Finland...What Does It All Mean?

On the Eurovision Stage, much can be revealed about a country, whether it be a glimpse of their culture, or their popular music. Looking into the deeper meanings of the songs performed not only gives the audience a image of the country, but can also reveal their stance on diversity.

Upon first glance, it is easy to write off Lordi’s “Hard Rock Hallelujah” (2006) performance a simple heavy metal song. However, when paired with the stage and the costumes, it suggests the band is actually God’s Punishers who have come to punish those who did not follow the Lord’s word. Their performance opens up with two spinning orbs on either side of the stage depicting a possible vortex from hell. Following the vortex, the stage turns from blue to what appears to be a fiery tornado behind the band. The staging combined with the opening verses’ lyrics “The saints are crippled/on this sinner’s night/lost are the lambs with no guiding light”, suggest that The Day Of Reckoning is upon Earth. No saints can help the “lambs with no guiding light” which in this case, are sinners. The combination of the lyrics and costumes imply that the band members are neither angels nor demons. Instead, they are their own class of creatures who punish the Non-Believers. This is displayed through the band’s costumes where all members appear to have rotting flesh, dressed in medieval clothing, and look to be otherworldly. This is also implied when the main singer bares his wings during the lyrics, “Not quite an angel/Or the one that fell”. Lordi’s live performance heavily suggest that they are bringing The Day of Reckoning to Earth, and the band is here to punish the sinners of the world. The lyrics in the second verse also suggest this theory, “The true believers/thou shall be saved/brothers and sisters keep strong in faith” and the lyrics in the chorus, “All we need is lighting/with power and might/striking down the prophets of false”. These lyrics clearly enforce the theory that Lordi’s performance is about Hell coming to Earth.

Hanna Pakarinen’s “Leave Me Alone” (2007) at first could seem like an average revenge anthem, however the song could actually be about being the “other woman”, and the hurt she feels while the other partner is unaware of the infidelity. This is suggested by the second verse, “But what if I stay and wait till she comes home/she don’t even know/she loves you in vain”. In addition to being the other woman, the song implies the singer could be involved with witchcraft to get revenge on her cheating partner. This theory is enforced by the mysticism suggested by the staging of the performance. Hanna is surrounded by fog, and when going into the main chorus, the background changes has dark creepy forest imagery while the image of the moon flashes behind her. There is also an image behind when she goes into the chorus which shows a swirling symbol of some kind, moving upwards as she sings. The pattern behind her also closely resembles the tattoo the singer has on her left arm, which could suggest her power coming up from inside her through her anger. The witch theory is also enforced by the switch in tones at the end of the performance. Moving out of the chorus, Hanna starts out singing “I wanna/I wanna wake you”, then directly after this lyric, dark forest imagery is shown, and her tattoo image is behind her for the first time. The last time she sings this line, she cries, “I gotta/I gotta hate you”. Right after this, the background switches to flames, with what looks like fire behind the forest imagery as sparks and fire appear. The sudden switch in lyrics and staging suggests a transformation, or a spell being cast, as the shift in imagery and tone holds more power than the rest of the performance.

Finland’s 2008 band may seem like another finnish heavy metal band with another heavy metal song, however, the staging, paired with the water imagery in the lyrics allude to the band singing about the honor of Vikings. Teräsbetoni’s “Missä Miehet Ratsastaa” (2008) opens up by belting out what seems to be a battle cry before going into the verse. As they sing, the imagery of what appears to be a shipyard stands behind them, highlighting the importance of ships. The lyrics, loosely translated to English, alludes to the honor of sailing, “Let the storm and the wind/and changing warm iron stove/is an honor and manhood/to perform an obligation to” (Eurovision TV). The verse suggests that dedicating your life to the wind and storm is an honor and a display of manhood. The chorus also boosts this theory with the lyrics, “Where the men ride/there the sheep do not rove/Where the men ride/there the wolves howl” (Eurovision TV). This implies that men worthy of being vikings are the wolves, and the sheep are those who were brave enough to be a Viking. The wolves howling also allude to the Viking’s battle cry. This theory is further enforced by the last lyrics of the song, “No one can avoid the pain/and just float in the stream of life” (Eurovision TV). The vikings are not simply floating in the stream, rather taking matters into their own hands, taking charge of their fate and pillaging through the wind and storm.

Finland’s entry for 2009’s Eurovision Song Contest is a drastically different tone and genre than the previous three years. Waldo’s People’s “Lose Control” (2009) may seem like a meaningless pop song, but on a closer look, the song actually suggests a loss of control over one’s life. The lyrics enforce this theory with the lines from the chorus, “Is it all a fantasy/I don't wanna live a lie/Is this my reality” as well as the lyrics to the second verse, “I’m on a critical mission got my destiny in my hands/Like peter piper I take control put a spell on the mass”. These lyrics suggest that the singer’s life is not the way he had dreamt it would be. Throughout the song the singers refer to themselves losing control, implying that they are losing control of their life. The stage also helps boost this theory with the onset of what appears to be trashcans on fire, and two fire dancers. Trashcans on fire are often thought of during riots, or unstable situations, thus the trashcans could represent the chaos of losing control over your life. The fire dancers are literally dancing with fire which could symbolize the danger of playing or making risky changes with your life. There also appears to be a train moving across the monitors around the stage, which could symbolize movement from one place in life to another, as trains are used for transportation. The singers are trying to get to another place in their life.

