Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989

Finland in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1989
Finland in the; Eurovision Song Contest 1989
Eurovision Song Contest 1989
Participating broadcaster	Yleisradio (Yle)
Country	Finland
Selection process	National final
Selection date	4 February 1989
Competing entry
Song	"La dolce vita"
Artist	Anneli Saaristo
Songwriters	Matti Puurtinen; Turkka Mali;
Placement
Final result	7th, 76 points
Participation chronology

Last updated April 13, 2025

Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 with the song "La dolce vita", composed by Matti Puurtinen, with lyrics by Turkka Mali, and performed by Anneli Saaristo. The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), selected its entry in the contest through a national final.

Before Eurovision

National final

Yleisradio (Yle) held the national final on 4 February 1989 at the Kultturitalo in Helsinki, hosted by Tarja Koskela. Ten songs took part with the winner chosen by an "expert" jury. Other participants included former Finnish representatives Kirka (1984) and Sonja Lumme (1985).^[1]

Final – 4 February 1989
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Points	Place
1	Anneli Saaristo	"Oi äiti maa"	Petri Laaksonen [ fi ], VeePee Lehto [ fi ]	74	3
2	Mervi Hiltunen [ fi ]	"Kan det vara kärlek"	Harri Koivuniemi, Claire Witick-Mäkelä	72	4
3	Kirka	"Hiljaisuutta"	Kisu Jernström [ fi ], Kassu Halonen [ fi ], Vexi Salmi	62	5
4	Meiju Suvas	"Rauhaton sydän"	Risto Asikainen, Meiju Suvas	24	10
5	Tanjalotta Räikkä [ fi ]	"Huominen Eurooppa"	Gösta Sundqvist	39	8
6	Anneli Saaristo	"La dolce vita"	Matti Puurtinen [ fi ], Turkka Mali [ fi ]	110	1
7	Kim Lönnholm [ fi ]	"Minä olen muistanut"	Edu Kettunen [ fi ]	52	7
8	Sonja Lumme	"Rakkauden laulut"	Pepe Willberg, Kirsti Willberg	62	5
9	Cris Owen [ fi ]	"Vad finns kvar"	Cris Owen, Marita Lindquist	103	2
10	Marjorie	"Kahden juhla"	Kaj Westerlund [ fi ], Ilkka Vesterinen [ fi ]	31	9

Detailed Jury Votes
Draw	Song	Billy Carson	Jody Beveridge	Jyrki Hämäläinen	Raila Kinnunen	Vilma Vainikainen	Heikki Kemppainen	Hanna Reponen	Jouko Konttinen	Benny Törnroos	Maria Hänninen	Kirsi Nevanti	Total
1	"Oi äiti maa"	7	6	4	5	8	12	7	6	5	7	7	74
2	"Kan det vara kärlek"	10	8	3	4	7	10	8	5	5	8	4	72
3	"Hiljaisuutta"	5	4	7	8	5	4	4	8	8	4	5	62
4	"Rauhaton sydän"	3	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	3	1	24
5	"Huominen Eurooppa"	1	1	1	6	8	10	1	1	3	2	5	39
6	"La dolce vita"	12	6	12	10	12	2	10	12	10	12	12	110
7	"Minä olen muistanut"	3	4	3	6	5	7	4	6	4	5	5	52
8	"Rakkauden laulut"	4	10	4	7	6	3	5	4	6	6	7	62
9	"Vad finns kvar"	5	12	8	12	8	6	12	10	12	8	10	103
10	"Kahden juhla"	3	2	4	3	2	4	1	3	5	3	1	31

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Saaristo performed 14th in the running order, following Austria and preceding France. As the title suggests, "La dolce vita" was a song with strong Mediterranean influences and proved more appealing to international juries than most Finnish entries to this point. At the close of voting it had received 76 points, placing Finland 7th of the 22 entries, the country's highest placement of the 1980s and best finish since 1975.^[2] The Finnish jury awarded its 12 points to Denmark.^[3]

Voting

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

Points awarded by Finland^[4]
Score	Country
12 points	Denmark
10 points	Italy
8 points	Spain
7 points	Yugoslavia
6 points	United Kingdom
5 points	Israel
4 points	Netherlands
3 points	France
2 points	Portugal
1 point	Austria

References

↑ ESC National Finals database - Finland 1989
↑ "Final of Lausanne 1989". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
↑ "ESC History - Finland 1989". Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
1 2 "Results of the Final of Lausanne 1989". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.

External links

(in Finnish) Full national final on Yle Elävä Arkisto

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[1] ESC National Finals database - Finland 1989

[2] "Final of Lausanne 1989". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.

[3] "ESC History - Finland 1989". Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2010.

[1989detailed-4] 1 2 "Results of the Final of Lausanne 1989". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 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 1989
Countries	Austria Belgium Cyprus Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom Yugoslavia
Artists	Nino de Angelo Kiev Connolly and the Missing Passengers Da Vinci Thomas Forstner Furbaz Gili and Galit Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson Ingeborg Britt Synnøve Johansen Birthe Kjær Live Report Marianna Tommy Nilsson Nina Anna Oxa and Fausto Leali Pan Nathalie Pâque Park Café Justine Pelmelay Fani Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis Riva Anneli Saaristo
Songs	"Apopse as vrethoume" "Avrei voluto" "Bana Bana" "Blijf zoals je bent" "Conquistador" "Derekh Hamelekh" "La dolce vita" "Door de wind" "En dag" "Flieger" "J'ai volé la vie" "Monsieur" " Nacida para amar " "Nur ein Lied" "The Real Me" "Rock Me" "Það sem enginn sér" "To diko sou asteri" "Venners nærhet" " Vi maler byen rød " "Viver senza tei" "Why Do I Always Get It Wrong"