Arja self candidates to the host race

by Ilari Karhapää 89 views

Arja Saijonmaa reveals her biggest dream in today�s Iltalehti. �The biggest thing I could do on my career now is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki. I may have lived abroad for years but my heart is as blue and white as possible! And I believe in that situation being international surely won�t harm at all�.

Arja Saijonmaa (Euroviisut 1971 and 1990, Melodifestival 1986 and 2005) is a multilingual artist who speaks seven languages, including French, German, English and Greek. She’s familiar with huge crowds and live TV and working in front of cameras even in surprising situations. Arja says:

“I have hosted for example United Nation’s Refugee Committee’s 50th Anniversary Gala in French, and several Unesco galas in English with Harry Belafonte. Eurovision Song Contest is a live broadcast where you cannot depend on the ready written script if something goes wrong or something unexpected happens. And it is good to know other cultures as well.”

Arja Saijonmaa is one of Finland’s most successful artists abroad, in fact, she maybe better known these days in Sweden and Norway than in her homeland. In the 1970’s she toured the world with Mikis Theodorakis and later collaborated with Inti Illimani. She has sung everything from Violetta Parra to Swedish schlager and Finnish tangos. She has also starred in three Finnish movies, been the author of a sauna culture book and United Nations’s Goodwill Ambassador. She has released 14 albums in Finnish so far, 11 in Swedish and has recorded also in Norvegian, Greek, Spanish, Italian, French and German.

YLE will announce more details about Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in January but it is not yet known when the presenter(s) will be announced. Arja Saijonmaa is widely tipped to be a valid choice.