FINLAND: Live blog of UMK 2016 Selection #JoinUs at 20:00 CET

By John Stanton on February 27, 2016 • ( 2 Comments )

Welcome to the final part of the fun and games from good old Finland. As you may have seen last week, the people of the country selected the final three songs for the final of UMK – Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu tonight.

Join us at 20:00CET for our LIVE BLOG. You know the drill – just refresh the page for full updates and our thoughts on the performances.

How To Watch

The Show starts at 20:00 CET

You can watch internationally using the following links HERE and HERE

Running Order

Cristal Snow – Love is blind

Stella Christine – Ain’t got time for boys

Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom – Good enough

Eini – Draamaa

Barbe-Q-Barbies – Let me out

Tuuli Okkonen – Don’t wake me up

Sandhja – Sing it away

Saara Aalto – No fear

Mikael Saari – On it goes

How The Winner Will Be Selected

It’s simple. The lucky winner will be picked by televoting and juries here. The juries represent specific sectors of Finnish society

LIVE BLOG – STARTS AT 20:00 CET – Just Refresh The Page

Ah, the music that makes Father Jack stand up. Well, maybe not. But it should do. The final of UMK is here, and it’s bound to be fun if I know my Finns. Lots of snow and shouting and trying to avoid getting SAD. And if you throw Krista Siegfrids into the mix, what more could you want from a national final?

The finalists have all gone up north, and Mikael Saari is a bit of a hit with the ladies apparently. But they all love a good bit of therapy. And telling Krista she looks good in gold trousers.

Cut to proper studio opening and who do we get but Lordi? Brilliant! Even better is when Mr Lordi attacks Krista with a chainsaw. She seems a little cut up about the whole thing.

Roope and Krista are back. He’s in a slimming white suit with a black collar, and she’s dressed for Agia Napa.

Cristal Snow is first on. He’s in an interesting dark suit that looks like it has a spine draped over one of the collars. He has a collection of backing singers with big horns on them. It doesn’t seem quite as strong as when I saw it in the semi-final. It was OK, but not a winner methinks.

Next is Stella who doesn’t have time for boys. Maybe she needs to stop in more. She’s a striking beauty with her white electric guitar. There are no histrionics here, just a moody downbeat performance. Her backing dancers who are (possibly) tango-ing in a very modern stylee are a tad distracting, and she probably doesn’t really need them. A sultry song but I don’t think it’s a winner.

Annica and Kimmo are next on. I would guess that they won their semi-final. There’s a slight look of Wednesday Addams about Annica, with Kimmo her stalker. I know, that sounds a bit harsh. Actually they could dress however they want and this would still be a class song. Yeah, we may have heard its like before but they’ve never done badly. They interact well, yet they don’t if you get my drift. It’s that type of song where they only come together at the end. Best thing by a country mile so far.

Song 4 is veteran Eini. She was doing this thing in the 1990s so must have some sort of idea what’s going on. Her song is definitely old-school Finland. A bit Lahtonen/Lehto. Never a bad thing. There is the tell of experience and she has men half her age falling over her. And I mustn’t forget the wind machine. If the various special interest group juries are of a certain vintage this might do well. People of my age will like it.

Barbe-Q-Barbies qualified last week and have quite a following. They could be going for the dirty old man vote. Or at least the man-who-is-old-enough-to-know-better. It’s 1980s rock with a feminine twist. There seemed to be a few issues with the lighting at the start of this song. Still, it gets a massive reaction from the audience. It could be in the mix.

Next is Tuuli Okkonen, another qualifier from last week. She’s in a deep blue dress with matching red shoes. There’s lots of drama (or should that be draamaa) in the backdrop with rain and lightning bolts. She means business and there are no laughs here. It’s earnest and if Finland had a Yohanna (from Iceland if you’ve forgotten) she would be Tuuli. She has a fine pair of lungs on her too. The final pyros might be several years out of date, but it’s good. I’ll give her that.

Song 7 – just so you’re paying attention – is by Sandhja. Her song is immediately positive, telling us that she’ll be there for us. The vibe is a very pleasing disco number with lots of trumpet and very animated backing singers. They obviously have bought into this performance. In fact, on closer inspection they could be a load of yummy mummies on a night out, and they’ve hit the karaoke bar to sing something almost-motown. It’s darn good fun and could be a Euroclub floor-filler.

Saara Aalto, born during the “Great Finnish ‘A’ Harvest” is on next. She’s balladic and demure, and surrounded by several semi-naked men. All things to all people, is old Saara. Her song is very pleasant and has an element of something middle-eastern about it. There is perhaps a little too much repetition repetition for my liking, and it’s more a floor-show than a contest song. Perhaps a whole interval act packed into three minutes. It’s not a winner but very in-your-face.

Finally we get to Mikael Saari. I’d hope that Saara Aalto never marries him and changes her name. This is a classy song with him demonstrating his atmospheric voice. The performance is very paired down with him just in a shirt, braces and trousers. And his lady-love in a simple peach dress and adding that extra bit of atmosphere. This does have it all – good singer, great orchestration, photogenics aplenty. He’s also got a darn good draw being on last and this will be top three or I’m a Lithuanian bob-sleigher. It might even win.

OK, it’s interval time at the Fox & Reindeer in Helsinki. There’s all manner of dancing going off. Girls dressing as Marvin the Paranoid Android. Girls in cages. Men with inflatable crocodiles. A joy to behold. Then we have a whole troupe of them on stage in white T-shirts and black trousers. It’s all your average interval act.

Between the jury votes and the televoting result, we have last year’s performers PKN.

OVERALL FEELING

All the songs done. So who will win? I would guess either Annica & Kimmo, Barbe-Q-Barbies, of Mikael Saari. Beyond that, maybe Eini is a good outsider.