Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981

Finland in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Finland in the; Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Participating broadcaster	Yleisradio (Yle)
Country	Finland
Selection process	National final
Selection date	21 February 1981
Competing entry
Song	"Reggae OK"
Artist	Riki Sorsa
Songwriters	Jim Pembroke ; Olli Ojala;
Placement
Final result	16th, 27 points
Participation chronology

Last updated August 30, 2025

Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "Reggae OK", composed by Jim Pembroke, with lyrics by Olli Ojala, and performed by Riki Sorsa. The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), selected its entry through a national final.

Before Eurovision

Semi-final

Yleisradio (Yle) invited 15 composers for the competition. The semi-final was held on 29 January 1981, hosted by Erkki Pohjanheimo. From the 15 songs eight finalists were chosen by postcard voting, of which a total of 265,573 were sent. The finalists were announced on 6 February 1981. The winner of the postcard voting was "Titanic" performed by Frederik.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The full semi-final results were supposed to be revealed after the final, but due to the complaints and negative reception about the final's results, Yle eventually did not reveal them.^[4]

Songs eliminated in the semi-final
Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Aija Pentinmikko	"Virta"	Yari [ fi ], Hector
Cumulus [ fi ]	"Jos vielä ees kerran sais kunnon jenkan"	Kim Kuusi, Juha Vainio
Eija Ahvo [ fi ]	"Allegro"	Jukka Linkola, Jaana Lappo [ fi ]
Leevi and the Leavings	"Sinisilmä, mansikkasuu"	Gösta Sundqvist
Marketta Joutsi	"Tangetto"	Rauno Lehtinen, Vexi Salmi
Pepe Willberg	"Nouse aamuusi"	Mikko Jokela [ fi ], Asko Raivio [ fi ]
Tomas Ek [ fi ]	"Tuhlaajapoika"	Tomas Ek, Pasi Hiihtola

Final

The final was hosted by Erkki Pohjanheimo, at Yle Studio 2 in Helsinki, which took place on 21 February 1981. The winning song was selected by an expert jury, two of which included former Finnish Eurovision contestants Marion Rung and Lasse Mårtenson. Each juror distributed their points as follows: 1–3, 5 and 8 points.^[1]^[2]^[5]^[6]

Final – 21 February 1981
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Points	Place
1	Tapani Kansa	"Sunnuntailapsi"	Esko Koivumies	5	6
2	Paula Koivuniemi	"Ei tule toista kertaa"	Esa Nieminen [ fi ], Juha Vainio	1	8
3	Mikko Alatalo	"Leuhkat eväät"	Mikko Alatalo, Harri Rinne [ fi ]	30	2
4	Frederik	"Titanic"	Jori Sivonen [ fi ], Raul Reiman [ fi ]	3	7
5	Taiska	"Hiroshima"	Raul Reiman	27	3
6	Markku Aro and Nisa Soraya [ fi ]	"Mun suothan tulla vierees sun"	Veikko Samuli [ fi ], Juha Vainio	13	5
7	Riki Sorsa	"Reggae OK"	Jim Pembroke, Olli Ojala	66	1
8	Juice Leskinen Slamfonia	"Ilomantsi"	Juice Leskinen	26	4

Jury votes
Song	Åke Granholm	Marion Rung	John Wikström	Arto Pajukallio	Upi Sorvali	Liisa Lääveri	Jarmo Porola	Kati Bergman	Lasse Mårtenson	Total
"Sunnuntailapsi"		2	1	1		1				5
"Ei tule toista kertaa"		1								1
"Leuhkat eväät"	3	3	5	3	3	3	3	2	5	30
"Titanic"					1		1		1	3
"Hiroshima"	2		3	2	2	2	5	8	3	27
"Mun suothan tulla vierees sun"	1	5					2	3	2	13
"Reggae OK"	8	8	8	5	8	8	8	5	8	66
"Ilomantsi"	5		2	8	5	5		1		26

At Eurovision

On the night Sorsa performed eighth (following Yugoslavia and preceding France). Sorsa was accompanied by Pedro Hietanen [ fi ] as a keyboardist and an accordionist, Keimo Hirvonen [ fi ] as a drummer, Risto Hankala as a bassist and a backing vocalist, and Jukka Orma [ fi ] and Jim Pembroke as guitarists and backing vocalists. For the first time in 15 years regular Finnish conductor Ossi Runne did not conduct the Finnish entry (instead he was providing the Yle television commentary) and was instead conducted by Otto Donner.^[7] At the close of voting "Reggae OK" had picked up 27 points, placing Finland in 16th place out of 20.^[8] The Finnish jury awarded its 12 points to Switzerland.^[9]

Voting

Points awarded to Finland^[9]
Score	Country
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points	Sweden
5 points	Ireland Netherlands Switzerland
4 points
3 points
2 points	Israel Spain
1 point	France Portugal

Points awarded by Finland^[9]
Score	Country
12 points	Switzerland
10 points	France
8 points	Yugoslavia
7 points	Germany
6 points	Israel
5 points	Turkey
4 points	Luxembourg
3 points	United Kingdom
2 points	Belgium
1 point	Sweden

