Taina Kokkonen (born 15 May 1975 in

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

near

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) is a former award-winning

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 ...

singer. She has performed on Italian TV, in

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and

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as part of the Tango 2000 educational tour. She first tried for the prestigious

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 ...

competition in 1995, but did not reach the semi-finals. In 1996, she got through the Raisio semi-finals and was one of the 10 best. She rather frightened herself with her success: "I was in a great panic. I thought, do I really want this? . . . . I secretly hoped I wouldn't get any further. I have watched my performance on video and it shows how inexperienced I was." (Nyman, p. 175) She did not reach the Seinäjoki finals, and

Saija Varjus Saija Varjus (born 30 January 1965 in Parkano) is a Finnish popular musician. She was chosen the "Tango Queen" 1996 in the Tangomarkkinat festival in Seinäjoki. This was her second attempt: she had competed in 1993 but only reached as far as the ...

became Tango Queen. Taina's third attempt was in 1998, when she reached the finals and became Tango Princess, losing the winning place to Kirsi Ranto. After a record four attempts, she finally became Tango Queen in 1999. In 2002, taking advantage of the new rule that songs may be in any language, she composed an Italian-language entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 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 ...

. This was Silenzio, and was performed by Pertti Haverinen; but it was not selected, and the Finnish entry for that year was the English-language "Addicted to You", sung by Laura, which came 20th with 24 points. Before she became a Tango Queen in Seinäjoki, Kokkonen had finished her studies for a degree in Master of Education Sciences. She became a teacher in Hämeenlinna. At the moment, she works as a class teacher in Vantaa. In 2007, Kokkonen married Cemo Timucin, a man working in an IT-branch and educated as a Master of engineering. They live in Vantaa with their son Tino. In 2009, Taina Kokkonen worked during the summertime as a radio-host having morning programs in a local radio station near Helsinki resort. The singer, Taina Kokkonen, is not the same person as Taina Kokkonen the printmaker, whose website is http://www.tainakokkonen.net.

Discography

* 2000 Vain taivas tietää * 2001 Täätä ikuisuuteen * 2003 20 hittiä (reissue)

Sources

* Marja Nyman, Tangokuninkaalliset, Revontuli 2002, * Tony Latva and Petri Tuunainen, Iskelmän tähtitaivas, WSOY 2004, * Asko Murtomäki, Finland 12 points!, Teos 2007,

External links

Tangomarkkinat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kokkonen, Taina 1975 births Living people 21st-century Finnish women singers 20th-century Finnish women singers