it.

I had a great opportunity to talk to artists and also guest stars. First of all I shortly talked with Virve Rosti (Finland 1987). She told that cover versions of the songs used to be very remarkable, but nowadays original versions are very popular.

After the dress rehearsal I first interviewed Ms. Annika Eklund. She had expecting feelings. She likes to sing in Finnish and it is easy to sing in a language that she understands very well. Her songs were selected to be released on her upcoming album and it was a quick decision to submit both to Eurovision. Both songs will be published also as singles.

The members of the girl band Jane had quite a good feeling about the Contest. They were not too excited, but a little excitement was doing just fine for them. Tea, who is from Tampere, said that she had many friends in the audience, including her mother. Though their songs were now in Finnish, they would definitely be singing in English in Athens. They had many good song suggestions for their new album. From these songs they decided to choose their two entries. Both songs will be published as singles.

Kilpi, a heavy metal band, gave new music to Eurovision: heavy in Finnish! Pete of Kilpi had good feelings. He said that they are the first group to perform heavy metal in Finnish. The entries were very easy to choose, but they had a few difficulties in changing the songs not to exceed three minutes. Both songs are in the new album.

In the semi-final Virve "Vicky" Rosti sang her entry from 1987, Sata Salamaa. She said that she will not compete in the Eurovision Song Contest in the future. The first entry was an up-tempo schlager song titled Shanghain Valot, which was presented by Annika Eklund. The song has some James-Bond-style effects. Then we heard Jane's first entry, V.I.P. Well, that song is not about the Hungarian boy band, which represented Hungary at the ESC in 1997. That song reminded me a bit of Everyway That I Can (Turkey 2003). The third song was Toinen Minä by Kilpi. It was a powerful heavy metal song.

After the first round the other guest stars, CatCat, came to the stage. They performed their Finnish entry from 1994, Bye Bye Baby. The blonde one, Virpi, is now on maternity leave with her first baby. After their performance Annika Eklund had her second turn. She sang a ballad called Sinussa On Jotain. Jane had quite a typical pop song called Sivuoireita. The third song was from Kilpi, which was entitled Katharsis, though that title is not mentioned in song's lyrics. It was a peaceful heavy metal song about mental processing.

The TV viewers chose Shanghain Valot, V.I.P. and Katharsis for the Finnish final. The fourth and last semi-final will be 3^rd February with Marita Taavitsainen, Katariina Hänninen, and the musical group Safe Six.

Kilpi

CatCat

Jane

Annika

Vicky