Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
participated at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song "Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song), Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. Organise ...
with the song "Työlki ellää" written by Timo Kiiskinen. The song was performed by the duo
Kuunkuiskaajat
Kuunkuiskaajat (/kuːn.kuˈi skaːjat/; "Moonwhisperers") is a Finnish female folk duo made up of Värttinä members Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen, that represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " Työlki ellää". ...
. The Finnish broadcaster
Yleisradio
Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...
(Yle) organised the national final ''Euroviisut 2010'' in order to select the Finnish entry for the 2010 contest in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway. 15 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of three semi-finals and a final, taking place in January 2010. Ten entries ultimately competed in the final on 30 January where votes from the public selected "Työlki ellää" performed by Kuunkuiskaajat as the winner.
Finland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2010. Performing during the show in position 5, "Työlki ellää" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Finland placed eleventh out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 49 points.
Background
Prior to the 2010 contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-three times since its first entry in 1961. Finland has won the contest once in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
with the song "
Hard Rock Hallelujah
"Hard Rock Hallelujah" is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. It was released as a single in 2006, reaching the 1 spot in Finland and reaching the top 10 in eight other European countries. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at No. 25.
L ...
" performed by
Lordi
Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...
. In the
2009 contest, "Lose Control" performed by
Waldo's People
Waldo's People is a Finland, Finnish Eurodance band. The lead singer of the band is Waldo (musician), Waldo, whose real name is Marko Reijonen. They represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, with the song "Lose Control (Waldo's Peo ...
managed to qualify Finland to the final but placed last in twenty-fifth.
The Finnish national broadcaster,
Yleisradio
Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...
(Yle), broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 June 2009.
Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest have been selected through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled ''Euroviisukarsinta'' highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Finnish entry for the 2010 contest would be selected through the ''Euroviisut'' selection show.
Before Eurovision
Euroviisut 2010
![Kuunkuiskaajat 2010 Euroviisut](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Kuunkuiskaajat_2010_Euroviisut.jpg)
''Euroviisut 2010'' was the national final that selected Finland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The competition consisted of four shows that commenced with the first of three semi-finals on 8 January 2010 and concluded with a final on 30 January 2010. The four shows were hosted by
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...
host
Jaana Pelkonen
Jaana Pelkonen (born 27 January 1977) is a Finnish member of parliament and television presenter.
Career
Pelkonen's media career started as a radio presenter for ''Radio 99'' in Lahti in 1995–1997. She became famous in Finland as the host of ...
and
YleX
YleX (formerly known as YLEX) is one of the major radio stations of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) featuring pop music and cultural programming. The station started as Radiomafia, and name changed to YleX in 2003. Programming targets the yo ...
DJ Mikko Peltola. All shows were broadcast on
Yle TV2
Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service p ...
and online at ''yle.fi''. The final was also broadcast via radio on
Yle Radio Suomi
Yle Radio Suomi is a radio channel owned and operated by Finland's national public service broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle). The station's main focus is on music and sport, but it carries a variety of other programmes, including news and phone-ins, as ...
.
Format
The format of the competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals and a final. Five songs competed in each semi-final and the top three entries from each semi-final as well as a wildcard act selected by a jury from the remaining non-qualifying entries qualified to complete the ten-song lineup in the final. The results for the semi-finals and the final were determined exclusively by a public vote. Public voting included the options of telephone and SMS voting.
Competing entries
Twelve artists, including the winner of the Finnish tango contest ''
Tangomarkkinat
The Tangomarkkinat is the world's oldest tango festival. It is held early every July in Seinäjoki, Finland. As well as competitions to find the country's best tango singers, composers, and dancers, the festival features public dancing to live mu ...
'' in 2009,
Amadeus Lundberg
Juha Grigori Amadeus Lundberg (born 29 March 1989), better known as Amadeus, is a Finnish singer. He became famous after winning the Tangomarkkinat tango contest in 2009.
As the Tangomarkkinat winner, Amadeus was invited to Euroviisut 2010 son ...
, were directly invited by Yle to compete in the national final following consultation with record companies and presented on 30 September 2009. A submission period was also opened by Yle which lasted between 16 June 2009 and 31 August 2009. At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete.
A panel of experts appointed by Yle selected thirty entries for an online selection from the 267 received submissions. The competing entries were released on 1 October 2009 at ''yle.fi/euroviisut'' and the public was able to vote through SMS until 16 October 2009. Among the artists competing in the online selection was former Finnish Eurovision entrant
Geir Rönning
Geir Rönning (born 5 November 1962) is a Norwegian-Finnish professional singer-songwriter from Ålesund. He later moved to the capital Oslo in the 1980s, and later on to Stockholm, Sweden, where he found opportunity to start a musical career. H ...
who represented
Finland in 2005. The top three from the thirty entries qualified to the national final and were announced during a televised programme on 16 October 2009.
Shows
Semi-finals
The three semi-final shows took place on 8, 15 and 22 January 2010 at the Tohloppi Studios in
Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
. The top three from the five competing entries in each semi-final qualified to the final based on the results from the public vote. "Sydän ymmärtää" performed by Maria Lund was awarded the jury wildcard and also qualified to the final.