References

1 2 "1981 Fuusioreggae ei ollutkaan OK" (in Finnish). Yle. Archived from the original on 5 October 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
1 2 Säilynoja, Juhana (21 April 2015). "Viisukarsinnat muuttuivat joka vuosi 1980-luvulla" [The contest selections changed every year in the 1980s] (in Finnish). Yle Elävä arkisto [ fi ]. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
↑ Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. pp. 114, 118. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.
↑ Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. p. 116. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.
↑ "Euroviisut 1981 Suomen karsinta" (in Finnish). Yle Areena. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
↑ Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. pp. 114–116, 118. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.
↑ Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.
↑ "Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
1 2 3 "Results of the Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

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[yle-1] 1 2 "1981 Fuusioreggae ei ollutkaan OK" (in Finnish). Yle. Archived from the original on 5 October 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2025.

[arkisto-2] 1 2 Säilynoja, Juhana (21 April 2015). "Viisukarsinnat muuttuivat joka vuosi 1980-luvulla" [The contest selections changed every year in the 1980s] (in Finnish). Yle Elävä arkisto [ fi ]. Retrieved 30 July 2025.

[3] Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. pp. 114, 118. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.

[4] Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. p. 116. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.

[5] "Euroviisut 1981 Suomen karsinta" (in Finnish). Yle Areena. Retrieved 29 July 2025.

[6] Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. pp. 114–116, 118. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.

[7] Murtomäki, Asko (2007). Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisut (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Teos. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-951-851-106-2.

[8] "Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[1981detailed-9] 1 2 3 "Results of the Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

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v t e Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
National selection: Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu
Participation	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Artists	Saara Aalto ~~Aksel~~ Markku Aro Ami Aspelund Monica Aspelund Nina Åström Beat Blind Channel Boulevard Carita CatCat Darude Edea Kim Floor Fredi Laila Halme Kristina Hautala Jarkko and Laura Jasmine Käärijä Kaija Katri Helena Laila Kinnunen Kirka Viktor Klimenko Koivisto Sisters Kojo Kari Kuivalainen Kuunkuiskaajat Laura Vesa-Matti Loiri Lordi Sonja Lumme Lasse Mårtenson Norma John Ann-Christine Nyström Hanna Pakarinen Päivi Paunu Paradise Oskar Pave Pernilla Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät Pihasoittajat The Rasmus Sebastian Rejman Geir Rönning Vicky Rosti Marion Rung Anneli Saaristo Sandhja Krista Siegfrids Jari Sillanpää Seija Simola Softengine Riki Sorsa Teräsbetoni Erika Vikman Waldo's People Windows95man
Songs	"Aava" "Addicted to You" " Aina mun pitää " "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" "Aurinko laskee länteen" "Blackbird" "Bye Bye Baby" "Cha Cha Cha" "Da Da Dam" "Dark Side" "La dolce vita" "Eläköön elämä" "Fantasiaa" "Fri?" "Hard Rock Hallelujah" "Hengaillaan" "Huilumies" "Hullu yö" "Ich komme" "Jezebel" "Katson sineen taivaan" "Keep Me Warm" "Kuin silloin ennen" "Kun kello käy" "Laiskotellen" "Lapponia" "Leave Me Alone" "A Little Bit" "Look Away" ~~"Looking Back"~~ "Lose Control" "Marry Me" "Missä miehet ratsastaa" "Monsters" "Muistathan" "Muistojeni laulu" "När jag blundar" "Nauravat silmät muistetaan" "Never the End" "Niin kaunis on taivas" "No Rules!" "Nuku pommiin" "Old Man Fiddle" "Playboy" "Pump-Pump" "Reggae OK" "Sata salamaa" "Sing It Away" "Something Better" "Takes 2 to Tango" "Tie uuteen päivään" "Tipi-tii" "Tom Tom Tom" "Tule luo" "Työlki ellää" "Valoa ikkunassa" "Varjoon – suojaan" "Why?" "Yamma, yamma"
Note: Entries scored out signify where Finland did not compete. Italics indicate an entry in a future contest.

v t e Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Countries	Austria Belgium Cyprus Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom Yugoslavia
Artists	Bacchelli Marty Brem Bucks Fizz Debbie Cameron and Tommy Seebach Yiannis Dimitras Jean Gabilou Habibi Island Finn Kalvik Seid Memić Vajta Modern Folk Trio and Ayşegül Carlos Paião Jean-Claude Pascal Peter, Sue and Marc Sheeba Björn Skifs Riki Sorsa Emly Starr Lena Valaitis Linda Williams
Songs	"Aldri i livet" "C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique" "Dönme Dolap" " Fångad i en dröm " "Feggari kalokerino" "Halayla" "Het is een wonder" "Horoscopes" "Humanahum" "Io senza te" "Johnny Blue" "Krøller eller ej" "Lejla" "Making Your Mind Up" "Monika" "Playback" "Reggae OK" "Samson" "Wenn du da bist" "Y sólo tú"