The prestigious music event known as the Eurovision Song Contest has quite an intriguing history surrounding it and one nation to have encountered several elements throughout their long participating story is surely Finland whose broadcaster; YLE has been around since 1961 only missing out at one point due to relegation. Following their victory at the event in 2006 with the Hard Rock Halleluljah by Lordi, they have managed to reach the final four out of six times with their latest entry entitled Nar Jag Blundar only managing twelfth place in the semi-final despite a reinvention of the national selection process which saw the beginning of the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu system which promotes upcoming artists. Nevertheless, as the list of finalists was unveiled today, it has been predominantly noted that one name stands out from the rest due to recent experience in the Idol competition which has created successful careers for a large number of artists in recent years.

The 2013 edition of the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu will be featuring a total of twelve acts and it is worth mentioning that opposed to earlier this year, most of the songs are in English with only a couple being in Finnish. As already noted down, the most popular name is the winner of the recent winner of Idols in Finland; Diandra Flores who is of course signed to a major record label and she is presenting a song entitled Colliding Into You co-written by Sharon Vaughn who has worked with Agnes, Delta Goodrem and Jedward in recent years. On the other hand, another contestant; Krista Siegfrieds was also part of The Voice of Finland. Apart from some relative success, most of the other acts are completely unknown and therefore slightly at a disadvantage. You could listen to 30 second previews of all of the songs through the official website provided by the broadcaster. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news.

Source: YLE

Up until very recently, Finland was one of the Scandinavian countries to have never won the Eurovision Song Contest and neither even reaching the top ten of the scoreboard with the best result being a sixth place finish but that all changed when Lordi and the track Hard Rock Hallelujah trumped the rest of the competition. Since then, Finland have been quite successful in making the final on four occasions from a total of six missing out earlier this year thanks to Pernilla Karlsson and her charming ballad När Jag Blundar which ended up in twelfth place. It seems that despite the disappointment, YLE, the Finnish broadcaster will be keeping to the same selection process hoping that the final result would be more positive.

The official regulations for the upcoming selection process which will be known as Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu were published today through the official website of the Public Broadcaster and they could be accessed here. Apart from the typical regulations which have to comply with those set forth by the European Broadcasting Union, it is also stated that the songs sent in could be in any language that performed or songwriters deem fit to represent the country. There has to be a Finnish presence in the team which is proposed including the lead vocalist and at least the composer or the lyricist. The first part of the selection will run online as was the case last year with the number of acts always brought down so that they would compete in a specific final which would take place in February 2013. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news regarding the 2013 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Malmo, Sweden.

Source: YLE

The Team of Radio International is back this week and would like to invite to join the weekly Ultimate Eurovision Experience to overcome to Post Eurovision Depression during the summer 2012. The Show is broadcast on 106.8FM and Digital Cable 41 in the Netherlands and also via the internet via www.radiointernational.tv and will also be web-televised via the show's own Live Video Channel via the website. The simulcast will be from 2000 – 2300 hours CET this Wednesday.

Interview with Iris (Belgium 2012):  

Belgium last qualified for the Grand Final in 2010 in Oslo when Tom Dice won his Semi Final with the song "Me and my guitar". In 2011 it was Witloof Bay who almost get Belgium back into the Grand Final with the song "With love baby" but missed a few points and ended up at Number 11 in their Semi Final meaning not qualifying Belgium for the Grand Final in Duesseldorf. Now in 2012, Iris represented Belgium and on reached Number 17 in Semi Final 1 with the song "Would you". Lilian, Roger and JP met the young singer for a brief interview which you can hear on the showthis week. 

Eurovision Song Contest Spotlight - The Host Entries:  

After reflecting on the 57th Eurovision Song Contest over the past weeks Radio International now continuous to present a brand new series with the Eurovision experts in the UK and Ireland to take you through the summer. The new series is taking a look at the entries to the Eurovision Song Contest by the countries that were hosting the contest e.g. this year the Eurovision Song Contest came from Azerbaijan and the Azeri entry = Host Entry is Sabina Babayeva. This week it is the turn of Ross Bennett who will be joining the team in the studio from Brighton to take a look at the host entries of 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002 and 2012. 

