Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
Participating broadcaster	Yleisradio (Yle)
Country	Finland
Selection process	National final
Selection date	8 February 1975
Competing entry
Song	"Old Man Fiddle"
Artist	Pihasoittajat
Songwriters	Kim Kuusi Arthur Ridgway Spencer Hannu Karlsson
Placement
Final result	7th, 74 points
Participation chronology
◄1974 • 1975 • 1976►

Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with the song "Old Man Fiddle", composed by Kim Kuusi, with lyrics by Arthur Ridgway Spencer, and performed by the band Pihasoittajat. The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), selected its entry through a national final.

Before Eurovision

The Finnish national selection consisted of four semi finals and a final. It was the first year the Finnish selection shows were broadcast in colour.

Semi finals

Four songs were performed in each semi-final and a professional jury chose two songs from each semi final to qualify for the final. After the semi-finals, a wildcard was also chosen for the final.

First semi final

Semi-final 1 – 4 January
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Qualified
1	Maarit	"Mätämakee"	Seppo Paakkunainen  [ fi ] (m.), Ritva Paakkunainen (l.)	Yes
2	Dans	"Hei lähde maailmaan"	Esko Linnavalli  [ fi ] (m.), Erkki Liikanen (l.)	Yes
3	M. A. Numminen	"Voittolaulu"	Jorma Panula (m.), M. A. Numminen (l.)	No
4	Ritva Oksanen  [ fi ]	"Suuri naapuri"	Antti Hyvärinen  [ fi ] (m.), Jukka Virtanen (l.)	No

Second semi final

Semi-final 2 – 11 January
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Qualified
1	Pepe Willberg	"Ovi elämään"	Markku Johansson  [ fi ] (m.), Vexi Salmi (l.)	Yes
2	Marjatta Leppänen  [ fi ]	"Naisen vuosi"	Jaakko Salo  [ fi ] (m.), Jukka Virtanen (l.)	Yes
3	Kari Fall  [ fi ]	"Maailman tie"	Kaj Backlund (m.), Monica Aspelund (l.)	No
4	Heikki Kinnunen	"Hyljätyn laulu"	Kaj Chydenius (m.), lyricist unknown	No

Third semi final

Semi-final 3 – 18 January
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Qualified
1	Danny	"Seikkailija"	Kari Kuuva  [ fi ] (m. & l.), Jyrki Hämäläinen (l.)	Yes
2	Pihasoittajat	"Viulu-ukko"	Kim Kuusi (m.), Hannu Karlsson (l.)	Yes
3	Mon-Ami	"Fasten Seatbelts"	Lasse Mårtenson (m.), Jukka Virtanen (l.)	No
4	Jukka Kuoppamäki	"Hyvästi ystäväni"	Jukka Kuoppamäki (m. & l.)	No

Fourth semi final

Semi-final 4 – 25 January
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Qualified
1	Vesa-Matti Loiri and Sivupersoonat	"Laulu"	Eero Koivistoinen (m.), Juha Vainio (l.)	Yes
2	Kirka and The Islanders  [ fi ]	"Oh, New York rakkain"	Carita Holmström (m.), Raul Reiman  [ fi ] (l.)	Yes
3	Agit Prop	"On jotain mikä yhdistää"	Henrik Otto Donner (m.), Pentti Saaritsa  [ fi ] (l.)	Wildcard
4	Tapani Kansa	"Luonnollisuus"	Rauno Lehtinen (m. & l.)	No

Final

Yle held the national final on 8 February at its television studios in Helsinki. It was hosted by Apeli Halinen. The winner was chosen by regional juries.

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Points	Place
1	Pihasoittajat	"Viulu-ukko"	Kim Kuusi (m.), Hannu Karlsson (l.)	379	1
2	Marjatta Leppänen  [ fi ]	"Naisen vuosi"	Jaakko Salo  [ fi ] (m.), Jukka Virtanen (l.)	196	9
3	Agit Prop	"On jotain mikä yhdistää"	Henrik Otto Donner (m.), Pentti Saaritsa  [ fi ] (l.)	228	7
4	Maarit	"Mätämakee"	Seppo Paakkunainen  [ fi ] (m.), Ritva Paakkunainen (l.)	205	8
5	Dans	"Hei lähde maailmaan"	Esko Linnavalli  [ fi ] (m.), Erkki Liikanen (l.)	256	6
6	Vesa-Matti Loiri and Sivupersoonat	"Laulu"	Eero Koivistoinen (m.), Juha Vainio (l.)	308	3
7	Danny	"Seikkailija"	Kari Kuuva  [ fi ] (m. & l.), Jyrki Hämäläinen (l.)	368	2
8	Pepe Willberg	"Ovi elämään"	Markku Johansson  [ fi ] (m.), Vexi Salmi (l.)	279	4
9	Kirka and The Islanders  [ fi ]	"Oh, New York rakkain"	Carita Holmström (m.), Raul Reiman  [ fi ] (l.)	265	5

Scoreboard

Song	Turku	Helsinki	Tampere	Mikkeli	Kuopio	Seinäjoki	Rovaniemi	Total
"Viulu-ukko"	48	55	54	46	58	57	61	379
"Naisen vuosi"	25	25	29	33	30	29	25	196
"On jotakin mikä yhdistää"	22	41	33	31	38	26	37	228
"Mätämakee"	34	28	30	32	23	29	29	205
"Hei lähde maailmaan"	42	38	32	38	28	38	40	256
"Laulu"	43	49	37	45	41	40	53	308
"Seikkailija"	54	49	55	60	50	53	47	368
"Ovi elämään"	30	48	42	43	44	39	33	279
"Oh, New York rakkain"	43	45	35	46	26	29	41	265

The winning song "Viulu-ukko" was performed in Finnish in the national selection shows but it was translated into English for the international Song Contest as "Old Man Fiddle".

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Pihasoittajat performed 15th in the running order, following Monaco and preceding Portugal. The Finnish entry was conducted by Ossi Runne. At the close of voting, Finland picked up 74 points and placed 7th of the 19 entries.

Among the members of the Finnish jury were Tero Lehto, Merja Nyström, Ari Montonen and Hilkka Sokura. ^[1]

Voting

Points awarded to Finland [2] Score Country 12 points   Germany    Switzerland 10 points   Norway 8 points   Monaco   Israel 7 points 6 points   Luxembourg 5 points   Ireland   Yugoslavia 4 points   United Kingdom 3 points   Sweden 2 points 1 point   Spain

Points awarded by Finland [2] Score Country 12 points   Italy 10 points   Netherlands 8 points   Spain 7 points   United Kingdom 6 points   Sweden 5 points   Luxembourg 4 points    Switzerland 3 points   Israel 2 points   Monaco 1 point   Ireland

Sources

• Viisukuppila- Muistathan: Suomen karsinnat 1975 (in Finnish)
• Finnish national final 1975 on natfinals

1. "How Did Eurovision Get the 12 Points System?". YouTube .
2. "Results of the Final of Stockholm 1975". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 27 November 2021.

External links

• Full national final (in Finnish)