The first Finnish semi final just finished and we have the first two acts to qualify directly to the country's final for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Four acts competed and Movetron and Kari Tapio have qualified directly to the final.

A landslide victory for Kari Tapio marked tonight's first Finnish semi final as he qualified to the Euroviisut final with 46,7% of the votes. Movetron joins him as they placed second with 20,3%. Kari Tapio is especially popular in Finland among the elderly and Movetron with the nostalgic 30 somethings.

Crumbland, who was tipped as the dark horse of this preselection as well as practically unknown Hanna Marsh will get another opportunity in the Second Chance round on 1st March.


Thanks to Johnny Logan and Hold me now I fell in love with the Eurovision Song Contest, a love that's been going strong ever since with undiminished passion. My first memories date back to 1977 and the lyrics of Rock bottom, Dschinghis Khan and A ba ni bi are still engraved in my brain. I joined esctoday.com in 2006 as a junior editor after being invited by Barry Viniker, I soon became Senior Editor and during the 2007 contest in Helsinki I was appointed Head of Communications. Today I hold the post of Head of Human Resources and I am proud to be working with the best editorial team in the world.