There aren’t many national selection processes happening in the next couple of weeks, but in Finland they are not resting this January. Today,  New Year’s Day sees the first airing of the final versions of the 12 songs, that have made it to the 2013 edition of Uuden musiikin kilpailu (UMK), or Contest for new music. The final versions will be played on YLE Radio Suomi at 13:03 CET (14:03 local time).

Radio Suomi is streamed online worldwide here

The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE kicked off the 2013 UMK season already last week, when the first show presenting the artists and the judges aired in Finland. It is available to view on YLE Areena, but only in Finland. The highlight clips on the same page are however available worldwide.

Working closely mentoring the 12 artists has been Finnish top producer Jukka Immonen, who will also be responsible in mixing many of the final versions. Mr. Immonen also found an older song he had been involved to make its way to the Belgian Eurovision final and win the ticket to Malmö. The song Love kills by Roberto Bellarosa is co-written by Jukka Immonen.

Jukka Immonen tells YLE X3M website that he is not sure how the song ended up in Belgium. It was written two or three years ago, and I can’t even remember who for, he says. Then someone in Cyprus found it and decided it should go to Eurovision, but how it turned up in Belgium I do not know, he continues. I don’t know if this is the final version of the Belgian song, he says. I would have made it more electronic and disco, but I am not going to produce the Belgian entry, says Immonen. But I am proud of my song and will stand behind it, the UMK mentor concludes.

The 12 artists have been divided into the two live elimination heats as follows:

Heat 1, live from Circus in Helsinki, 17 January:

• Diandra – Colliding into you (Patrick Sarin, Leri Leskinen, Sharon Vaughn, Janne Oinas, Leri Leskinen)
• Iina Salin – Last night (Iina Salin, Tommi Gröhn)
• Ilari Hämäläinen – Sytytä mut vaan (Just light me up) (Ilari Hämäläinen)
• Last Panda – Saturday night forever (Henry Tikkanen, Aapo Immonen, Last Panda)
• Mikael Saari – We should be through (Mikael Saari, Kai Poutanen, Tuomas Vertanen)
• Rautakoura – Ilmalaivalla (On an airship) (Lauri Häme, Rautakoura)

Heat 2, live from Circus in Helsinki, 24 January:

• Atlético Kumpula – Paperilyhty (Paper lantern)(Kyösti Salokorpi, Atlético Kumpula)
• Arion – Lost in the woods (Iivo Kaipainen)
• Elina Orkoneva  – He’s not my man (Elina Orkoneva, Mikko Arlin, Joona Hasan, Eveliina Jämsä, Lauri Lähteenkorva, Henri Mäntylä)
• Great Wide North – Flags (Kaj Kiviniemi, Mika Kiviniemi, Great Wide North)
• Krista Siegfrids – Marry me (Krista Siegfrids, Erik Nyholm, Kristofer Karlsson, Jessika Lundström)
• Lucy Was Driving – Dancing all around the universe (Lucy Was Driving, Otso Koskelo)

Semi-final, live from Circus in Helsinki, 31 January

Final, Barona Arena in Espoo, 9 February

Before the live shows there are still two recorded studio shows, where the artists meet the judges for the first time on 3 January and 10 January. All the shows air on YLE TV2 at 20.00 CET (21.00 local time).

Two artists will make it to the final from each of the two heats. Another four will be selected in the semi-final, which in fact is a second chance round. Eight songs will battle it out in the final to become the Finnish Eurovision Song Contest entry for 2013 In Malmö.