Home Composed Song Contest 2012 - Call out for submissions:  

As in previous years Radio International supports the Home Composed Song Contest which is a songwriters competition across Europe and beyond. 2012 marks the 21st edition of the Song Contest and the 2011 edition was won by Denmark and this year's edition is hosted by Spain. Contact the website of the Home Composed Song Contest to find out further details how to submit your entries and also what the schedule looks like. Samuel Bugia Garrido and his team is ready to guide you through the contest. Their email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Interview with Mandinga (Romania 2012): 

 What a nice delegation Romania took to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Celebrating it's 10th Anniversary Mandinga represented Romania with the song "Zalelah" in Baku successfully qualifying heir home country to the Grand Final and reaching a remarkable Number 12 position. "Zalelah" is a dance Mandinga invites the audience to dance to. Although representing Romania Mandinga also has members in the group from Cuba. Lilian and JP had the great pleasure to meet Mandinga for a second time for an interview this time in Baku's Press Centre after their initial interview with Radio International at Eurovision in Concert 2012 in Amsterdam earlier on this year.

Eurovision Song Contest News with Luke Fisher from escXtra.com:

Check out the latest developments connected to the Eurovision Song Contest. Whether it is music releases of Eurovision performers, appearances, special concerts, gossip, news, etc. Luke will have the latest updates during this week's edition of the show.

Join Radio International on Wednesday, 11 July 2012 from 2000 - 2300 hours CET, via the website or on FM. Radio International is available live via www.radiointernational.tv and on FM 106.8 and Digital Cabel Channel 41 in parts of the Netherlands. Should you not be able to listen live, the show will appear in the Programme’s Show Archive a few hours after it’s airing on the radio.

Eurovision Music Requests/Eurovision Quiz:

A big part of the show is playing listeners' requests. Submit your requests and / or greetings to your Eurovision friends through Radio International via the CONTACT Link on www.radiointernational.tv. But also don’t miss out on the weekly Eurovision Quiz where you can win a dip into the freshly filled up Goodies Bag or pick a Eurovision Song Contest from the past on DVD.

Interview with Pernilla Karlsson (Finland 2012):  

Unfortunately, no qualification for the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest for the lovely Pernilla Karlsson who represented her native Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Semi Final 1 at Number 12 when only the Top 10 per Semi Final advance to the Grand Final. The song "När jag blundar" translates to "When I close my eyes" and is performed in Swedish due to the fact that the area Pernilla comes from is a minority area where the language spoken is Swedish. This is a special interview as Lilian, Camera Man Roger and JP "kidnapped" the delegation bus of Finland and did the interview aboard the bus :) That's a first in JP's interviewing career :)  

Source: Radio International Team

Scandinavian countries seem to be very optimistic about their chances competing in the 2013 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest which will be taking place in Sweden. Despite being many weeks and months away noting that this years' edition from Baku, finished just a couple of days back, Finland have decided to commence their process. The broadcaster, YLE has called for song submissions for the selection which will be quite similar to last year under the title UMK. 

It is quite interesting why they decided not to make any notable changes especially due to the fact that the showcase received terribly low ratings with fans describing the process mediocre at best. The competition will mark a return but it has to be noted that the focus at this stage would be on the performer who has to be from Finland or at least have Finnish citizenship. The song which is submitted does not have to comply to any rules of the Eurovision Song Contest. The performers have to be at least sixteen (16) by the date of the first semi-final in 2013 although songwriters can be younger than that. One of the most interesting rules at this stage is that those who decide to enter, cannot participate in any other nations' preselection process.

The submissions have to be sent in between the 3rd and the 16th September 2012 and the top twelve (12) will be published on the 3rd December 2012 noting that things are being organized even earlier than they were for this years' selection. Pernilla Karlsson representing Finland with the song Nar Jag Blundar failing to make it through to the final by virtue of finishing in twelfth place. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news. 

Source: YLE, Eurovision.tv