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Final on 31st January
Finland: YLE gets an early start for 09
There will be 12 artists competing in three semi-finals on the 9th, 16th and 23rd January. The head of YLE Entertainment, Ms Tuire Lindström is currently concentrate on the selection process for the competing artists. They will range from male and female solo singers to bands. The full artist line-up will be announced in September. Ms. Lindström also promises some surprises. "We are very happy with our Eurovision project this year with Teräsbetoni making it to the final in Belgrade, so we will use the same process to select out next entry", she concludes.
From every semi-final two artists be voted by the public to qualify directly to the final which will be held on the 31 January. Just like last year, there will be a second chance vote to start off the final between the 6 artists who did not make it directly to the final taking the number of participants in the final to 8. The final will again be in two parts and the winner will be decided by a televote and SMS-vote. There is also a mention of a compilation CD containing from all the entries planned for a January release.
The host city and the venue have not been announced. YLE TV entertainment and TV channel 2 who broascast the national selection shows and the Eurovision Song Contest in Finland reside in the city of Tampere. The semi-finals have in the past few years been transmitted "as live" from the Tohloppi TV centre studios in Tampere.
The executive producer for the Finnish national final this year will be Merete Manninen and the producer will be Matti Grönberg.
Related polls
- Jury vote, do you agree?
- Jury vote only in the final or in the semis as well?
- What mixture of televote and jury vote do you think is the best?
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Stockholm calling
Yes, no diaspora in Melodifestivalen! 
Jonny K:
OK.
Melodifestivalen is great. Many people in Sweden prefer it to the ESC. I find them equally entertaining but in Melodifestivalen we are spared the DNP voting. I can't wait for MF 2009
About Lordi, I never thought it wasn't a fair result.
Vincent, if you were in Greece at that time, you would see that all the kids had gone CRAZY over their masks.
Keep in mind that not only rockers voted for them (actually I have a couple of friends who are into hard rock and considered Lordi to be clowns-their words, not mine-), but many, many, MANY teenagers and kids who found them to be 'cool'.
And those ages vote way more than older voters. I had voted for Dima once, they voted for Lordi 10 times each...lol
(No, I don't always vote for Russia, it was a coincidence 
)
Stockholm Calling
No problem!! You Swedes deserve it for producing such a great Meldoifestivalen!
Vincent
Lordi charted in the UK aswell, which is a very difficult market to chart in, especially for a eurovision act. And I seriously doubt that Finns skewed the results, I mean, there are up to 5 million voters in the final, do you really think the Finns could change the votes that much??!!
And europe is full of Rock fans, I for one love Rock music! 
Vincent Barbarino:
Well, taste differs. I like rock.
"Lordis winning song was not a hit in any of the countries which gave them many points..."
Actually, it was a success in Sweden. Lordi's album "The arockalypse" (incl. Hard Rock Hallelujah) was No. 1 in the Swedish charts and sold "Gold"
Jonny K:
Thanks for voting for us
@Vicent Barbarino:
"...or it is true a rumour going on here in Germany and in other countries since their overall winning in 2006, that finish fans of the contest have developed a pc programm, which allows them to crack down the televoting system and vote from Finnland as if they voted from other countries of Europe. "
Please don´t overreact. First of all, Finns are not crooks and I really can´t explain Lordi´s victory cause I`m a Finn and here there were plenty of criticism about their performance, and no one took them seriously till the first poll results came out.
Unlike other countries, Finland really does not enter the game aiming for victory. The proof is written here in this article.
Lordi´s victory might have happened because there were so much buzz about the group or by any other inexplicable reason, but never because Finland is a country of criminals or tolerates criminal actions, unlike some neighbors of ours.
Really Vincent,
I can not believe that. Hard Rock is also not my kind of music but I can imagine that during the semi's (normal weekdays, so people watch tv as they have to go to work day after) there will be a lot of hard rock fan's, or people that can appreciate it anyway. Well I can truely believe and understand after seeing and listening to so many crappy songs (copies of copies of some copies, all lovely half naked women, singing all more or less the same kind of songs), those people are happy voting for Finnish hardrock. Because whatever you say, Terasbetoni was and is not a would be Hard rovk group, they are doing there thing without any concessions... That's what I believe, I think your theory is really unbelievable. Well I hope not because otherwise...
