For a majority of Finland's time in the Eurovision Song Contest, the nation has opted to sing in Finnish.
The nation sang exclusively in Finnish until 1973, when Marion Rung's 'Tom Tom Tom' brought English language songs into the mix. This was due to the fact that 1973 saw changes to the contest's language rules, allowing all participants to sing in any language of their choosing.
For four straight years, the nation only sent songs that were in English, but this streak was ended by the reintroduction of the language rules allowing nations to only sing in their national languages. Thus, the nation sang in Finnish (and Swedish once) until 1994.
However, the English included in CatCat's 'Bye Bye Baby' was simply the song's title repeated as a chorus.
Finland took a bit of a break from the Eurovision Song Contest after 1998, but when they returned, the language rules were no more, and thus began a streak of English language songs from 2000 to 2007.
After 2008, the nation sang in Finnish only four times, and tried their hand at singing in Swedish once more as well.
Käärijä's 2023 song 'Cha Cha Cha' marks the first time in eight years that Finland sent a Finnish language song to the contest, and it's the most successful Finnish language song in the history of the contest.
[Sources]
'From 'Pump-Pump' to 'Cha Cha Cha': Finland's vibrant Eurovision history,' Eurovision.tv.
'Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest,' Wikipedia.org.
Another one that I start with news of a terrorist attack. -_- This morning, a terrorist started shooting at several vehicles driving down the Jordan Valley, one of which was a school bus. The driver of this bus confirmed that the terrorist was wearing what looked like an IDF uniform. According to Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) there are at least 3 people injured, one is a 13 years old kid, another is in serious condition. The terrorist has not yet been neutralized.
After Amit Soussana's testimony about being raped by Hamas, we also have a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist admitting during an interrogation that he had raped a woman in her home in an Israeli kibbutz. It's not the first such testimony, but these are important enough that when they're published, they ALL must be heard.
The prosecution against the terrorists responsible for the massacre of October 7 has been expanded to include clauses which could end with the death penalty (I found a link to a journalistic source online, then I accidentally closed that tab, and can't find it again, but it's been reported on TV. The following tweet recounts the indictments, though the headline is misleading. A death sentence has not been approved, it's just now approved that it's a possible outcome of the trials, once they take place).
For those unfamiliar with the Eurovision Song Contest, it's an event that has been run since 1956, with the intent to help heal a post-war Europe, by allowing countries to have a friendly competition (instead of a bloody conflict), and also have a chance to get to know each other better through music. It's meant to be a unifying, and therefore also a-political fun music fest. This contest has since been expanded to include all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union, which means Israel also gets to compete since 1973, and has even won 4 times. I wrote this post about our entry this year, if anyone's curious. In recent years, the ESC has been used for annual anti-Israel propaganda, way before the war in Gaza. This year, a senior official in Israel's National Security Office had to issue a warning for any Israelis going to the competition in Sweden, to be careful and hide their identity as much as possible. I am passing along the warning, because wherever Israelis are in danger, so are Jews in general.
After Canada, Sweden, Australia and Finland, now France is also declaring that it will fund UNRWA again, proving that no amount of complicity in anti-Jewish terrorism will stop some European countries from passing along money to those who have raped, maimed, tortured and murdered us. But no worries! France promises it will ensure that their money won't go to terrorism. I will just remind everyone that France brokered a "deal" to pass along medications to Israeli hostages with chronic illnesses in Gaza, in exchange for an additional 1,000 packages of meds for Gazans. It then said they got reassurance that the meds got to those hostages (meaning, France quoted Qatar, which quoted Hamas, so this is the international diplomacy version of, "Trust me, bro. I'm a highly reliable antisemitic terrorist"). When Israeli soldiers got to a hospital in Gaza, they found some of the med packages for the Israeli hostages in its pharmacy, unopened and clearly not delivered to the rightful address. So... IDK about you, but I'm pretty sure even the French know their assurances about the UNRWA funding are just empty words.