Finland brought another different genre into the Song Contest in 2010. Kuunkuiskaajat’s  “Työlki Ellää” (2010) is a Karelian/Finnish folk song and an ode to Finland’s Karelian folk influence. Työlki Ellää is heavily influenced by Pelimanni, a type of Finnish folk music (Austerlitz, 185), which in turn was influenced by the Karelian people (Ramnarine, 36). This theory is suggested by the instrumentation on stage. Originally, Pelimanni was a type of social dance music performed solely by a single violin (Austerlitz,188). However, it later evolved to carry multiple musicians and group dancing (Austerlitz, 188), which included the accordion, an instrument also featured in Pelimanni (Austerlitz, 192). Kuunkuiskaajat’s performance features two instruments being the violin and accordion which could be a reference to Pelimanni music, as main instruments used are also the violin and accordion. The song is also in an “Karelian dialect, which is spoken in Eastern Finland” (Eurovision TV) further suggesting the Pelimanni/Karelian influence. Further the song also references Pelimanni song in the lyrics,“I´ll give a penny for the pelimanni with tattered trousers” (Lyric Translations). The choreography during the performance could also suggest a Pelimanni influence, as everyone on stage dances with each other, like in Pelimanni music.

Finland’s Eurovision entries from 2006-2010 are quite telling about the country’s stance on diversity. Finland shows an immense amount of musical diversity by choosing unconventional and out of the ordinary genres for 3 out of their 5 performances. Heavy metal, hard rock, and folk music are genres that are much less performed in Eurovision than the pop genre. By picking genres that are not as popular to the public, but rather popular in Finland (Finnish Music Quarterly), suggests that the country is trying to bring a unique perspective into Eurovision, while keeping with what is true to Finland. This alludes to Finland being a more diverse country in terms of music tastes and styles, the wide variety of music genres and performance styles suggest the country’s wish to show the rest of Europe all different types of music. However Finland does not display diversity in terms of the performers. Although Lordi’s identities are unknown, only one performer, Susan Aho of Kuunkuiskaajat claims to have Roma blood (Eurovision TV). All of the other performers are all based in Finland (Eurovision TV). The lack of cultural diversity shown suggest that Finland is not as open to showing the rest of Europe other performers other than Finnish based bands.The country does not seem to feature a variety of cultures on stage. Most of the entries seem to be heavily influenced by Finnish culture, the one exception being Finland’s 2010 entry which is influenced by the Karelian people. Featuring a song in a dialect that is not as widely spoken shows a little cultural diversity, however under representing minorities suggests that Finland is not as open to showing cultural diversity to the rest of the world.

Word Count: 1650

Works Cited

Austerlitz, Paul. “Birch-Bark Horns and Jazz in the National Imagination: The Finnish Folk Music Vogue in Historical Perspective.” Ethnomusicology, vol. 44, no. 2, 2000, pp. 183–213. www.jstor.org/stable/852529.

Kuunkuiskaajat. “Työlki Ellää,” music and lyrics by Timo Kiiskinen. Norway, Eurovision Song Contest, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oicT3jWtsc4 Accessed 14. Feb. 2017

“Kuunkuiskaajat - Työlki Ellää (Finland 2010).” Eurovision.tv, www.eurovision.tv/page/history/year/participant-profile/?song=24943.

Lordi. “Hard Rock Hallelujah,” music and lyrics by Mr.Lordi. Azerbaijan, Eurovision Song Contest, 2006. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAh9NRGNhUU Accessed 14. Feb. 2017

“Original Lyrics.” Original Lyrics | Teräsbetoni - Missä Miehet Ratsastaa - Finland 2008 | Eurovision.TV, www.eurovision.tv/event/lyrics?event=1468&song=24487.

Ramnarine, Tina K. Ilmatar's Inspirations: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Changing Soundscapes of Finnish Folk Music. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Pakarinen, Hanna. “Leave me Alone,” music and lyrics by Martti Vuorinen, Miikka Huttunen, and Hanna Pakarinen. Finland, Eurovision Song Contest, 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ibC5pps0dA Accessed 14. Feb. 2017

SpringVesnaadmin@lyricstranslations.comAdministratorProfessional Translator Lyrics & Translations ~ Prevod pesama. “Eurovision 2010 Finland: Kuunkuiskaajat – Työlki Ellää.” Lyrics & Translations ~ Prevod Pesama, 24 July 2010, lyricstranslations.com/eurovision-lyrics/eurovision-2010-finland-kuunkuiskaajat-tyolki-ellaa.

Teräsbetoni. “Missä Miehet Ratsastaa,” music and lyrics by Jarkko Ahola. Serbia, Eurovision Song Contest, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-nbF9dxbJ0 Accessed 14. Feb. 2017

“Teräsbetoni - Missä Miehet Ratsastaa (Finland 2008).” Eurovision.tv, www.eurovision.tv/page/history/year/participant-profile/?song=24527.

Välimäki, Susanna. “30 Years of Music in Finland.” FMQ, Finnish Music Quarterly, 1 Apr. 2015, www.fmq.fi/2014/09/30-years-of-music-in-finland/.

“Waldo's People - Lose Control (Finland 2009).” Eurovision.tv, www.eurovision.tv/page/history/year/participant-profile/?song=24721.

Waldo’s People. “Lose Control,” music and lyrics by A. Lehtonen, Karima, Waldo, A. Kratz-Guta.

Russia, Eurovision Song Contest, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Wr0z1_quw

Accessed 14. Feb. 2017