January 28, 2009

Finnish Esc Selection - Week 3

About time I get round to writing about Finland's final semi then eh?

Well, I was quite looking forward to this weeks, as it only had one song that I wasn't keen on in it. Also it had my new favourite for Moscow in the shape of a rap artist called Signmark. He opened the show and since I'm behind in writing this up you can watch the performance already. Someone has uploaded it along with the interviews before hand, so you can watch the whole thing if you're interested in watching him signing through the interview. Of course, not knowing much sign language or Finnish, it was a bit pointless for me, but some of you might appreciate it;




So wasnt that good? I think it would be good for Finland to send something a bit different.


After Signmark, was Janita with her song Martian. It seems she's quite successful, having gone off to record albums in New York. Can't say I thought much of the song or performance in the end though. I didn't care for her voice much.


After her, newcomers Vink were up. I quite liked this song. Sort of pop-punk with a hint of the Ark. However when it came to the performance, I think they struggled a bit to keep up the energy of the song, and it felt a bit lagging by the end. Nice attempt though, I think I'll stillbe listening to this song for a while.


Then, the middle-aged housewives favourite, Jari Sillanpää. I hadnt listened to his song before the show, but knew it was going to be a big dramatic ballad. I was actually quite impressed. I thought it was quite pretty, the staging was strong, and the vocals were good. I was quite alarmed by how flexible his backing dancer was, but have since learnt she is a Finnish Olympic gymnast (similarities to the Dima-Plushenko stunt anyone?)


Anyway, when it came down to it, Signmark and Jari got through. I was pretty happy with this, I feel they were the best songs, so justice was served, hehe. When it came to vote percentages, Signmark got considerably more than Jari. So I th
ink its basically down to a battle between Signmark, Waldo's People, and Kwan now. So long as its not Kwan, I'd be happy with either of the others.

4 comments:

Laura (EuropeCrazy) said...

"Speakerbox" is absolutely great!!! Between that and Waldo's People, what a great selection in Finland - I wish every other national final had such quality stuff to choose from.

Keira said...

I know, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. I think they've been taking it quite seriously lately, after Lordi and all that.
But I'm glad you agree with Speakerbox. Its not my normal genre of choice, especially not for esc, but I think its been really well done, and its rather catchy.

Raquelita said...

It won't be Kwan.For God's sake,it can't be Kwan...

Laura (EuropeCrazy) said...

So Waldo's People got the ticket to Moscow, that's ok with me, can't go wrong with a bit of retro-90s-dance. You've got me addicted to "Speakerbox" though, can't get enough of that song !!