This is 40 years old Mohammad Alatrash.
He's an Israeli Bedouin Muslim Arab, and father of 13, including a one month old baby. He was kidnapped on Oct 7, and has been held captive in Gaza since. Mohammad's uncle said the whole family's life has not been normal since he was taken hostage. Despite that, today several families of hostages had a tour of the attacked communities in the south, with Israel's and Belgium's Foreign Ministers, his brother Salem said that they're okay with Mohammad being released later, as long as Hamas frees the female hostages. "It's hell what they're made to go through there." Just a reminder that Mohammad is one of the Israeli Muslim hostages that Hamas could have and chose not to release even during the month holy to all muslims, Ramadan.
(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)
The members of ABBA participated in Melodifestivalen individually before joining up as a group in 1973.
In 1969, Anni-Frid Lyngstad competed as a solo artist with the song "Härlig Är Vår Jord." She ended up placing fourth overall.
In 1972, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson competed as a duo of songwriters. The song they wrote, "Säg Det Med En Sång," for Lena Andersson finished third.
Additionally, when the group came together in 1973, they did not go by "ABBA." Instead, they called themselves Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid.
[Source]
'Ring Ringing in the year: ABBA's other 50th Eurovision anniversary,' Eurovision.tv.
Loredana Bertè & Mia Martini: 2 voices from Calabria, Italy
Italian sisters and singers Loredana Bertè and Mia Martini were born in Bagnara Calabra (Calabria, Italy), respectively in 1950 and 1947.
Mia Martini is considered, by many experts, one of the most important and expressive female voices of Italian music, characterised by her interpretative intensity and her soulful performance.
Her debut album, Oltre la collina is regarded as one of the best Italian albums made by a female artist. Hit songs like Piccolo uomo, Donna sola, Minuetto, made her one of the most popular artists of Italian music in the 1970s, both nationally and internationally. She is the only female artist to have won two Festivalbar consecutively, respectively in 1972 and in 1973.
In 1977, two important encounters occurred in Martini's life: the first with Charles Aznavour, with whom she began a musical collaboration, and the second with singer-songwriter Ivano Fossati, with whom she started an artistic and sentimental partnership.
youtube
In 1982, she sang E non finisce mica il cielo, written by Fossati, at Sanremo Music Festival, where she received the Critics Award, which was created specifically for her interpretation and which was named after her as "Mia Martini" Critics Awards from 1996, the year after her death.
In 1983, she was forced to leave the music industry and quit her career, as the music sector and colleagues considered her a person bringing bad luck and barred her from participating in any music and TV events, radio shows and concerts. This kept her away from the music scene for seven years. Only in 1989 was she able to reprise her career, when she returned to perform at Sanremo Music Festival, singing Almeno tu nell'universo, which brought her a new success.
She died on 12 May 1995 in Cardano al Campo at the age of 47.
After her death, the town Bagnara Calabra dedicated to the singer.
Loredana Bertè is a singer-songwriter and artist who has been in the music industry for over five decades. She has released twenty-one studio albums, five live albums, and three soundtracks throughout her career. In addition to her work as a solo artist, she has also collaborated with other renowned artists such as Gianna Nannini, Angelo Branduardi, and Claudio Baglioni.
In her long career, Bertè has experimented with different genres, from rock to reggae, from funk to pop. Bertè is known for the eccentric clothing she wears onstage for her performances.
One of her most popular song is E la luna bussò, an Italian reggae ballad which stayed on the Italian Singles Chart for 29 weeks.
youtube
In the 1980s Bertè achieved success in Italy with songs such as Maledetto Luna-Park, Una Sera d'Ottobre, and 'Ti Sento'. She also released two successful studio albums during this period: 'Loredana' (1985) and 'Loredana Berté' (1986). In 1988 she represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Non siamo soli'.
Bertè is one of Italy's most beloved singers and has achieved great success throughout her career. She has sold over 12 million records worldwide and continues to be an inspiration to generations of fans across the globe.