Final
The final took place on 30 January 2010 at the
Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre
Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre ( fi, Tampereen Messu- ja Urheilukeskus) is an indoor venue in Tampere, Finland. It hosted European Wrestling Championships in 2008.
The centre has 4 halls and the first one was built in 1985.
See also
*List ...
in
Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
where the ten entries that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals competed.
The winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting. In the first round, the top three from the ten competing entries qualified to the second round, the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Työlki ellää" performed by
Kuunkuiskaajat
Kuunkuiskaajat (/kuːn.kuˈi skaːjat/; "Moonwhisperers") is a Finnish female folk duo made up of Värttinä members Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen, that represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " Työlki ellää". ...
was selected as the winner.
A total of 233,683 votes were cast during the show: 119,142 in the final and 114,541 in the superfinal.
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured
Mikko Leppilampi
Mikko Johannes Leppilampi (born 22 September 1978 in Pälkäne, Finland) is a Finnish actor, musician, and TV host. He is the son of Jukka Leppilampi (born 1954), a Finnish gospel musician. Leppilampi is considered to be one of the most promisin ...
and Norwegian
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Euro ...
winner
Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igorevich Rybak (russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак) or Alyaxandr Iharavich Rybak ( be, Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) is a Belarusian-Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pian ...
.
Ratings
Promotion
Kuunkuiskaajat specifically promoted "Työlki ellää" as the Finnish Eurovision entry on 24 April 2010 by performing during the ''Eurovision in Concert'' event which was held at the Lexion venue in
Zaanstad
Zaanstad () is a Dutch municipality in the province of North Holland, situated northwest of Amsterdam. Its main city is Zaandam. It is part of the conurbation and metropolitan area of Amsterdam. It had a population of in .
Topography
Popul ...
, Netherlands on 24 April and hosted by
Cornald Maas
Cornald Maas is a Dutch television presenter who has been known for presenting talk shows in the Netherlands. He is the brother of Frans Maas.
Early career
He was an editor involved in ''The Scream of the Lion'' (VARA) with Paul de Leeuw, ''Son ...
and
Marga Bult
Marcha (born Margaretha Hendrika Maria Groeneveld on 2 July 1956), also known as Marga Bult, is a Dutch singer and television presenter, who has been a member of the groups Tulip, Babe and Dutch Divas and is also known for her participation in th ...
.
At Eurovision
![Kuunkuiskaajat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Kuunkuiskaajat.jpg)
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 7 February 2010, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Finland was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 25 May 2010, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 23 March 2010 and Finland was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
and before the entry from
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
.
The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Finland on
Yle TV2
Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service p ...
with commentary in
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
by
Jaana Pelkonen
Jaana Pelkonen (born 27 January 1977) is a Finnish member of parliament and television presenter.
Career
Pelkonen's media career started as a radio presenter for ''Radio 99'' in Lahti in 1995–1997. She became famous in Finland as the host of ...
and Asko Murtomäki. The three shows were also broadcast on
Yle FST5
Yle Fem (''Yle Five'') was Yle's Finland-Swedish national television channel, providing television programmes in the Swedish language in Finland. It was a public-service channel principally intended for Finland's Swedish-speaking minority. Crea ...
with commentary in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
by Thomas Larsson as well as via radio with Finnish commentary by Sanna Pirkkalainen and Jorma Hietamäki on
Yle Radio Suomi
Yle Radio Suomi is a radio channel owned and operated by Finland's national public service broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle). The station's main focus is on music and sport, but it carries a variety of other programmes, including news and phone-ins, as ...
. The Finnish spokesperson, who announced the Finnish votes during the final, was Johanna Pirttilahti.
Semi-final
Kuunkuiskaajat took part in technical rehearsals on 16 and 20 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 24 and 25 May. This included the jury show on 24 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
The Finnish performance featured the members of Kuunkuiskaajat performing in white dresses joined by two dancers/backing vocalists and a violinist wearing beige outfits. Member
Susan Aho
Susan Aho (born 5 March 1974) is a Finnish folk music singer-songwriter and a member of the Värttinä music group. In 2010, she represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 as part of the duo Kuunkuiskaajat.
Biography
Susan Aho was ...
also played the accordion with an illuminated stone in front of her. Kuunkuiskaajat and the backing performers performed a dance routine together on stage which were in blue and white colours. The performance also featured the use of a wind machine. The two dancers/backing vocalists that joined Kuunkuiskaajat on stage were Aki Eronen and Jukka Tarvainen, while the violinist was Maria Baric.
At the end of the show, Finland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Finland placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 49 points.
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Finland had placed sixth with the public televote and fifteenth with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Finland scored 69 points, while with the jury vote, Finland scored 37 points.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Finland and awarded by Finland in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Estonia in the semi-final and to Germany in the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Finland
Points awarded by Finland
References
External links
*
Yle Euroviisut website
*
Full national final on Yle Elävä Arkisto
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2010
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...