Tonight is the first semi-final of Finland’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. In a month’s time and after three semis and a final, UMK 2016 will have a winner…a winner who will go on to represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm. A total of 18 acts will compete across the three semis, with nine of them proceeding to the competition’s grand final, this coming 27 February.

The show

Each of the three semi-finals will be broadcast from Finnish broadcaster YLE’s studios in Helsinki and will see 6 acts battle it out for 3 tickets to the UMK grand final. The top three songs will be chosen by public televoting with proceeds to be donated to charity Nenäpäivä-säätiö, which fund projects in developing countries.

Tonight’s show will be hosted by Roope Salminen alongside Krista Siegfrids who won the competition back in 2013 and went on to represent Finland at that year’s Eurovision Song Contest with the song, Marry me.

How to watch

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The show will be aired at 20.00 CET:

• YLE TV2
• YLE Webcast

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The participants

Competing in the first semi-final are:

• Clemso – Thief
• Eini – Draamaa
• Mikko Heranen – Evil tone
• Pää-Äijät – Shamppanjataivas
• Saara Alto – No fear
• Stella Christine – Ain’t got time for boys

UMK 2016 Agenda

• 06/02: Semi-final 1
• 13/02: Semi-final 2
• 20/02: Semi-final 3
• 27/02: Final

Finland debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 and has won the event once in 2006 with Lordi’s Hard rock hallelujah. Last year, the country was represented by punk-rock band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, but failed to qualify to the contest’s grand final.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more information on Finland, the 2016 Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu and the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.