@Marc x:
i find it very strange that the finns manage to pass the semis and even win(fortunately only once with these terrible masquerade and pseudo hard rock anthem), since i do not think that many viewers of the ESC are real hard rock fans. So I give 2 explanations for this: either there are much more hard rock fans of the contest who all vote for Finnland on this night, or it is true a rumour going on here in Germany and in other countries since their overall winning in 2006, that finish fans of the contest have developed a pc programm, which allows them to crack down the televoting system and vote from Finnland as if they voted from other countries of Europe. There were even articles on german and greek newspaper on this possibility, an as a big fan of the contest, i suspect, there must be something true about this. On the other side i hope not, because that would mean that the whole ESC televoting system is not that secure. But i can still not understand how these pseudo hard rock entries get a lot of votes, since a) hard rockers are not particularly fond of this contest, actually they laugh about it and they do not watch it b) Finnland was one f those countries who finished traditionally bottom 25 both in the jury and the televoting era of the contest c) Lordis winning song was not a hit in any of the countries which gave them many points...
Vincent,
Maybe these hard rock entries are bad for your ears but obviously not for the rest of Europe as they passed the semi. And they are defenitely NOT fake, as this yeras entry was a good hard rock song performed without any concessions and maybe just for that reason got its place in the final. So well done Finland.....
@Stockholm calling:
i would never ever cast and waste any vote on these bad finish entries.
Vincent Barbarino:
I voted for Lordi in 2006, one of the best ever winners imo I also cast a vote for Hanna Pakarinen last year
Teräsbetoni were great too. Go Finland!
Vincent
I voted for Lordi in 2006. And nearly voted for Finland this year, but voted for Turkey & Sweden instead!
i kope it will not be again a pseudo-hard rock entry like the ones in the last years. I find the finnish entries since the awfull Lordi thing simply uninteresting. And i used tobe a fan f hard rock in my elementary school years, but sine then i have moved on a bit. I would very much like to meet personally some voters of The ESC who cast their vote on the finnish entries..until now i have never ever met one..strange..somehow
The martin came.(the first bird of winter) I wish Finland good luck /
Sanna ~
Teresbetoni rule!!! I'm so glad they qualified this year, you Finns really deserved it!
What start to 2009! I hope for pop, rock, ballads, etc many kinds of music... I think we have to send something new.. althought it´s nice to be "the hard rock country of Eurovision" 
@ Jonny K
nice that u like teräsbetoni
I hope for Finntroll.
I hope they won't send another rock song to ESC.
In the past 3 years they sent rock songs. In 2007 & 2008 they failed with the rock songs, so they need to send something outstanding in 2009.
In this year's selection defenietly Movetron was the best. With 'Cupido' Finland could finish in TOP 10 in the Final.
Yey the 2009 season is already starting - kind of...
Only a few months 'til september!!!
Finland, MORE ROCK MUSIC PLEASE!!!
Last years there hasn't been any breathe between ESC seasons, but the main part of it won't start until September.
I wish Finland sent something different next year. I don't like hard rock 
..perhaps they could send something in rock style but not as hard (something like Turkey's Deli, perhaps?)
Another Finnish rock entry is OK by me. The Finns are really good at it I liked their songs in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Rock on!
Thanks for the link Jonny. I like the English version too.
ajdin mehic
Yeah, I quite like the english version aswell! And yes, they probably will chose another rock song But I like the fact that they send rock songs so i'm happy!
** sorry, in my first post I should have written - "as I write this", not "as i right this" !!!
@Jonny K
thank you on that link. i like this english version of "Sensa Tu".
By the way, Finland is probably going to choose another rock song.
I know this isn't related but it may interest a few people -
http://www.youtube.c(...)/watch?v=FX65u7SYjQY
It is an english cover of "sense tu" (andorra 2006), by Nuncha (Portugal 1990). Its quite good, but quite different to the original
If the link doesn't work then type in - "nuncha, it's for you" into youtube and it should come up
I wonder if they will chose another rock entry???
Its certainly what the Finns do best, maybe Rock is to Finland, as schlager is to Sweden! I do hope Finland go rock again this year, because when they don't they don't get good results, and they certainly produce some of the best rock songs in the contest (as I right this I am listening to terasbetoni!!!)
Go Finland!! (OMG the 2009 season is already starting . . . . eurovision overdose!!!!!! )
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