Although many people think that Finns are unavoidably wacky as a result of cultural artifacts like The Leningrad Cowboys and the record-breaking Eurovision entry that was Lordi’s Hard Rock Hallelujah, the cultural climate is quite often conservative. We saw this quite clearly tonight in the televised finals to choose this year’s entry for the contest that will be held in Oslo sometime in summer.

There were ten entries which were whittled down to three for a grand “superfinal”, otherwise known as a cheap ploy to double the income from phone voting.

First was Nina Lassander who sang a song called Cider Hill. The lyrics were in a slightly odd English but the song was a Bonnie Tyler style power ballad which could easily have been a minor international hit.

The second song was Eläkeläiset (which translates as Pensioners) singing Hulluna humpasta HQ. This is the video:

The third song was a dull “folk song” that involved two blonde sisters, some earnest finnish lyrics and an accordian. The band was Kuunkuiskaajat (which translates as Moon Whispers), and the song was Työlki ellää. It might as well have been called Null Point City!

After all three had performed, Marco Bjurstöm was invited to pass remarks on them, to help the viewers make up their minds. He took great pains to dismiss Eläkeläiset as an in-joke that would fail to translate internationally and leave Finland embarrassed.

According to Helsingin Sanomat today:

When it comes to Eläkeläiset, the opinions on the band’s performance polarised the audience.
Many people said that the comedy humppa band might give a bad impression of Finland, and expressed some relief when the final outcome of the vote was revealed.

People said exactly the same thing about Lordi after they were chosen. There was a huge public outcry with many arguing that Finns would be the laughing stock of Europe, and even priest joining in asking for them to be withdrawn.

We all thought it would be one of the first two. We wanted Eläkeläiset to win, because we actually thought they might produce another surprise in Oslo, and would in any case be post-ironically memorable. We were almost resigned though to Nina Lassander producing a worthy but slightly dull performance.

The entry that was chosen could have represented any country quite creditably at any contest during the mid to late 1950s. To call it wholesome would make it sound a lot less sacharine than it actually is.

I blame Marco Bjurstöm, and I bet Jaana Pelkonen does too!