Amadeus and Eläkeläiset among entries to represent Finland at Eurovision 2010

Amadeus Lundberg

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Finland’s representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 could be Amadeus Lundberg, the winner of this year’s Tangomarkkinat, the world's oldest tango festival, held early every July in Seinäjoki, Finland. Or it could be the humppa (a fast foxtrot-type dance played two beats to a bar and resembling the German style oompah) band Eläkeläiset (The Pensioners) or any one of the ten other candidates: Boys Of The Band, Pentti Hietanen, Osmo Ikonen, Heli Kajo, Veeti Kallio, Antti Kleemola, Kuunkuiskaajat, Nina Lassander, Maria Lund or Monday.
      The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE announced already in July that the tango festival winner, who is called either the "Tango King" or the "Tango Queen", would automatically be entered in the national trials of the Eurovision Song Contest if he or she so desired.
      The rest of the invited artists YLE has selected in co-operation with the record industry, as has been customary in recent years.
     
Compositions, on the other hand, were also sought through an open competition, after a five-year break in this department.
      By the deadline, 260 demo songs were received, the quality of which YLE considered high.
      The general public can vote for their favourite among the 30 song entries posted on the YLE web site (euroviisut.yle.fi) during the first two weeks of October.
      The three entries with the most votes will then enter the heats to compete with songs written by invited composers.
      The Eurovision national trials will be hosted by Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Peltola.
     
Finland’s national semi-finals for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 will be aired live from YLE’s Tohloppi studios in Tampere on three consecutive Fridays starting January 8th.
      The national final will be organised in Tampere on January 30th.
      Next year's Eurovision event is to be staged in late May in Oslo after Norway's Alexander Rybak cleaned up in Moscow with his song Fairytale, which scooped up a record 387 points, eclipsing even the massive win enjoyed by our own Lordi in 2006.


Links:
  Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (Wikipedia)
  Eurovision Song Contest – Oslo 2010
  YLE: Euroviisut

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